This article is for those employed individuals tired of their current job and feeling they need to change companies and possibly careers. This person is frustrated, tired, or just plain bored with their current job.
The symptoms include being irritated with every new request from their manager or client. They may feel they are being sidelined, not getting the same opportunities they once had. Their conclusion is it’s got to be better in another company.
Here are some things to consider if you are experiencing these symptoms. Finding another company could be the right answer and it might not resolve the real issue. To begin, anyone considering switching companies or careers should understand the effort involved. I am not talking about the job search and interview process as this process is better understood. Consider what it will take to acclimate to the new company, the culture, colleagues, and processes. You might do the same job but don’t expect the process to be identical to your current job. It will take time to develop the relationships you have with key contacts that you developed. What if the work environment is worse? Are you ready for the effort to integrate and acclimate?
How certain are you as to the source of your dissatisfaction? Is there only one reason or could there be a combination of items? Are you clear about what the correction could be for all of these and how your search for a new company would solve these? If you could identify a solution within your current company, would you be interested?
What if you are wrong? It is common to get fixated on one item and not notice additional concerns. What if the problem is connected to you? If this were true, wouldn’t that travel with you and not be resolved by a new setting? You don’t want to uproot your life, do the additional work to switch companies just to find the same problem.
Changing companies can make sense and may not always be the best solution. I have seen plenty of people in the middle of their careers, confidence in their experience and skills, lock into a perspective that may not be accurate. Their tenure or experience at times could have them put trust in their opinion and closed off to alternative viewpoints. Quite often these individuals can see the obvious error in their thinking when they have taken time to look for alternative solutions.
Do you need to change companies?
More times than not, an experienced professional has outgrown their current role, or their job has changed enough to have become a bad fit. The solution should be crafted to accentuate the employee’s talents as well as their interests. Interest and talents are an important part of the story. Also, don’t overlook what your role has been in creating the current situation. The objective is to be confident and clear about the source of the discontent so a satisfying correction can be found.
A similar effort should be exerted to craft alternatives that would meet the criteria for a better job. Armed with this information I encourage you to look within your current organization for alternatives. You have invested 5 to 10 years or more developing relationships, supporting the success of the organization and this will take time to replicate elsewhere. Also, a company will always prefer filling a role from within because they know the costs of onboarding a new employee. The difference in effort is applied to you as switching companies takes more than landing an internal change. The challenge is how to prepare yourself to show how your experience will be a good fit for this new role.
What you have been doing for the past 5-10 years was focused on doing your current job. The skills and activities needed to switch jobs within a company are the same as are needed to be hired by another company and are different from what is needed in your current job. The fastest and most efficient approach is to reach out to someone familiar with helping people assess their current situation, support them in developing a couple of options, and help them to position themselves to successfully get the new job at the current employer or elsewhere. I would be happy to discuss these types of situations with you and see if there is something I could do to help you succeed.
