Advice on my next strategic move

Anonymous

September 21,2023 at 2:32AM UTC

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Advice on my next strategic move

At the beginning of my career, I made some strategic mistakes that resulted in me not being where I wanted to be. I was very intentional in my last job search, knowing I needed time and space to learn and prove myself, so two years ago I landed my "dream job"; I like what I do and I have a supportive boss in an industry I worked really hard to get into (tech, but a non-tech job), however, I'm starting to wonder about my next move.

I took this job precisely because I saw, and was promised growth, however, being in tech, the last couple of years have been difficult, and while I've been lucky enough to survive multiple rounds of layoffs, the growth potential has disappeared. I've been doing the same job for two years, and when I'm assigned new projects they tend to be tangentially related to my JD (just barely to justify me doing them), I'm starting to not enjoy it. I know my boss has made the case for my promotion and a pay rise, and has been turned down due to budgetary constraints, so two years later I'm still an individual contributor when I do want to move into management, which was one of the things I was really looking forward in this position, the learning, and increasing level of responsibility into management.

I was recently approached by a recruiter, and I will hear her out. I am not actively looking for a job, but it got me thinking, when should I start looking for my next job? I took this job because it sounded great, and it has been, but it was also a strategic decision for my career, and it's not resulted in what I thought. I don't want to keep making mistakes career-wise so any advice will be appreciated

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AnonymousSeptember 21,2023 at 3:01AM UTC
First of all you've made no mistakes.
None. Second a career path is a dream. Should you have goals? Of course. Life happens, jobs evolve or devolve. Its a career and not a straight line.
You should ALWAYS be looking and open to opportunity. With that said, when growth is nonexistent and you feel that itch.......start networking to take the temperature of your market. Have some coffee dates with colleagues, mentors and old coworkers. Just start daydreaming. Your wheels will start turning and you'll start plugging into your dreams and from there you will plot you next move and energetically you'll have one foot out the door.
You are fine, you're in a transition and you have some valuable skills and experience. You'll be surprised out how great things start to come into range.
Sue Gordon- retired Career CoachSeptember 21,2023 at 1:36PM UTC
Yup, at least explore alternatives. Your company is struggling. It's not what you expected. Two years is a good period of time to try, no shame in moving on.
Check out your options.
AnonymousSeptember 22,2023 at 8:26PM UTC
There's no harm in looking/having conversations. You should do that anyway, even if everything was perfect. Remember that you can only make the best decision for yourself in the moment, with the information you have at hand. You will end up frustrated and unhappy if you try to predict the future (though, of course, you should be judicious in your decision-making). Take any lessons learned from what you perceive as previous missteps, apply them to the here and now, and you will be fine. Good luck!