Why You Should Do One Thing Before You Resign

It's no secret that I've had a lot of jobs.

My Linkedin profile only tells a fraction of the story. It tells the story I want it to tell, not the truth.

I've had somewhere between 40-60 jobs (I lost count with a few of the 1-week ones like the hydro company call centre and the insurance sales roles or the door-to-door newspaper sales).

I gradually deleted the companies that I worked for that didn't work out after 2-3 months (the digital label company, the grocery store, the startup that lied about the role and their funding status).

Am I liar?

Well yes.

The answer is that I am showing you the side of me that I want you to see. The professional story of going from Sales Rep - to Sales Manager - to Sales VP - to Recruiter - to Entrepreneur.

The mistakes that I made along the way with jobs and companies that didn't fit were my mistakes to make and my story to tell (if I choose to).

But, something happened a few years ago and I got caught.

It was by one of my Former Employers. One that I greatly respected.

You see in 2006 I had spent the previous 5 years consuming a staggering amount of alcohol and drugs to numb life. The reasons don't matter why, but the outcome was police intervention, convictions, rehab and sobriety.

All the while, I was working. Or trying to work.

And when I finally cleaned myself up. I discovered that I had to start all over again and learn who I was.

In 2009, I got a job at a company called Primacy. They have the medical clinics in Loblaw's stores. It was a concept founded by two Engineers who wanted to expand. They wanted to branch out to the medical community as a whole and created an online marketplace where you could find doctors, chiropractors, dentists, massage therapists, psychologists etc...

My role in this 6-person company was "Sales Manager - Medical Directory" and I was earning $40K as salary with $50K upside in commissions. I was thrilled!

After 5 months of grinding at the role, developing a Sales and Marketing Plan, Managing Customer Relationships, Prospecting, and working with Developers and Marketing to create this listing website, the Founders called me into the office.

"Jordana. We love what you're doing. We need you to broaden the scope and start testing the market in surrounding cities and areas." This meant getting a car. I couldn't.

I lost my license for 4 years as a part of my convictions for the disastrous decisions I had made as a young woman. I couldn't drive even if I wanted to. This company didn't do background checks so I didn't have to disclose my horrendous past.

But I was too embarrassed to tell them and I resigned a few days later.

Fast-forward 13 years later.

One of the Founders, Gary reached out to me on Linkedin. He was praising me for what I had done with my career. For being transparent in my approach to helping people and starting my own business.

I told him the REAL reason why I resigned. Why I regretted not telling them what I had done.

"Oh." He said. "Well, why didn't you say something to us? We would have worked around it. We always wondered, why you left and what you could've done with us if you stayed." I cried. Thirteen years later, there was understanding and compassion that I didn't have for myself at time.

The Lesson?

Whether you're resigning because the circumstances of your role have changed, the comp changed, you have a new boss, you're not getting promoted quicky enough, the culture is toxic - WHATEVER the reason...Stop and think first. Did I take ownership of this decision and is this what I really want?

You are going to be harder on yourself than anyone else is. I still beat myself up about my past. But I wish I had taken ownership. I wish I allowed the truth of why I was resigning to be the centre of the conversation and taken responsibility.

It won't always work out, but it's worth a try.