Insights Moving to a New Job

In this article, I will share insights moving to a new job and important lessons learned. Recently, I celebrated my 2-year anniversary at my company.  This was a great time to reflect how I got here especially as this was a deliberate move.

From Careers Advice Online, it is estimated that a person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life.  This does not sound farfetched as this was #3 move for my professional life.  If you are considering a move, read on.

Background

A Nice Run

It was a good and long run at my previous company being there for over 13 years.  From a career advancement perspective, I had worked my way up from a first level engineer to senior engineer with the associated raises and promotions.  

Being named one of the Best Places to Work, a key benefit was being treated more like a family member vs employee.  I also appreciated the company’s mission to help out the community through volunteering and donations.  On a professional front, they had gone beyond their normal policies paying for my entire MBA. 

For all of these reasons, I had worked extremely hard, performed well and was loyal to this company.  Thus, this was not an easy decision to make a move elsewhere.

On one hand, I could see myself staying for another 13 years as there were few things to complain about.  On the other hand, I was itching for a change.

The Trigger for Change 

Know your reasons for the change 

The main driver for me was limited future opportunities at my old company.  I felt I had plateaued at my current position. 

Ironically, in the beginning I had chosen this company as I believed I would have plenty of opportunities to learn new skills and try new positions.  This became limited as I settled into a satellite office location due to major changes in my personal life such as getting married, having kids and buying a home.

The satellite office had its positives and negatives.  As a positive, everyone knew each other and it was a family-like culture.  On the flipside, even though I had worked over a decade there, there were many coworkers with more seniority.  Thus, as new opportunities surfaced, every position was highly contested. 

Prior to settling down, think about being at the headquarters location as opportunities will be more abundant.

The Grass is not always greener on the other side

Seek internal and external advice

Prior to jumping ship, I would suggest a few things.  Have candid conversations with your manager about your career aspirations.  The other thing is to seek outside advice from mentors.  

Admittedly, the candid conversations with my manager were awkward at first.  The hard part was telling him I was no longer happy in the current position and seeking change.  In response, he was transparent saying I needed to either move or wait for future opportunities at the satellite office.

Confiding in my mentors was also invaluable.  They helped assess my options, and give non-bias advice as they had my best interests at stake.

Decide on the next company and job

Determine your personal and professional aspirations

Now that I had decided to look outside the company, the next step was coming up with a personal and professional aspirations list.

My list ended up to:

1. Learn a new industry and technology – I did not want to go to a competitor or stay within the same industry as I felt it would be too similar to my last job
2. Work for a growing company – I wanted to be able to make an impact as well as have future growth opportunities
3. Have good Work/Life Balance – This was important as our 2^nd kid was just born

Other priorities high on my list were good company culture and job compensation.

Get the new Job

Network and use popular job sites

Two areas where I focused was using LinkedIn and networking with my previous colleagues.

LinkedIn helped immensely.  I felt the site did a good job screening for new opportunities.  Another important aspect was to connect me with my peers who moved onto different companies.  

Make sure you take the time to polish your LinkedIn profile.  This ended up being very critical for me.  During the interview process, nearly every one I interacted with referenced my LinkedIn profile.

Staying in touch and networking with previous colleagues were important.  By having an “inside” source at a company, a referral will give you a greater chance to get the first interview. This Glassdoor article gives good advice on ways to get referred.

Ultimately, being referred helped me nab my current job. The company hit on all the criteria I was looking for such as joining an emerging company in a new industry.

Know your Value

Research your market worth

One of the benefits switching to a new job may be a jump in salary and/or title.  Fortunately, there are sites like LinkedIn Premium and Glassdoor that gives you insight on salary ranges for that particular job.

As part of the job negotiation, understand what levers you may be able to negotiate.  For example, compensation is not just salary. You can request a higher signing bonus, more stock options and vacation days.

My personal tactic is to just ask — as long as your request is done in a professional manner, there is no harm. Here is a list of possible items to negotiate from PayScale.com.

A new Beginning

Be Yourself as well as take the chance to reinvent yourself

My best analogy for starting a new job is to think about this as a fresh start like heading to college.  You have a chance to bring over your strengths and do what you do well.  In addition, you have a chance to reinvent yourself since no one has worked with you before.  For me, my focus was being bold and assertive from the start.

Fortunately, a lot of my previous skills transferred over such as working well with customers and colleagues. Other things that immediately helped were showing initiative (aka stepping up) and helping others when possible.

In the beginning, I also made a conscious effort to meet everyone at the office, attend the happy hours, and socialize as much as possible.

Achieve Early Success

Put on your training wheels

As a newbie, many of my early conversations with customers were underwhelming.  My best advice for this is to be transparent about needing extra time to find the answer.  I felt my customers were very understanding especially when they know you are trying your hardest.

Secondly, find a mentor to help you.  I remember the first few weeks I was totally lost not knowing the various acronyms and products my company offered. 

Lastly, have a good relationship with your coworkers and manager. They will help cut down the frustrations and connect the dots for you to perform effectively at your job.

Summary

You have learned insights moving to a new job.  Here are the key things to consider.

Before making the change	*Know your reasons for the change *Seek internal and external advice
Once you have decided to make the move	*Determine your personal and professional aspirations *Network and use popular job sites *Research your market worth
After you have started	*Be Yourself as well as take the chance to reinvent yourself *Put on your training wheels

About DadMBA: Through his schooling (he does have a MBA) & more importantly being a Dad, he has provided practical advice to family & friends on finances & other life topics.  He loves helping others thus the creation of DadMBA.