@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" 🙂