289: Revenge Quitting: Take This Job and....Actually, Wait a Second

Feeling trapped in a toxic workplace and fantasizing about a dramatic exit? 

Before you burn bridges, this episode dives into the psychology of revenge quitting and why it’s often more damaging than liberating. While the impulse to quit in protest is understandable, the long-term consequences—especially in today’s uncertain job market—can be severe.

In this episode, you'll learn: 

✔ The psychology behind revenge quitting and why it feels so satisfying 

✔ How shifting job market trends make impulsive exits riskier 

✔ Three major risks: extended job searches, burned bridges, and AI-driven job cuts 

✔ Smart alternatives, including “quietly preparing” for a strategic departure

✔ How negotiating workplace changes might provide a temporary solution 

✔ The importance of leaving professionally to protect future opportunities 

✔ How to build your Mid-Career GPS for a thoughtful and strategic career transition

Your career is too valuable to risk on an impulsive decision. Instead of making an emotional exit, learn how to transition professionally and strategically on your terms.

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Revenge Quitting
• 5:42 Learning from Younger Professionals
• 7:12 Is Revenge Quitting Right for You?
• 11:36 Three Major Risks of Revenge Quitting
• 14:47 Smarter Alternatives to Consider
• 19:45 Building Your Mid-Career GPS

Transcript

John Neral: 0:00

By definition, revenge quitting is when an employee who feels undervalued, overworked and disrespected is willing to walk away from their job, sometimes without another one lined up. I know this may seem crazy to some of you who are craving job security and stability in this ever-stressful job market right now, but what would you do if things became too much and you're ready to get the you-know-what out of there? So in this episode, I'll break down for you the risks of revenge quitting and I'll share some alternatives that may just help you build your mid-career GPS a little differently. Let's get started. Hello, my friends, this is the Mid-Career GPS Podcast and I'm your host, John Neral. I help mid-career professionals like you find a job they love, or love the job they have, using my proven four-step formula. This job market is crazy right now and if you are looking or considering looking for a new job based on whatever your circumstances may be, I want to send you over to my website at https://johnneral. com. Click on the freebies tab. That's there. You will see a wealth of free resources to specifically help you, but not overwhelm you. One of them is my absolute favorite is my Mid-Career Job Seekers Checklist. I hope you will check that out Anytime you download one of my free guides, you will get automatically entered into my twice-a-week email newsletter community. You can just sign up for that on your own as well, but each week I come right into your inbox where I share information specifically related to leadership and mid-career transition topics. Okay, I've got a lot to talk about today.

John Neral: 1:57

This whole thing about revenge quitting has really hit me hard in some ways because I've been following this for a while, but at the time of this recording, which is March 19th this is going to drop on the 25th there's a lot of things that are going on in the federal government right now. I know you've been following and, as some of you know and some of you don't, I had a 25-year career in education and what is happening at the Department of Education. I know people who work there and, obviously, a career where I was a classroom teacher, I was an educational administrator, I had worked for a state superintendent. This whole conversation we're having right now around education is needed. I'm just not convinced this is the way we need to have it. So my heart is heavy today and, putting this episode together to talk about revenge quitting, I need to acknowledge that there are a lot of people out there who have been laid off. They've been riffed, which is a reduction in force, they've been terminated and they would love to have an option to revenge quit and they don't. So I want to get into this episode just acknowledging that, but also with some grace, because things feel so heavy right now. I had lunch earlier on today with an education colleague of mine and that really was the word we used to kind of describe what's been happening. Things just feel really, really heavy and, as I talk to people each week and I work with my private clients, there's a lot going on. So I feel you and I see you and I want you to know I'm here for you. But let's talk about this because there is a lot of things we can learn about this whole concept of what revenge quitting is. This topic is relevant to you if you're thinking about doing it. It is also relevant to you if you are leading or managing teams and you need to be aware if this potentially is on their radar.

John Neral: 4:19

So revenge quitting is still a thing in this volatile job market. There is no denying that. And what's particularly important to call out is that we're seeing this a lot with younger employees. So Gen Z are still engaging in this trend. But if you look at the job market over the last couple of decades, we can learn a lot from younger professionals. Couple of decades we can learn a lot from younger professionals. So if we go back about 12 to 15 years ago, we can learn another valuable lesson, and we should have learned a valuable lesson from younger professionals at the time, which was their confidence was so high as they were growing their skill set, that they were job hopping. They were moving to different companies and leveraging and upskilling their talent and expertise to where they would go to a new company and move into a new role. They would get a new title. They would get a significant bump in pay. The job market allowed for that. So how do we learn from younger professionals here? That might be revenge quitting.

John Neral: 5:27

The first thing is revenge quitting is an action and we have to get really clear on what our thoughts and feelings are about taking that action, as well as examining what the potential result may be. You have to decide whether or not revenge quitting is something worth it for you to do. In essence, you have to determine if it's the best move for you. So, as a coach, I never tell my clients what they should do. That's not my job. My job as their coach is to show them their brain, explore all of the opportunities and possibilities, examine every single avenue and corner to decide whether or not a potential move is best for them, because my job is to help them make the best decision for themselves. But I will offer this caveat In a time where a lot of people are dealing with a lot of things.

John Neral: 6:35

There is a lot of stress, anxiety, worry, fear, nervousness, and again, they're all pretty heavy right? No-transcript. Okay, if you believe you need some support with your mental health, seek help from a qualified professional. Get the attention your mental health needs so you can be there for yourself and your loved ones as well. It's okay to not be okay. Let's just normalize that for a moment. It's okay to not be okay, but please make sure you're taking care of your mental health. You, like me, are probably seeing a lot of situations and circumstances and you're hearing people starting to tell more stories about why they're hating their job, why they're worried about losing their job, or why their boss is toxic or the company culture is toxic.

John Neral: 7:40

If someone's going to quit their job out of revenge, it needs to begin with a thought, and that thought is typically I win, you lose. Or, in a little more cruder terms, it's screw them before they screw you. So someone who is going to quit their job out of revenge obviously has had a number of things happen to them that they have decided this is the best move for them. Now, for me, that would be really difficult for me to do, because I would always want to have a safety net. I would want to know there's another job to go to or there's enough savings to carry me for a much longer period of time than what the average time is for finding a job right now.

John Neral: 8:34

There are a lot of things that are at play here, but if you are doom scrolling, you're scrolling through reels on Facebook, instagram or TikTok, or you're watching YouTube videos, you have probably seen some public displays of resignation that, on some level, may actually delight you, and that's okay. You are vicariously living through someone else's actions to be like oh, could you imagine what it would be like to quit my job like that? How good would it feel if I told my boss off? How good would it feel if I just picked up and left? Here's the thing For the people I work with and I help. Y'all have really big hearts and more often than not, you won't revenge quit because you are afraid of leaving your dear colleagues behind. Remember, you are 100% responsible for your career. But there are a lot of things that are out there in terms of resigning and I will offer that when you're watching one of these videos, it may be staged, it may be an act, it may be true. You got to figure that out.

John Neral: 9:45

But in this labor market right now, even though job hopping has slowed, people are staying in positions, even though they are unhappy, a little longer than what they might normally do if the job market was a little more favorable. On the candidate side, certain industries still have strong demand and, depending on that industry, it might make quitting less risky for those people who have those kinds of in-demand skills. So if you pause for a moment and ask yourself, how confident are you about making such a switch, if you are considering leaving your job right now, what's your safety net, what's your timeframe, what's your timeframe, what's your timeline? These can be some powerful conversations that you are having on your own with your loved ones, with your coach. They can be some powerful conversations here.

John Neral: 10:49

You may be looking at how your company is moving and taking care of some initiatives in this regard that are based on a political motivation, or there's some political frustration or political influence. As an employee of that company, you've got to decide if that's how you want to play Right and you may be like, look, it's okay for now, but I'm going to build a bridge to something else. I'm going to put in an exit strategy, I'm going to go somewhere else, but I want to offer you that, if you are considering quitting your job in this job market right now, you have to be mindful of some of the risks, and I'm going to offer three of them to you today. The first is that there are fewer immediate job openings. The job market is cooling down and what we have seen, even through most of 2024, was that companies are taking longer to hire talent. They are looking at staffing numbers a bit differently. They are making sure they've got the right candidate in for the job, so you may not be able to find a job as quickly as you would like. Research supports and this is from a number of different companies, and one I tend to often look at is HubSpot but for a mid-career, mid-level professional, we are, on average, looking around five months. I'm seeing this from multiple sources. Okay, yes, you can speed that up, depending upon how aggressive or how your industry is in terms of finding talent right now and hiring that talent. But if you think you're going to be able to be like I think I'm going to quit my job this week and find one next week, I wish you all the best in that, but I'd be very, very careful in my professional opinion.

John Neral: 12:52

Risk number two if you revenge quit, you run the risk of potentially burning bridges you do not want to burn. Leaving a job dramatically I was going to say leaving a job dramatically leaving a job dramatically can hurt any future references or recommendations you may get. Trust me, it may feel really, really good at the time. More than likely, you will doubt or regret that decision down the road. There was one job I left and I left. I did have another job lined up, but I said something on the way out rather loudly. I said deuces. I regret that to this day because that's not how I normally show up. I was so angry and frustrated and hurt and I was relieved at the same time that I was going. But if I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't have said that. So be careful in that regard.

John Neral: 14:00

The third thing the third risk of revenge quitting right now is that there are AI-driven job reductions as AI continues to replace certain roles where AI can automate it. If you are in a role that is at risk of being completed or done in part by artificial intelligence, finding a similar job may not be as easy. So I want you to take a look at your skills, look at your expertise, look at how marketable you are as a candidate and see where you can best strategically position yourself. So, rather than revenge quit, the flip side of this is I'm going to give you three smarter alternatives to revenge quitting. So you've heard of quiet quitting before. We saw that over the last few years, where people were just not really doing their job and they were just kind of resolved to I'm just going to get through the day. Here's what I want to offer you. Alternative number one quietly prepare. Be very stealthy about this. Secure that new job before quitting will absolutely help you avoid any type of financial strain or drain in that regard. But quietly preparing is doing those things where you're getting your resume in order, you're having some networking conversations, you're looking for positions, you're figuring out different companies that may be a great fit. Maybe you're hiring a coach. Maybe you're working with a mentor right, quietly preparing, and just so.

John Neral: 15:44

We call this out here a lot of times, people are fearful of updating their LinkedIn when they have not updated it previously. Before they start looking for a job, they might be hesitant to change their headshot or their headline or update their experiences or maybe post some recommendations from people within their network. If you're being a good professional right now, there's nothing wrong with building your network. And if you are building your network, having a LinkedIn profile that is optimized to showcase who you are and what you do, especially in your current position, is easy. Do especially in your current position is easy If you feel like your management or someone you work with may come to you and be like hey, I noticed you've been updating your LinkedIn profile. Yeah, just something I decided to do. You figure out how you want to tell that story, but quietly preparing and being very stealthy about it is absolutely a smarter alternative. It is absolutely a smarter alternative, in my opinion.

John Neral: 16:47

Alternative number two is about negotiating changes If there is something in your current job, be it related to workload or overall compensation there may be an opportunity to address and resolve it. Before you resign, ask yourself is there something the company can do that would essentially keep me here for a certain amount of time? It may be a formalized retention bonus, it may be an informal benefit or something Like right now, if you're back in the office five days a week. It might be something like look, you know, one day a pay period, work from home, who knows? You have to work that out within your company, but is there something they could do that would help you negotiate? Or you could negotiate with them a particular change that might keep you there until you find that next job?

John Neral: 18:00

And the third alternative and admittedly this one's a difficult one If you exit, do it professionally Because, as angry as you may be, as upset, frustrated and hurt you may be, if you decide to quit and that is the best option for you do it gracefully so you can keep the doors open. If you are going to burn a bridge and, trust me, there are times when we have to. And, trust me, there are times when we have to there are times in our lives and careers where burning a bridge is absolutely the quote-unquote best and right thing to do. But if you're going to burn a bridge and you're going to stand there and watch that bridge crumble behind you, I want you to be prepared for any ramifications that may come from that. If you were retirement eligible or you say you know what, I'm never going back there, I don't need a reference, you may choose to play this very differently, but if you're going to burn a bridge, make sure you understand all the ramifications from it, and I will always offer you that leaving gracefully is a far better win in the end. So revenge quitting is not going to go away. It is still a thing in 2025, but I will offer you, it is riskier than ever.

John Neral: 19:50

So if you're thinking about leaving your job, this is where building a mid-career GPS comes in. It's about preparing what you're going to be doing, positioning yourself strategically in the market, promoting who you are and what you do, and showing up in a way that is genuine and authentic for you. If you build your mid-career GPS, you will make a strategic and smarter move, because you've thoughtfully and carefully figured out what that next option might be, and carefully figured out what that next option might be. So if you're looking for a more strategic and planned approach, I'd be very happy to talk to you. There are ways that we can do this, you know. First of all, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. We can start a DM chain back and forth.

John Neral: 20:44

There are ways to do a leadership and career strategy session with me for a small fee, and I've got an announcement coming up very shortly. That is going to be one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my business. I'm not ready to announce it just yet because I'm ironing out a couple of things with it, but we're close and I can't wait to share it just yet, because I'm ironing out a couple of things with it, but we're close and I can't wait to share it with you. So there could be ways for us to do some work together at a benefit that I've never offered before. So if you want a more planned approach, keep me in mind. We can talk Absolutely All right.

John Neral: 21:26

So if you're thinking about quitting, if that's really the best move for you, do what you need to do, do what is best, but please make sure you take an opportunity to look at all of the parameters and things that are going on so you can truly, truly, truly make the best decision for you and your loved ones.

John Neral: 21:42

Truly, truly make the best decision for you and your loved ones. So until next time, my friends, remember this you will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time, and how you show up matters. Make it a great rest of your day. Thank you for listening to the Mid-Career GPS Podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform and, if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple Podcasts. Visit johnnerrellcom for more information about how I can help you build your mid-career GPS or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at John Darrell Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember how we show up matters. Thank you.