Quit my job while applying for an MBA?

April 29, 2010 6:50 AM

Should I take the dive?

I'm very sick of my job. There's a lot of burnout where I work, and many of my friends here have just quit their jobs with no other employment lined up. This decision seems to have worked for most of them - we're fortunate to be in an industry that is hiring, so nearly everyone who has quit has found a job (and those who haven't aren't complaining :)). They're encouraging me to quit if I feel like it, and honestly I feel like it's time.

But I'm in a slightly different position - I'm planning to start MBA apps this summer for the 2011, and I'm worried that quitting my job will reflect poorly on me when I am applying for grad school.

So - am I sinking my chances of getting into a great MBA program if I quit just before starting my applications in earnest?

posted by Tehhund to work & money (5 answers total)

If it's so easy to get a job in your field, why do you have to quit before you try to find a new position?

Look while you're employed. That way you stay safely employed during the search and there's no lengthy gap you might have to explain away later.
posted by inturnaround at 6:54 AM on April 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

One of my Top 5 Rules for Life is to never quit a job unless I have something else lined up - doubly so in this economy. I know many people who have been unemployed for over a year. Even though you say your industry is hiring, that's no guarantee. Start looking for a job while you still have one.
posted by something something at 7:03 AM on April 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm HUGE proponent of being happy but I'm also responsible. I made this mistake once when I was 24.

I came close again this past year. I'm glad I waited. Even AFTER finding out that half of our competitors who found out I'd left the company made me job offers or called to inquire upon finding out.

Start looking. If you've toughed it out this long why not give it a couple more weeks while you line something else up.
posted by FlamingBore at 7:12 AM on April 29, 2010

Thanks for the responses, but I think I should clarify my question - it's "How will quitting affect my applications?," not "is it okay to quit in general?"

Why not just look while I'm employed? Because I've been trying to do that since February, but I miss my own deadlines for job searching / applying / resume updating because I'm burnt out from work.
posted by Tehhund at 7:12 AM on April 29, 2010

Well, why do you think quitting will reflect poorly on your applications? Do you have to provide a job history and indicate why each job ended (e.g. contract ended, fired, laid off, etc.)? Are you worried that you will come off as a quitter or something? If you have to indicate somehow that you quit your job, and provide reasons why, you can just say that you felt that the job was ultimately not a good fit, you got out of it what you needed to, you felt that you needed other opportunities, or that you quit because you felt like you couldn't hold down this utterly exhausting job that took away the needed time and energy to spend on your applications, which is true.

From where I sit, I think you're worried more about this than you need to be. Your reasons to quit are very legitimate - you're even so burned out from your job that you don't have the energy to look for another job. So quit, and use that energy to find other jobs and on your applications. People quit their jobs all the time!
posted by foxjacket at 9:47 AM on April 29, 2010