Maintaining Loyalty When Already on the Job Hunt

Maintaining Loyalty When Already on the Job Hunt
by Palesa Motanyane
This is it; you have finally made the decision to move on. You’ve dusted off your CV and contacted a number of recruitment agencies. The job hunt is on. The reasons for your wanting to leave your current position can vary. Maybe you have outgrown the position and are on the lookout for new opportunities. Or there’s a colleague who is just making things miserable for you, doing little work and getting undeserved credit. It could be your boss who keeps piling on the work without appreciating the value you already bring. Or it’s just the organisation itself, you find that you don’t quite fit into the culture, like trying to stuff your feet into an ill-fitting pair of shoes. Whatever the reason, you’ve finally made the decision to move on. In the meantime, you still need to serve out your time in the current job. You owe it to yourself and your existing employer to remain faithful to your work and environment right up until your very last day. How do you make sure that you remain loyal, continuing to produce good quality work and not tarnishing existing relationships in anyway? Be present and stay committed – If you are in an especially bad work situation, daydreaming about a new and better job might seem like the best way to get yourself through. Understand that there is nothing wrong with visualising your way into an improved situation. But remember the reality of where you are. You still need to deliver on your work; you still need to relate constructively with the people that you work with. Basically, you still need to be a functioning member of the team. The last thing you want to do is aggravate the situation by only being there in body, but your mind and spirit remain absent. By being present and committed, you show up and operate in the now. You make the choice to accept the situation for what it is. Note that this is distinct from giving into negative circumstance where you run the risk of being complacent and checking out. It is simply a recognition of your reality as you perceive it, and deciding to remain an active participant. You need to trust that this has become your ‘meantime’ moment and that you, therefore, still need to continue taking the necessary steps in order to get through it. Focus on your deliverables – There are a lot of reasons why a person may want to leave a job and they can be good or bad. These reasons, along with a myriad of other factors, can become very distracting. This to the point where you lose sight of why you are there in the first place, or at least what you agreed to when you signed up. The prospect and excitement of a new job, especially when things have been confirmed and formalised, can just add to the confusion. Go back to basics – revisit your employment contract that stipulates the terms and conditions of why you were hired and what is therefore expected of you. Similarly with your key performance indicators that tell you what you are expected to deliver on and by when. All of this will remind you of the role you are supposed to be playing in your team and within the organisation as a whole. Also, by breaking down the big activities into smaller, manageable tasks, you provide yourself with simple step-by-step guidelines of what you need to be doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This is a sense of direction and focus for you at a time when it becomes especially challenging to stay on track. Be positive in your outlook and attitude – It’s easy to be positive and excited about an upcoming job where the grass is proverbially greener. But attitude is key to maintaining loyalty in the job you still hold. It is up to you to make sure that you still enjoy being where you are, in spite of the circumstances. You don’t want to be dragging yourself to the office everyday; it will bring your mood and performance down. Keep things on a high in those last few months; it will help you start on a much better frame of mind in the next job.

by Palesa Motanyane

This is it; you have finally made the decision to move on. You’ve dusted off your CV and contacted a number of recruitment agencies. The job hunt is on. The reasons for your wanting to leave your current position can vary. Maybe you have outgrown the position and are on the lookout for new opportunities. Or there’s a colleague who is just making things miserable for you, doing little work and getting undeserved credit. It could be your boss who keeps piling on the work without appreciating the value you already bring. Or it’s just the organisation itself, you find that you don’t quite fit into the culture, like trying to stuff your feet into an ill-fitting pair of shoes. Whatever the reason, you’ve finally made the decision to move on. In the meantime, you still need to serve out your time in the current job. You owe it to yourself and your existing employer to remain faithful to your work and environment right up until your very last day. How do you make sure that you remain loyal, continuing to produce good quality work and not tarnishing existing relationships in anyway?

Be present and stay committed – If you are in an especially bad work situation, daydreaming about a new and better job might seem like the best way to get yourself through. Understand that there is nothing wrong with visualising your way into an improved situation. But remember the reality of where you are. You still need to deliver on your work; you still need to relate constructively with the people that you work with. Basically, you still need to be a functioning member of the team. The last thing you want to do is aggravate the situation by only being there in body, but your mind and spirit remain absent.

By being present and committed, you show up and operate in the now. You make the choice to accept the situation for what it is. Note that this is distinct from giving into negative circumstance where you run the risk of being complacent and checking out. It is simply a recognition of your reality as you perceive it, and deciding to remain an active participant. You need to trust that this has become your ‘meantime’ moment and that you, therefore, still need to continue taking the necessary steps in order to get through it.

Focus on your deliverables – There are a lot of reasons why a person may want to leave a job and they can be good or bad. These reasons, along with a myriad of other factors, can become very distracting. This to the point where you lose sight of why you are there in the first place, or at least what you agreed to when you signed up. The prospect and excitement of a new job, especially when things have been confirmed and formalised, can just add to the confusion.

Go back to basics – revisit your employment contract that stipulates the terms and conditions of why you were hired and what is therefore expected of you. Similarly with your key performance indicators that tell you what you are expected to deliver on and by when. All of this will remind you of the role you are supposed to be playing in your team and within the organisation as a whole. Also, by breaking down the big activities into smaller, manageable tasks, you provide yourself with simple step-by-step guidelines of what you need to be doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This is a sense of direction and focus for you at a time when it becomes especially challenging to stay on track.

Be positive in your outlook and attitude – It’s easy to be positive and excited about an upcoming job where the grass is proverbially greener. But attitude is key to maintaining loyalty in the job you still hold. It is up to you to make sure that you still enjoy being where you are, in spite of the circumstances. You don’t want to be dragging yourself to the office everyday; it will bring your mood and performance down. Keep things on a high in those last few months; it will help you start on a much better frame of mind in the next job.