Permission to quit, ma'am?

Post date: 2021-07-22 06:32:35

I had a streak of bad luck with jobs, and then suddenly maybe a ray of hope? Looking to rid some guilt with quitting and some reassurance that it will hopefully be ok?

This is mostly a question about quitting but also...job hopping? Ask A Manager has beat the fear of Job Hop into me and I'm afraid leaving this job will continue to make me look like a flake. A quick job history:

1st job out of school/interships: 1.8 years, almost 2, but quit to move across the country
2nd job: 1.5 years, was a complete hellmouth and I only made it through by the grace of therapy.
3rd and current job: my escape! but from the frying pan into the fire. been here 1 year and 4 months. Started taking prozac to help with the stress of the job. Got promoted. Stress has died down but I find myself very indifferent, although staying here would probably lead me to another promotion.

The situation now: I was not even job searching because I wanted to stay grateful for what I had during COVID, but someone approached me based off a talk I gave to a volunteer group and wanted to hire me for some consulting work. I decided to do some contract work very part time for them, and then...it turns out I really enjoy it? They offered a full time position. I'm ecstatic. It's like a combination of interesting job and I think I actually have a strength for this type of job, whereas before I felt like I struggled to feel competent for my other jobs.

I feel incredibly guilty quitting though. I'm also afraid, at 29, I've job hopped so much that if I don't stay at my present, prozac-inducing job, I will not be seen as a viable candidate. As much as I want to try this next job full time, I know leaving my team high and dry (we've had 2 people quit already this year on our small team) is not going to be good. My boss is so kind and also relatively new. But...I want to work this other job so bad.

How much should I fear being a job hopper and should that keep me here for another year? That does mean I'd have to let go of the full time offer. I cannot work part time and full time any longer though, it's too stressful, so I would likely let the part time work go too. The pay for the new job is better than my current job too, but the title is not as "impressive" (meh) than my current job. I'm feeling conflicted and would appreciate any insight.

(anon because coworkers are on here and no one knows about my thoughts of leaving yet.)

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