Rachel, I just got promoted and hate it

Dear Rachel,
I’m 26, have been in media for four years now, and have made it to a new supervisor position with great pay. A month into this new job, I hate it. The situation is particularly difficult with clients, management is unreasonable, and there is a lack of media resources (not people but media tools). This has led me to consider if media is really where I want to be. I don’t want my boss’s job but I don’t know what else I would do. I’m thinking about taking some time off to think and then start interviewing again. I just need a break to get my head straight. I know it will look bad to leave after a month but I’m losing motivation and my mind. Am I making the right choice? Sign me Lost in the Big Apple

Dear Lost,
Yes, you are making the right decision. Don’t waste a moment getting out.

Staying in a bad job is never a smart thing to do, and it gets dumber the longer you stay.

It depletes your morale and your self-confidence, and there is always the risk that someday you’ll lose your cool and do something really rash like tell your boss off.

Then there you are, out on the street and out of a job you never really liked in the first place.

We are brought up to believe that it’s important to stick at things and suffer through hard times and fools, and to always put the best face on things. To do otherwise, we were told, was unmanly (or womanly), immature and just not acceptable in the adult world.

But that fact is in real life there are lots of situations where that advice is plain wrong.

Yours is one of them.

It’s your life, you own it, and it’s entirely up to you as to how you live it. It is entirely your prerogative to decide you want to be happy in the life work you choose to do.

As for what you are going tell people when you’re out hunting for your next job, tell them exactly what you’re telling me.

Trust me, anyone you talk to has probably been in the same situation, and if they didn’t make the decision to leave you can bet they’re still regretting it.

But what’s really working in your favor is the obvious high regard in which you are held at your agency. You got the promotion to supervisor. That says a whole lot.

Some might advise giving the new job three months or even six months.

I would disagree.

I think it looks better to leave now, when that promotion is really fresh on your resume.

In quitting, I would write a polite note of resignation and give the usual two weeks. I would not vent or express any feelings of animosity toward the agency or anyone. Simply say you came to realize you were not right for the job.

People will not be happy to see you go, but they will respect you for how you handled your exit, and that is important.

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