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iQuestions Faculty, Ron Price 
 
 
Question: 
 
How do I know whether or not I should stick out a bad job situation or 
just move on? 
 
Answer: 
 
There are times when people end up in situations where it’s a bad job, 
it’s a bad environment, and you don’t know whether or not you should 
stay in it or you should move on to something else. 
 
The first thing that I recommend is that you do a little bit of an 
analysis to try and objectify what’s going on. I like to use the old Ben 
Franklin “cost and benefits” list.  
 
What you do is create maybe two sheets. On one sheet you’ve got two 
columns—on one column, it’s “staying in this job,” and you’ve got all 
the good reasons why you should stay in this job; and then on the 
other column, you’ve got the bad reasons for staying in this job. 
 
And then on the other sheet, you have “move to something else,” and 
you’re listing the pros and the cons of moving on to a different job. 
That gives you an opportunity to look at the situation from a broader 
and more objective prospective.  
 
The truth of the matter is almost all of us work in jobs where we don’t 
enjoy everything that we do. I own my business—I’m in charge, and I 
don’t enjoy everything I have to do in my job. 
 
So by building this list of the pros and the cons for the job that I’m in, 
it helps me to focus on what to be grateful for, to consciously think 
 
 
about the wonderful parts of the work I do, and that keeps me from 
getting tripped-up and getting preoccupied with those little things that 
might irritate me along the way. 
 
Now, if you’re talking about a bad situation because there’s a legal 
question or because your reputation is going to be tainted in some 
way, and you’re convinced that this is going to be a bad mark on your 
career, then it probably is time for you to start looking for new 
opportunities.  
 
Don’t worry too much about that. Did you know the average person 
coming out of college today is going to have seven completely 
different careers during their working lifespan? So maybe this is just 
part of the message you’re getting that it’s time to look for the second 
step, or the next step in your career. 
 
If it does seem that it’s time for you to start looking for something 
else, focus on identifying your strengths.  
 
As a matter of fact, there’s another video clip on the website that talks 
about how to prepare for your next job, and if you go and watch that it 
will give you some good ideas for how you can decide if, in fact, a 
move is what’s next for you. 
Price -2- 
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