Is it time for a move or is it just January blues?

We discuss a version of this question tons from 3rd Jan to pretty much 31st Jan every year with LOADS of different types of people.

Often Xmas is a time to decompress and get some needed headspace… and the question of ‘should I move jobs’ tends to get kicked about in tens of thousands of households in the UK.

December holidays gave you chance to review the year just gone, chew the fat with your loved ones about whether it’s time for a change.

Jan is often viewed as a natural clean edge to make big career decisions.

We get lots of calls from Accounting and Finance professionals weighing up the decision (all year round actually but especially in Jan)… everyone we speak with has their own unique and nuanced personal circumstances — but the conversations tend to follow themes;

• I’m a bit bored at work
• I don’t feel rewarded or paid enough
• I can’t see scope to progress
• I feel unsettled because there is change coming this year
• I’m sick of my bosses’ behaviour or the general culture
• My work life balance is in a spin

It’s rare that alongside the cons there won’t also be at least a couple of decent pros and reasons to stay.

“I don’t feel challenged but its close to home, great money and I love the team”, for example…

Or

“I’ve ended up in the FD role, I don’t hate it but do you know what if I’m really honest I think I preferred the number 2 gig as FC”

They are way more typical than, “I just hate the place and everything and everyone associated with it…” (although that is sometimes a call we take!).

I tend to find it’s a continuum – picture a straight line – at one end is desperate to leave at any cost – in fact I might just walk out tomorrow at the other end is I couldn’t be more settled, I would stay even if we won the lottery tomorrow.

Most people who move are somewhere in between rather than right at the extreme end.  And a definite fact is that it is much easier to make good decisions when you avoid being right at the extreme end before starting a job search… it’s much better to move to something than away from something.

But in summary there will always be an element of uncertainty in 99% of cases.

You are not alone in being torn!

So how do you know which way to turn in the dilemma when you reach that uncertain stalemate??

Some things to perhaps consider which help you address how good or bad you have it currently….

Let’s start with the big red flag…

• Does your business share your values? / Does your direct line manager generally share your values?

Working for someone / something that you inherently connect with on a values level is widely accepted as one of the best ways of having peace of mind when it comes to your employment.  If that is out of kilter it likely is (and should be) a major ‘push factor’.

This is a hard one to fix – the culture of a business is a big tanker to turn around.

• I work in an environment that is unhealthy for my mental wellbeing.

That environment could be your home office every day which is causing you isolation.  It could be a workplace that is abusive or unprofessional.  These things shouldn’t be brushed under the carpet.  They need to be tackled head on and sharpish because they can be extremely destructive.

More typical mini-flags might be:

• Are you being challenged enough and does the progression mapped out meet your plan?

This rubs both ways – if you are ambitious and keen to constantly learn, develop / progress then being in a business that doesn’t make that readily available and transparent will be a cause of mega frustration. 

Equally if you are being pushed hard to pick up new projects and get up the ladder when actually you are at a stage of life when you want to pull back for a period then it needs to be addressed.

These issues shouldn’t trigger an instant move.  But they should most definitely prompt some serious and open discussions with your leadership team / manager.  Once you have their take on things then you can make an informed decision around whether the grass is perhaps greener or whether there’s easy resolution to be had.

• There’s change happening and it’s unsettling

Navigating change is secret sauce when it comes to building a mega CV.  The more change you are involved in typically the better.  Changing ERP projects, M&A activity, new teams, new managers, new automation, new product launches…. Anything that is different to the norm is exciting stuff.  It’s the chat that gets you the next job.

That’s all well and good but it can also be extremely unnerving to be in a business where change is on the immediate horizon, particularly if you don’t have full visibility of what it is or what it means to you and the folk around you.

I tend to take a stance of stick around for change – at least for a bit.  Leave when it’s managed or at least when you’ve had a good taste of it…. if you can. 

So again, if there’s loads of weird and wonderful change expected then do your best to work out what it means to you to give yourself peace of mind.  Once you’ve done the evidence gathering then usually I’d say throw yourself at it and see what happens.  

Change it and of itself shouldn’t necessarily be a knee jerk trigger to move.

• You don’t feel your pay matches the remit / level of responsibility.

OK, firstly this is most people – we have a bias toward feeling we should be better paid in the main.  So, the best step is to evidence gather…

Speak to a specialist recruiter, check out a salary survey, speak to trusted friends in the same career space.  Get a flavour based on reliable stats of what you could / should be earning and what the consensus of thought is.   Then if it’s out of whack speak to your boss about it.  Have a grown up, evidence based conversation around the topic and see what happens.

• You’re bored.

Being bored at work isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Everyone at some stage tends to have a period of ‘boredom’.  You’ve learnt how to do your job in a handstand, you know everyone around you and what they have for their favourite lunch, you’ve finished any project stuff and it’s BAU time.   That’s kinda OK… for a period –  a short period!

Most people need more than that. So, the same logic applies – boredom should spark a chat with your boss… what else could you be adding value to or sticking your oar in? What’s in the pipeline… if it’s “more of the same sorry” then it’s probably time to explore something new.

People tend to have a really reliable gut feeling when it comes to whether it’s the right time to at least consider a move but it is very rarely a simply process to come to a binary decision at speed.

 A couple of weeks spent weighing that move and spit-balling it with people around, recruiters, former colleagues and managers maybe is usually time well spent.

Thanks as always for reading, Happy Jan!