Betting on Yourself: When it’s Time to Leave your Nonprofit Job

Published by Shannon Bowen

People come to me when they’re ready to search for their next job, but as we chat, I realize 9/10 times that they should’ve left their job long ago. Now the scars of working in a toxic workplace, being overworked, feeling undervalued, or passed over for raises and promotions are weighing on them while they need to perform in a job search.

So, how do you know when it’s time to leave your job?

Are You in the Right Nonprofit Job? A Career Check-In

Let’s first look at elements of a meaningful career and see if you answer “yes” to these at your current job:

My tasks align with my talents and interests.
I have a title that reflects my skills and experience.
My pay matches my value and funds my life and savings.
My work schedule and environment support my needs.
I enjoy my co-workers and work positively with them.
My supervisor invests in my growth and development.
There are professional development opportunities available.
I have good boundaries with work and can live a full life.
The work culture is safe and supportive.

How many could you confidently say “yes,” and how many did you say “kinda,” and how many did you say “uh, no?”

Don’t Let One Bad Week Push You—Look for Patterns

But before you decide to quit your job over an awful week at work, let’s dig deeper. I advise my coaching clients to set up a reflection practice: journal, voice memo, or write a note on your phone to complete on Mondays and Fridays for four weeks. This will help you identify deep-seated trends and not react to good or bad anomalies.

Reflection Questions:

After a day of work, how do I feel in my: mind, body, and emotions?
What feels good at work?
What feels challenging?
What types of work do I wish I was doing? Am I doing them?
Assessing my finances + personal time: does this job foster healthy finances and time for hobbies, exercise, and time with loved ones?
What’s missing from this job? Can I advocate for it?

Can You Make Changes or Is It Time to Leave?

This last question is important because before you jump ship, try to advocate for what you want/need. Your boss may have no idea that you’re looking to start supervising staff or you want to advance to a director role. If you have a safe relationship with your supervisor, express to them your desire to grow and ask if there is an opportunity to advance at this organization. You never know until you ask!

However, if you do this reflection practice and realize that you’re in a toxic workplace that is unwilling to change, that you’re in a role with zero opportunity to grow, that you have a boss who won’t advocate for you, that you feel unsafe around your coworkers, that you need more flexibility than this job can provide, that you’re bored out of your mind and dying to be creative…then it is time to go.

Please don’t gaslight yourself and endlessly hope that “things will turn a corner soon.” This four-week reflection highlights trends: don’t ignore the trends! Life is too short to work at a toxic or dead-end job. My biggest career regret was staying at a toxic workplace too long. Bet on yourself, trust your gut, and make the leap into a new job that deserves your talent!

Taking the Next Steps Toward a New Nonprofit Job

Once you decide to leave, start preparing quietly:

Update your resume and LinkedIn profile.
Reach out to your network for potential job opportunities.
Look through nonprofit job boards and postings.
Ask for LinkedIn recommendations from trusted colleagues.

Don’t worry, no one at work is looking at your LinkedIn! You can safely start optimizing the language on your profile, updating your experience, and asking for recommendations.

Job Searching with Confidence: Don’t Go It Alone

If you get stuck in your job search, working with a coach is a great way to strategize your materials and improve your interview skills.

Through my Dream Job Coaching process, I guide clients through:

Identifying the right job that aligns with their skills and values.
Creating a compelling resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile.
Preparing for interviews with confidence.
Negotiating for the salary they deserve.

As one of my clients says, “I would never cut my hair without a mirror, so I love having you as a coach because you tell me if my materials are strategic, and if my bangs are cut straight.” Yes, your materials are super important in a job search, but being clear on what you really want in a new job is even more important.

Working with a coach to know exactly what you want in a new job, helps you also know when to walk away from a bad offer. One of my clients was extremely low-balled on his offer which he politely counter-offered and they rescinded it. The shock was horrible, and regaining confidence and hope–even harder. But we worked together through the emotions and fine-tuned his search to land him an amazing job. This time, when counter-offered, they accepted all terms! He got a $25k increase from his current salary…and he got the holy grail: a 4-day work week!

You learn a lot about your future boss during negotiations–if they aren’t willing to listen to you then, how do you expect them to advocate for your future raise or promotion? We learn sooooo much during a job search that enlightens the culture we are walking into.

Leaving Well: How to Transition Out of Your Nonprofit Job

As you enter the job search process, you’ll want to start working on your transition. At work, you’ll quietly start tidying up your files, cross-training others on your tasks, and documenting your processes. The most important thing is to start healing from your current toxic or disappointing job.

Working with a coach and/or therapist to unpack the demoralizing experiences and rebuild your confidence will help you shine in your job search. These tough past experiences have a way of popping up into our interview responses, so proactively healing from them before speaking in front of an interview panel helps you show up as your best self in a job search.

One of my clients was being documented and pushed out—it was so toxic that when she was fired, it tasted like freedom. We worked to both heal from that past trauma and prepare her to enter a competitive job search. The past trauma crept into answers to benign questions like, “What are you looking for in your new manager?” By working to heal and strategize at the same time, she landed a new VP role, fully remote with $28k+ more money within two months.

Life is too short to settle for a lackluster or nightmare job. As I tell my clients: be expensive, be picky, be brilliant. There is a job out there that deserves your brilliance.

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Shannon Bowen is a career advancement coach + salary whisperer who coaches professionals on how to ace their job search and step into a higher salary band. She is also a nonprofit executive leader, fundraiser, and a staff retention and salary negotiation expert. Currently, she is the Chief Advancement Officer for Pacific Northwest Research Institute, is the Co-President for AFP Advancement Northwest Board of Directors, and is the CEO of Monsoon Leadership, which trains nonprofit professionals how to land their dream job and get paid what they deserve. Shannon is a trainer for AFP Global, AFP LEAD, local chapters, NTEN, and more. Shannon also teaches ballroom dance, DIY designs her house (have you seen her Zoom background??), tends to her 50+ houseplants, cooks gourmet meals, and plans her next foodie vacay.

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