TORONTO Thinking about quitting your job? A humorous new app aims to relieve the stress and anxiety of confronting the boss with the news by sending a text message instead.
Although the new iPhone app is meant to be funny, its creators are hoping it will take off and people will use it to leave jobs.
The Quit Your Job app takes users through a series of steps to determine why they are leaving and then crafts a text message that is sent directly to their boss.
"Despite all the advances in technology we still quit our jobs the same way we did hundreds of year ago," said Alex Douzet, chief executive officer of TheLadders, a New York-based employment company that produces the app.
"There's a lot of anxiety around the resignation process, so we used technology to ease the pain in that moment and make it seamless to breakup with your boss," he added.
About 2.3 million Americans left their jobs last October, citing reasons such as dissatisfaction with career growth, compensation or simply feeling unrecognized, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Douzet said the first few months of a new year are the busiest time for job searches. Many people wait for their end-of-year bonuses before making a move to a new position.
"It always correlates with New Year's resolutions. People think ‘I'm not happy and want to make a move'" he said.
Quit Your Job was inspired by another app called BreakupText. Its designers teamed up with the TheLadders to create the new app.
BreakupText, which lets users leave their significant others via a text message, costs 99 cents and is available for the iPhone.
With Quit Your Job, after sending their resignation users can browse open positions on another app called, Job Search by TheLadders, which targets positions based on the user's job profile and career goals. The free app was launched as an iPhone app in July and released on Android last week.
"This is unchartered territory," he said of the Quit Your Job app. "It's an experiment to see if people will actually use it seriously. If thousands of people download the app and only one ends up using it seriously, that's interesting because it's changing behaviors," he said.
Douzet added that before leaving a job people should have another one lined up.
"It's more appealing to know you're in demand. You'll have more power and leverage since you already have a pay check coming in," he explained.
(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Andrew Hay)
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