What's your experience leaving a small team?

What's your experience leaving a small team or shop? my team is four people and my role has too many responsibilities to handle which is a big reason why i want leave. I wouldn't feel guilty about giving two-weeks notice but curious if those two weeks would just be pure hell when your team is losing a big chunk of its workforce.

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Oh, I can see why you're in a bit of a pickle there. Leaving a small team can indeed be a bit more challenging, especially when you're handling a significant amount of responsibilities. But remember, it's all about how you manage the transition.

Firstly, it's important to frame your decision as a forward-looking move for your career development, rather than a dissatisfaction with your current role. This way, you're not burning any bridges and it leaves a positive impression.

Secondly, before you leave, it might be helpful to do some analysis on how your team works and how it could be improved. This could be a great parting gift to your team and your boss, showing that you're still invested in the team's success even as you're leaving.

Lastly, remember to maintain a professional demeanor throughout your notice period. Yes, it might be a bit hectic, but it's important to leave on a good note.

And remember, it's okay to prioritize your own career goals and personal well-being. If the role isn't serving you well, it's perfectly fine to seek out opportunities that do. Good luck!

Sources: Quitting time - views on how to leave your job, Leave well-known MM ER firm after 2-4 months for new VC firm?, Stay at Big 4 or jump to boutique?, Why are so many consultants eager to leave?

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Obviously it’s never fun. But, people will accept it quickly and adapt to the new normal. They’ll be more stressed about how they’ll cover you than angry about you leaving

 

Think it depends on production volume. I left a small shop that was doing no deals and thought small shops were terrible. Then joined a big company but small exclusive team within it and have good deal flow so I wouldn't want to leave.

 

There was a decent volume of deals coming in, but the execution of the deals suffered mostly because of bad management and lack of enough capital, not only in the deals but in the company itself to operate efficiently. These are my two main reasons for not liking my small shop. I like the autonomy I have but sometimes a bad decision by management, or not enough capital to address an issue, forces us to select a less optimal solution that can haunt us later. A small team within a larger company sounds great! To me it translates into being better capitalized and more deal viability. 

 

If you're at the VP level and you have that many responsibilities, I'd lean toward more than 2 weeks. 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

Most of my responsibilities increased drastically in the last few months after management decided to let go of two other people from the team and said i can cover their work. All of this is with no increased pay. At this point i'm worried about actually getting fired because I've already not been able to cover everything i'm supposed to. I'll probably lean towards giving three weeks to be in good graces and allow a smoother hand-off, one-month or 4 weeks is a maybe.

I'll also add, i should have a VP title and pay to match based on my experience so far, but so far management hasn't given that. they still consider me "associate" level.

 

I've worked on a couple of credit teams as a team of 1 for AM. Because of my position, I've given up to a month's notice and have never been let go early unlike fellow colleagues that have given 2 weeks and were walked the same day.

I think the more important you are, the more it takes to transfer knowledge, which you should try and do within reason. 

RE is a small world and how you leave a job says just as much about you as how you performed normally.

 

I don't really like my boss but as you mention the RE world is too small so i understand your point here in leaving memorably in a good way. I'm a little jaded because i was asked to take over someone else's work who they didn't replace. So i'm doing double work and not really getting anything additional out of it.

Were the people who gave two weeks notice that were let go same day, going to competitors? That's the only time I've seen that happen.

When you were that team of 1 and gave one-month's notice, was that more than enough time to close things out and transition things over appropriately? I can't imagine that a replacement was found in that same time window but i'm sure during that time you focused on bring things to a proper close out and created notes or guides on management of tasks of yours until a replacement took your spot?

I recognize i am on a small team and there's just a lot to cover and i'll have to really give more notice than two weeks. my role really does allow for an inside look at the company's books and we're just not in good shape. the real reason for this is management keeps doing nothing or implements very ineffective solutions that only wastes time.

 
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Even with a switch to a competitor, I was asked to stay my entire notice period to tranafer knowledge. The originations team had to bridge the gap between me and my replacement (it ended up taking them 6 months to hire/start), so I was wrapping up things and providing notes for them to handle in the interim.

There was an SVP on the equity side that had quit about 6 weeks before me and they walked him, so the ask was specifically because I was a team of 1 and it would be harder for others to pick up my work (the SVP was on a team of 8). They also walked the 2 associates that had quit the year before too.

Of course, once I quit, my hours went down to 40 a week on the dot. If something couldn't be accomplished in that time, then it didn't happen. No reason to stay extra hours.

I will say that I'm still friends/in contact with all of my former bosses. They all appreciated my hard work and efforts and one of them is still a professional reference for me. But it also felt good to have the ability to wrap up the things I thought were important and leave on a good note. 

 

Jump. I would leave give your two weeks notice and not look back. Keep recruiting sounds like they are trying to cut headcount as well.

 

You pull the trigger yet?

I left a small team and was nervous about it, but ultimately the reaction was much better than I expected. I also stuck around at a medium size team of 16 or so for way to long, passed up some good opportunities, still had way too many responsibilities yet was laid off with absolutely zero warning when company financials got strained.

At the end of the day, in a bad situation they'll cut you at the drop of a hat, leaving the remaining people to figure it out and probably pester you for help about your workload that just got dumped on their laps. Don't over think it and submit that notice.

 

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