Is it time yet?

I am torn. I am not sure what to do. My rational cold self indicates one path, and the part of me that is more loyal and appreciative wants to follow another.

The issue at hand: my job. Is it time to start looking, yet again?

Lemme explain the situation. As I’ve said before, the amount of work I usually have is just ridiculous. The stress has gotten to the point that at night I constantly dream about work and how to organize myself to do everything I have to do, and I need to work at least one day on weekends. My past vacations in Chile weren’t really such, as I spent most of the time working; for instance, on my last night there, I had to cancel my farewell dinner with the family –who I see only once a year– due to last minute emergency work that just needed to get done. Basically, the amount of work and the lack of respect for personal/life time are getting unbearable.

Maybe not surprisingly, this place has an incredible turnover rate: out of 55 employees, 31 have turned over during the last 6 months –some positions more than once. On top of that, I came back to Washington to find that, out of the four senior researchers in the firm, three had quit over the break leaving only me as the remaining one. This meant that all of their projects were left headless and I had to take over several of them. Translation: even more work, even more stress, and the real possibility –due to the lack of people to do the work– of this firm going south.

And funny how it works, as soon as I began thinking about considering my options, several recruiters started approaching me, taunting me with theoretically fantastic new job possibilities for which, they claim, I am the ideal candidate.

On the other side, just thinking about it, I feel exhausted by the idea of job hunting again. I’ve done it way too many times these last two years. Also, I actually like what I do in my job, I like that my job means something; it’s interesting and every day I learn something new. On top of that, I don’t remember when was the last time I was as highly professionally respected as I am now. My boss listens to me, he respects my opinion, he pushes me to learn and improve. I think he believes in me more than I do, which is a huge incentive. In addition, I feel he believed in me and gave me a chance when nobody else did. I feel that I owe him loyalty for that.

So, I am torn. Ideas? Suggestions? More arguments for one or the other side? In the meantime, while I decide, I am updating my CV and my LinkedIn page…