If you’re thinking of leaving your job, the grass may not be greener somewhere else. If there are some aspects of your role or employer that you do like, it may be better to negotiate the things you want to change instead of jumping back into the job market with everyone else.

“Anytime you’re dissatisfied with your job, go to your employer to see what can be changed before you depart,” says Victoria Medvec, PhD., author of Negotiate Without Fear: Strategies and Tools to Maximize Your Outcomes. “Assume that your employer wants to keep you and would like a chance to modify things.”

This is especially important for women, says Medvec, who’s also cofounder and executive director of the Center for Executive Women at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “Women are less likely to negotiate and exit without asking,” she says. “If you leave without asking for what you want, you risk leaving on bad terms because your employer will feel that you didn’t give them a chance.”

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