What I Have Learned To Always Do When Moving Roles

I have done at least 6 different roles within my 12 years at my company and have moved roles for various reasons. Some of those moves had been forced as there was a company restructure which meant I had to apply for other roles. However some of those moves were because I instigated the move and I wanted to progress on to something new.

I have learnt (sometimes the hard way) from all of these experiences and form each one of those experiences I now take it forward in to any subsequent moves that I will make. I have listed four below and hopefully they can help you too.

This is one that I have done from the start of my career. I naturally will get bored of my job if there is nothing that is keeping it interesting for me. I want to continuously learn and be stretched.

Some of that comes from my natural curiosity, I want to know how things work and how they work in all other aspects too.

On two occasions I have rejected the chance at a promotion because I wanted to do a role at the same grade but based in a different part of the organisation. That is because I wanted to learn about that part of the organisation.

Yes there may be short term pain in having to give up that promotion but I knew there would be a long term gain for myself. I would be adding so much more experience to my CV and I know I will feed my curiosity too.

I don't think I will ever change this mindset as I strongly believe that I would not be in the position I am if it were not for me being curious and wanting to continuously explore new areas.

Early on in my career this was not very important to me as I just wanted to earn as much I could and work as hard as I could. I didn't care if I had no life outside of work as I had no commitments outside of work so it didn't matter.

As I have grown older and especially when starting a family, I quickly realised work isn't everything. If I had my way I wouldn't work and would just spend all day with my family, however the bills need paying and I want to live a certain lifestyle. Therefore I need to work. However I don't need to work crazy hours and sacrifice the time I should be spending with my family.

The more you put value on your time the more you take this more seriously. I want to streamline my working time as much as possible so that I don't have to work any extra hours and I can still be successful in my role.

This is something I will continue to do the older and wiser I get. Working to live, not living to work.

This is something that never feels easy to do and to this day I still find it challenging. I think I have always undervalued my worth and just felt grateful that the person was offering me a role so I never dared to challenge the salary they were offering.

There was one time I negotiated my salary and was adamant that I wanted a certain amount. That is only because a senior manager from another assured me that they would pay that much if I stuck to my guns.

They say if you don't ask you don't get and that is very true when it comes to this. If you are ever unsure of how to negotiate your salary I have found this book really useful in helping yo with a way to approach it. (It is a great book in general too!)

This is one I have appreciated more the further I go in my career. I have realised that my line manager has such a big impact on the direction of my career. If they are someone that is going to push you to develop further and someone that will always advocate for you then this is such a huge plus in your career.

On the contrary, if your line manager is someone that does not focus on development or is not talking about you to their manager then this will hold you back and you will be at a disadvantage to your peers who have great line managers.

You might be wondering how you can choose your line manager, well I would do research. If it is a internal role I would speak to members of their team to try an understand what type of manager they are and I would also try to meet them before applying for the role to try and get a feel for what kind of person they are and whether they are the kind of person I want to work for.

For external moves this may be slightly harder but I would still always ask the hiring manager, "How would you describe your management style?". How they answer this should give you a feel for them.

These are just some of the things I have learned and now always take in to account when moving roles. I hope they help you too!

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Thanks for reading,

Gav

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