Career Assessment: When to Hold, When to Fold
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I didn't get to watch it either, however I just made this jump. I left my job of 8 years with a little pep talk from SAM. I have never been happier, and a complete reboot and turning my world upside down has been awesome so far. Thanks again Scott.
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In the past, I've always found it easy to move jobs - either because of the offer of a lot more money, or because the job I had really started to suck. But in my current job I have a great boss, complete autonomy, I can walk to work, great colleagues, no pressure, an ok salary and a big variety of projects to work on.
Sounds perfect, huh? The problem is it's not challenging me enough. After 12 years here, I could do the job with my eyes closed. Because I'm otherwise very happy and comfortable, it's very hard to consider leaving. To get a much better job with more money, I'd possibly have to work in London, which is an hour away by train and all the stress that commuting to the city involves.
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@scottalanmiller Thanks for sharing
I already shared this to my team -
@Carnival-Boy said:
To get a much better job with more money, I'd possibly have to work in London, which is an hour away by train and all the stress that commuting to the city involves.
That's the hardest. You are faced with certainly some steps backwards. Very hard to make a comparison between positions when one isn't clearly better than the other. It's more a matter of them being different.
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Any job change is stressful. You are always going from a situation that you know to one that you don't. So many unknowns and risks.
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@Carnival-Boy It's definitely a tougher decision when there's no obvious or pressing need to leave a job, just a vague feeling of "Am I getting complacent? Is the grass greener?" A valid consideration here is your family situation - how will a job change affect them, if they exist? Is your perceived job security actual security? In other words, if you stay at that company for another 12 years and they fold, will you be able to get another job, or will you be unable to adapt to a different environment after so long in one place? If you're happy where you are, and other factors don't exist, staying could be the easy right choice.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
To get a much better job with more money, I'd possibly have to work in London, which is an hour away by train and all the stress that commuting to the city involves.
I used to commute 2 hours in each direction via public transit for my job in NYC. It wasn't always a struggle; some things I miss about that job, others not so much.
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@Dominica said:
A valid consideration here is your family situation - how will a job change affect them, if they exist?
Now he is pondering the existential question of if his family really exists.
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@scottalanmiller I am too. Am I even real? I don't know some days.
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@Dominica said:
A valid consideration here is your family situation - how will a job change affect them, if they exist? Is your perceived job security actual security? In other words, if you stay at that company for another 12 years and they fold, will you be able to get another job, or will you be unable to adapt to a different environment after so long in one place?
I'd like to think I'd adapt, it would be a little depressing to think otherwise. But I still currently feel young enough to make some big changes - that feeling will probably only weaken as I head into my fifties.
I do have family, wife and two kids, and having kids doesn't half change the way you think about your career. I work for medium sized manufacturing companies and the term "job security" hasn't existed in this sector since the mid-Seventies. But we are making a profit, and I'm fairly close to the CEO, so would probably recognise when the shit was about to hit the fan. I would also be entitled to a few grand redundancy pay if my current employer folded and that is always at the back of my mind. In the UK, you basically have no employment rights at all for the first two years in a new job. And as my wife doesn't work, and I have a mortgage and two kids to support, that's pretty scary.
Perhaps @Katie 's next seminar should be "Mid Life Crisis: When to Hold, When to Fold"
