Q: After 10 years, I resigned from my position as a department director at a medium-sized company. I had been asked to take on a second full-time position in addition to my job, and I could not refuse. My boss said I was the strongest producer and added the greatest value. After one year, I knew I had to leave because of the many hours needed to do both jobs. I was exhausted and it was taking its toll on me. Also, since the additional job was added to mine, my boss began micromanaging me. I felt the two reasons were enough to justify leaving. I've started networking and sending letters, but when and how do I explain my resigning without having another job?

A: Job searches can take a great amount of time and energy, especially as a person onto jobs requiring greater responsibility than the previous ones. Make sure your resume clearly shows you held two full time positions simultaneously, listing the correct dates for each one. Treat each job separately, though, showing the projects and the accomplishments for each.

Any recruiter who contacts you will understand why you resigned, but you can go into detail in your interview when asked. Explain you could not continue pouring in the hours necessary to be successful in each job. Had you added the hours for a job search, both jobs along would have suffered. Further describe yourself as having strong work ethics, which is why you accepted the second position. Express how you tried to do everything both jobs required, but you wanted a more balanced life. If a company objects to your explanation, (you will know this by further questioning about the situation) that is your warning that you'd be walking into the same kind of mess as the one you just left.

For the future, when a boss compliments your ability and follows it by asking you to handle an unreasonable assignment, say you'd like time to analyze the work required to ensure you will be able to meet his or her expectations before you accept it. If a boss leaves you no choice, which is what your boss did, voice your objections by presenting a reasonable argument why it will not be successful. The fact that your boss accepted your resignation and did not suggest you return to your original responsibilities shows that his compliment was not authentic, but simply a means to manipulate you into taking on an enormous amount of work. He might also have purposely set you up for failure so you would quit.

Ask for a recommendation letter from him, which he should agree to since you devoted 10 years to the company. If he refuses (possible but not smart), ask for recommendations from HR, colleagues, and subordinates to show you are a dependable team player with good leadership.

NO SEVERENCE IF JOB OFFER IS REFUSED AFTER MERGER

Q: I've worked for my company for the past 15 years. My division is now being sold to a holding company and some employees will be offered jobs with the new company. If any of us declines a new position, the company will terminate our employment with no severance benefits. I think I am going to be assigned an additional department — one with which I've had numerous problems. I am not retirement age, but I'm financially able to retire, though it would be sweeter to leave with severance benefits. Can management do this?

A: Attorneys concentrating in mergers and acquisitions are careful to write contracts that meet all the legal requirements for the deal. If your company states employees must take the job that's offered or lose the severance, that's what you'll have to abide by. There is always a chance you may not receive a job offer despite what you think, and will be laid off and receive severance. Be sure you have enough money to forgo that severance, and know in advance what you will do when the information is presented to you. The future is not certain with mergers, so it may be wise to take the new job and see how long it lasts. Initial jobs can change after a merger, and you would be sorry if you refused the job and lost the severance, only to find out the position was eliminated a year later.

Email all questions to LindseyNovak@yahoo.com. For more about her, visit www.lindseyparkernovak.com or follow her on Twitter @TheLindseyNovak and Facebook at Lindsey.Novak.12. For past columns, visit Creators Syndicate Website at www.creators.com.