How to resign from a job after one year?

[psychrat]

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What are your thoughts about leaving your first job as a licensed psychologist after postdoc after one year if you are grossly underpaid? What would be a good way to resign? Do you feel like it would look bad on a CV to leave after one year?

 

[WisNeuro]

What are your thoughts about leaving your first job as a licensed psychologist after postdoc after one year if you are grossly underpaid? What would be a good way to resign? Do you feel like it would look bad on a CV to leave after one year?

Do you like the job? Can you negotiate a raise? Also, in your early years, it's common to have a job or two that have a short tenure. I'd just be honest about the resignation in terms of looking for a job with better compensation. As long as your outlook is realistic given the pay scales in the area for similar work, it's on the practice/company to either raise pay or lose employees.

 

[bcliff]

Do you have another job offer lined up? If so, I would bring that to the table (if you're interested in renegotiating your terms at your current position) with your superior; otherwise, I don't see any reason why submitting notice and wrapping up clinical cases would be problematic after one year.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Generally speaking it hasn't been an issue in the cases I have seen so far. I have colleagues who have done this and they are happy they did it, although those transitions were mostly for personal and geographic re-location reasons.

Is the new gig the same kind of work in the same town/geographical area?

 

[PsyDr]

1) Interviewers will ask. So long as you have a succinct explanation that makes sense, it's not a big deal.

2) The rule of thumb is to avoid leaving a job until you have a job offer.

3) Offering a dissenting view: If I were in your shoes, I would not negotiate or tell the employer I was looking for work. I would find another job, and hand in my resignation. I personally outright refuse to negotiate with people who severely lowball because
a. the only reasonable option is to counter with something stupidly high which makes me look unreasonable.
b. If they are unethical in one thing, they are likely unethical in another.

4)

 

[WisNeuro]

I will second PSYDR's #2 point. It's nice to collect a paycheck when interviewing for other positions. Additionally, I would add that ideally you will have multiple offers in hand for negotiating at your future jobs. It helped my negotiate an extra 10k in salary in my last search.

 

[psychrat]

The thing is even with a raise at a certain percentage, the pay would still be terrible for a licensed psychologist in this area. When I applied to the agency, I applied for a higher-level position, but they went with another candidate because she had a valuable language skill. I was in the process of being licensed, but very very close to it, so they offered me an MA level position. They offered me the very low range of the MA level position and I asked for the highest since I have my PhD. I negotiated with HR over the phone and they offered me mid-range, which was not terrific, but typical for a first-year psychologist. However, this was all verbal. When they sent me the preliminary offer letter it did not mention salary and said I would get the official offer letter after a background check and physical. After that, which, of course, took a while, I went to HR to sign my letter and it was 10000 less than what we discussed. When I confronted HR, I was told that I must have misheard them. I know I did not because they said they would offer “midrange” for that position and what the official offer letter said was only a few thousand dollars above the super lowball figure. I had two choices, as HR did not seem like they would bring it back to the department and re-negotiate: to either take the job offer or be unemployed. I considered being unemployed, but the market where I live is over-saturated and I knew it would likely take at least six months or so to find something. I decided to take it and treat it like another postdoc since the salary was about the same as what I received during my formal postdoc. I like the job overall and was hoping a higher-level position opens but it has not. Is it worth telling the administration that I am going to start looking for a new position or should I just look until I find something and then tell them.

 

[Sanman]

Then you learned your first lesson. You don't have a deal until it is in writing. When doing informal negotiations, email is best as you have a record. Given how they have treated you, you owe them nothing and it does not seem like you have a future there. Start job hunting, hand in your resignation only when you have a written offer letter and a formal acceptance of your next job offer. Check your current contract to see what kind of notice is specified when you choose to leave. That is all you are obligated to do. Having long terminations with clients is nice, but your first responsibility is to yourself financially.


I am with PSYDR on negotiations not being worth it. It negotiated with a former employer over my lifestyle (travel, call ,etc) with another job offer in hand. It was great for 6 months and then I was back to putting out fires for them. The next time, I left for real and they were sorry. However, they couldn't match my current offer. However, the previous negotiation was not a waste. I spoke to every competitor in our region and was given an offer. I still keep in contact should I decide to return to my previous area of work and am aware of my market value.


FYI, no point in negotiating with HR in my experience. They don't care. Negotiate with management and have them ensure it happens if they want you there.

 

[WisNeuro]

I agree, in OPs situation, not worth negotiating considering the way they have acted thus far. I don't think negotiating is pointless in every situation. I do think getting an offer before negotiating is important in most situations, though, as you should not enter into negotiations unless you are honestly willing to walk if things don't get to a certain point you are willing to live with.

 

[PsyDr]

To be clear: negotiation tactics largely depend on your own position and the other person. It is likely unfair to compare how I negotiate given where I am in life with how an ecp should or could negotiate. I do think that basic assertiveness training skills are a bare minimum for contract negotiations. That being said:

I’ve been in positions where I had zero negotiation power and had to take what was given.

I’ve been in positions where everyone was extremely open and fair and no negotiation was needed.

I’ve been in positions where everyone was open and fair but each party’s wants were not compatible and we walked away friends.

I’ve also used extremely aggressive tactics when I had all the power and didn’t feel like the other party was being fair. And that is why I’m banned from two separate car dealerships.

 

[CatLover&PsychEnthusiast]

I’ve also used extremely aggressive tactics when I had all the power and didn’t feel like the other party was being fair. And that is why I’m banned from two separate car dealerships.

Ha ha this is great!

 

[PsyDr]

Looked into this. Found a resource:

Leaving a job in the first 15 months is like erasing years of experience from your resume

 

[Sanman]

Looked into this. Found a resource:

Leaving a job in the first 15 months is like erasing years of experience from your resume

The operative sentence in that article is that those with less than two year's experience did not suffer any negative effect. I think that this is quite common to leave certain situations. For example, I don't think anybody in the private practice community would fault someone else for leaving a community mental health center given the notoriously low salaries. Also, if this is the same place you did post-doc, I would consider the full period you were there as your tenure if reviewing an application.