Certainly, "Don’t quit to make yourself happy".

I nearly did many, many years ago. I was working for a right bully of a boss. I was working my socks off, deliver everything, but he was never happy and expected more. He was very unreasonable, so I nearly left – in fact, I am getting angry now just thinking about it. No stop, do not let that happen. OK, I have changed me state – alright now. Phew!

I am so pleased I did not leave. He did. The new boss was great, my career took off and so many new doors opened.

Andrew

Good post and yes, I am trying to figure out that Yahoo thing too, like Caitlin.

On point 2, I would say it is important to recognise that there is only so much growth an organisation can deliver for a person at a given time. Knowing clearly the limits of the organisation is also key to point 4, not feeling guilty.

As suggested in point 1, it is possible some happiness in a job may have come from positive relationships forged at the workplace. For some, it may get difficult to see even those, whom they genuinely considered friends. That is life! Seven years after quitting my longest – and first post-MBA – corporate gig, I am invited to the 50th birthday party of the man who hired me.

This article by Times-London writer, Satnam Sanghera, dealt with the issue interestingly last weekend:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article2886500.ece

Thanks.

Quitting a job can be fraught? Is that english? Perhaps the vitriol on Yahoo can be attributed to the fact the Ms. Trunk writes like 5th grader…and not a very smart one.

"Quitting a job can be fraught, especially if it's one you generally like."
What does that mean exactly? Fraught with what?
You write for a living and this is the sentence structure you use?
hahahaha
Also, you are just wrong. Work can make one happy, as can making alot of money. Work by itself can give one great joy. People and relationships can give one pain and suffering. So, what you say isn't true to begin with. Sorry you've never done any work that was interesting enough to give you great pleasure.
I'd say if writing is your profession, you picked the wrong one.
Maybe that's why you're unhappy. lol
Maybe you should go grow some tomatoes….

gdc, there's an old saying about the pot calling the kettle black. Perhaps you should look it up? There are plenty of grammatical errors in your own post, not to mention the repeated use of the anal and out-dated third-person impersonal pronoun.

According to my dictionary, fraught is perfectly permissible on its own. Sure, things can be fraught _with_ something (tension, danger, take your pick…) if you prefer. But it's equally correct just to say fraught, in which case it means "causing or affected by great anxiety or stress". Two examples of correct usage, according to the dictionary, are "there was a fraught silence" and "she sounded a bit fraught".

To follow up on Penelope's last comment to LM:

It's perfectly fine to just have the years that you've worked at a place on your resume, You really don't need to have months or, god forbid, months and days. It just doesn't need to be that specific.

This approach gives the interviewer enough information to base an interview around but has two advantages for the job hunter.

Firstly, it can make short stints appear longer – 2004 to 2006 could mean Dec 2004 to Jan 2006, which is really only just over a year. I'm not suggestion deception – if you are asked for more specific dates, you should give them. But there's no need to draw attention to something if you feel it's a potential weakness.

Secondly, it means you don't have to waste time in the interview accounting for short gaps, which is a distraction from the task of trying to sell yourself.

My resume just has years. It's not because I job-hop but just because after 11 years' experience it simply doesn't seem necessary to drill down to so much detail unless I asked. And I am never asked so I can only presume that recruiters and/or hiring managers feel the same way.

I don't know if I would go so far as Penelope and advocating leaving jobs off my resume. However, jobs can drop off the bottom. I no longer list the the non-career jobs I did at or soon after university.

As a professional recruiter I have a couple things to add about the inclusion of all jobs and correct dates on resumes. Personally I'm a stickler for all the details as I work for my client companies trying to present them with their "ideal" candidate not just the ones that are close. So I disagree with the premise of leaving information off of the resume. However, even if you are presenting your resume directly to a company you must understand your target market (since this is a marketing documet). Do the HR people you know want all the details? YES. Will they think you are in fact trying to deceive them if they find information contray to your resume? YES. and will your candidacy suffer when they find out all the details? YES.

So ask yourself if your covering things up (lying) or dressing things up (marketing) and make sure your comfortable answering all the questions during the interview or you will find your reputation tarnished.

I've submitted my resume both with month / year and only year included. For the resumes with only the year showing, no one ever asked for more information, or indicated I was leaving something out. I got my past two jobs with year-only resumes

Just my own experience talking, but if you're a good candidate, I doubt that companies will reject you simply for leaving off month of employment.

[…] The Boomer Chronicles wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerpt One of the most overlooked skills in the workplace is figuring out when to leave. Of course, there are the obvious situations, like when a boss is losing his mind, or a company is about to go under. But most situations aren’t so black and white. The best way to figure out what to do next is to envision what you’re trying to accomplish. Then you can see what the process of separation might look like and what you might end up with when you move to another job. Here some tips on how to do just t […]