Quit without job lined up? Forum

[Anonymous User]

How bad would it be to quit my current job without having another job lined up? Will future employers assume that I was fired? I’m really struggling mentally with the demands of biglaw. I can’t do this anymore.

[tlsadmin3]

It looks really bad when people quit without another job lined up. To future employers it can look like you don't get along with others well, you're kind of flakey, and it makes finding another position a lot harder. Don't do it unless you have a lot of cash piled up, you don't want to get into a situation where you get desperate for a new job.

[rcharter1978]

I mostly agree with the above. But I would think you'd want to consider just how mentally/emotionally beaten you are and whether you're at a breaking point.

Have you been looking? How far along are you in the search? Can you take a less prestigious and less stressful position to tide you over? Do you think you're in danger of getting fired?

Can you come up with another good reason that would explain quitting? (moving, needing to be closer to a spouses family, needing to be closer to another area for a significant others job, etc, etc).

I'm not sure the automatic assumption would be that you got fired. but, I think that leaving without another job can look bad. If people don't assume you were fired they will then assume you just quit which may make you look flakey.

Good luck, being miserable at work sucks donkey balls (I hope I'm still allowed to say this?)

[dabigchina]

There's another good thread about ragequitting biglaw. TLDR, it's not the worst thing in the world, especially in the current job market, but you can be a lot more strategic about it. Start slow walking work and responding later. Use that time to apply to jobs. the worst thing that could happen is that they fire you and pay you for 3 months with website time while you find a new job (and it takes most biglaw firms about 4-5 months at the earliest to even start thinking about pushing people out).

It looks really bad when people quit without another job lined up. To future employers it can look like you don't get along with others well, you're kind of flakey, and it makes finding another position a lot harder. Don't do it unless you have a lot of cash piled up, you don't want to get into a situation where you get desperate for a new job.

Sure, this is conventional wisdom for most jobs, but biglaw is kind of its own thing.

[sparty99]

How bad would it be to quit my current job without having another job lined up? Will future employers assume that I was fired? I’m really struggling mentally with the demands of biglaw. I can’t do this anymore.

I would not. Big law is not that serious. take a vacay. Worst thing they can do is fire you. Start working on your own schedule. Don't seek out new work. Tell them you are busy.

[papermateflair]

How bad would it be to quit my current job without having another job lined up? Will future employers assume that I was fired? I’m really struggling mentally with the demands of biglaw. I can’t do this anymore.

I would not. Big law is not that serious. take a vacay. Worst thing they can do is fire you. Start working on your own schedule. Don't seek out new work. Tell them you are busy.

Yes, agree with all of this.Take a vacation! Go for 10 days to South Africa or Australia or someplace else that's far away so you can sit on a plane for 25 hours and not respond to emails. Even if you do it at a bad time for your team...people may be mad, but it's very rare that people get outright fired (as opposed to law firm fired, where they keep paying you and give you 3-6 months to find a new job), and I can't imagine they're going to walk you out with a box because you go on vacation.

Work from home a couple of days a week. Get stuff done slower. If someone says they need a document back by 8 am the next day, tell them you can't get it to them until noon because of everything else on your plate, and see if they cave. If it's truly bad and the thought of doing ANY more work is unbearable, go talk to HR and see if you can go out on temporary leave for a couple of months. You're way better off slow-rolling your departure than just quitting. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll ice you out and give you less work over the course of several months and THEN give you 3 months to find a new job.

That said - it won't be the end of the world if you do quit. You'll find another job. It'll be fine. It just may be more stressful than hanging on and barely working while you look for something new.

[FND]

bad idea. It's not necessarily a career killer, but it certainly puts you at a disadvantage when looking for work. The assumption will always be that you got fired or asked to resign. Even if you get past that stage, you're gonna be asked about it.
Besides, psychologically, future employers like the idea of snatching someone away from the competition.

[wet.ink.sigs]

If it's truly bad and the thought of doing ANY more work is unbearable, go talk to HR and see if you can go out on temporary leave for a couple of months.

Seconding this. If you are already about to rage quit, the worst that can happen in this scenario is that they say no and you rage quit anyway. I think asking for leave deserves consideration because unlike vacation/sick day, you can probably take a month off. Also, vacation/sick day do not ward off emails the way leave does.

How close are you to your partners? If you have a good relationship, I would approach them directly instead of asking HR.

[ghostoftraynor]

All good advice above. Will just add your health is the most important thing, and your mental health is probably the most important component of that. If you are at the point where you think you may do something seriously hazardous to your health, quit immediately.

If its not a health (including mental health) emergency, take advantage of the fact that it takes a while to be fired from biglaw. Take vacations, be less responsive, refuse work even you probably could physically fit it into your schedule. Worst case scenario is they do fire you and you very well could get three months severance and continued website time. That gives you more time to find something else and be judged to have been fired. Not the most intuitive, but actually being fired and having three months of web time is far better than not being fired and no web time.

And worst case scenario, you are fired, have no web time or severance, you will figure something else out. Think the most important thing to remember at this point is your life is not this job and even in the worst imaginable scenario, you will probably land on your feet somewhere.

Good luck and sorry you are going through this.

[papermateflair]

If it's truly bad and the thought of doing ANY more work is unbearable, go talk to HR and see if you can go out on temporary leave for a couple of months.

Seconding this. If you are already about to rage quit, the worst that can happen in this scenario is that they say no and you rage quit anyway. I think asking for leave deserves consideration because unlike vacation/sick day, you can probably take a month off. Also, vacation/sick day do not ward off emails the way leave does.

How close are you to your partners? If you have a good relationship, I would approach them directly instead of asking HR.

Yes - talk to the most reasonable partner you work for. An associate at my old firm was having a mental health crisis and the firm gave them a couple of months off (PAID) to figure it out, and then when the associate came back and decided that they truly couldn't do the job any more, the partners helped the associate land on their feet in-house. There are certainly jerks in big law, but if anyone you work for is relatively understanding they will help you. Some partners would rather you come and tell them you're struggling than just blow deadlines and mess up their transactions and put them in a jam. If you need someone to help you have those conversations, reach out to another associate (or, of course, HR) - I know if someone came to me and said they needed help talking to a partner about something like this, I would absolutely do my best to support them, including doing the hard parts like the actual walk to the partner's office and the knock on their door.