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Changing jobs

You'd like the next job to be better than this one, and to get there without wrecking anything on the way out.

What to understand about changing jobs

A job change looks like one decision and is really a string of them: whether to go, where to, how to look, which offer, how to leave, how to arrive. They tend to get tangled, and the usual tangle is that the search starts before the question is clear. You apply because Tuesday was bad, and a few interviews later someone asks what you want and you find you mostly know what you don't. Hiring, meanwhile, runs on its own logic. A company is trying to lower the risk of a stranger, which is why someone vouching for you often counts for more than a polished application.

The room to move is mostly at the two ends. Early, before anyone knows you're looking, finding things out is cheap: say what you need where you are, talk to people who do the work you're curious about, ask what a move inside the company would take. Sometimes that turns out to be the whole fix, and staying on purpose is a perfectly good result. Late, between the offer and your yes, is the short window when the terms are still soft. A company that has chosen you would generally like to finish the job, so a calm, specific ask is usually heard as ordinary business.

The hard part is that you're comparing a job you know in detail with one you know from a few conversations. The current one shows you every flaw. The new one shows you its best hour. Some of what's wearing you down will stay behind when you go. Some tends to travel: how you handle too much work, the things you avoid saying, the kind of manager you rub against. It's worth sorting which is which, as honestly as you can, because a move takes months of energy and the first stretch somewhere new is rarely comfortable, even when it was the right call.

What people often get wrong about changing jobs

  • You might think“The problem is this place. Somewhere new, it'll be different.”
    More oftenSometimes that's exactly right, and a poor manager or a struggling company really can be left behind. But a new job only answers the reasons that belong to the old one, and in a rough stretch those are hard to tell apart from the ones that belong to the work itself, or to how you've been doing it. People fairly often find a familiar frustration waiting for them a while into the next place.One thing to try: Get clear on why you want to leave →
  • You might think“I'll sort out my resume and get back in touch with people when I actually need to move.”
    More oftenBy the time you need to, you're usually tired, short on time, or both, and a first note to someone after years of silence is harder to write when it carries an ask. The cheap parts of a move tend to go better when nothing is riding on them, and doing them commits you to nothing. You may well stay.One thing to try: Reconnect with five people before you need them →
  • You might think“I can't start until I know exactly what I want to do next.”
    More oftenPeople who change direction often describe working it out by doing: a side project, a conversation, a short course, each one ruling something in or out. That kind of trying is different from sending applications, and it can begin well before you're sure. Waiting for certainty can keep you where you are for a long time.One thing to try: Your working identity →

Things to do when you can't tell whether it's time to leave

“Some weeks I'm sure I'm done here. Other weeks it's fine and I feel dramatic.”

Before a search starts eating your evenings, it helps to find out what your current place would do if it knew. These run from naming your reasons, to one straight conversation, to a decision you could explain to a friend.

  1. Step 1: Get clear on why you want to leaveFind out which of your reasons a new job would actually fix20 minutes
  2. Step 2: Try to fix it before you leaveOne honest conversation before one hard decision20 minutes
  3. Step 3: Explore a move inside your companyLearn another team's work, and the unwritten rules of joining it30 minutes
  4. Step 4: Weigh whether to stay or goIt depends is a fine answer, once you know what it depends on30 minutes

Things to do when you want out but don't know where to

“I know I don't want this. I couldn't tell you what I'd rather be doing.”

Job titles hide how much of what you can do would be useful elsewhere, and job adverts hide what the days are like. These put your skills into plain words, then let you check a direction against people who are already in it.

Dealing with something else at work?

Things to do while you're looking

“I'm doing this at night on top of a full job, and I can't tell if any of it is working.”

A search on top of a job goes better with edges: who may know, which hours it gets, and where the names and next steps are written down. The rest of these are about reaching people, since that's where a tired hour tends to pay back most.

Things to do when interviews turn into an offer

“They seem keen. I want to say yes before they change their mind.”

An interview is also your one good chance to look at them. These get your own stories steady first, then turn to what you'd ask, and to slowing down just enough at the end to see the whole of what's on the table.

  1. Step 1: Prepare three stories for interviewsThree stories you know well enough to tell under pressure45 minutes
  2. Step 2: Practice out loud with a friendFind your wobbly answer in a friend's kitchen, not the interview room30 minutes
  3. Step 3: Prepare your questions for themFind out what the job is really like before you say yes15 minutes
  4. Step 4: Take a day before you answer an offerSay you're thrilled, then ask for the details in writing and a day5 minutes
  5. Step 5: Compare the whole offerYou don't live in a salary. Line up everything else tooAbout 40 minutes
  6. Step 6: Counter an offer without dramaOne clear ask, one good reason, and no hard feelings after15 minutes

Things to do once you've said yes

“I've signed. Now I have to tell my manager, and then be the new person again.”

Your last weeks are how the old place will remember you, and your first weeks are when the new one is most willing to answer questions. Both are short, and both go better with a plan somebody else can see.

  1. Step 1: Resign without burning a bridgeHand in your notice in a way that keeps the reference and the relationship7 steps
  2. Step 2: Weigh a counteroffer against why you lookedMore money is an answer. Check it's an answer to your question15 minutes
  3. Step 3: Leave a clean handoffThe last piece of work people will judge you on, done wellAbout an hour
  4. Step 4: Plan your first 90 daysDecide what a good first three months looks like, before someone else does6 steps
  5. Step 5: Meet the people who'll shape your first 90 daysUse the weeks when asking is easiest to meet the people who'll matter most20 minutes
  6. Step 6: Tell your new team how you'll ramp upReplace the team's guesses about the new person with a plan they can see10 minutes

What changing jobs depends on

  • How your field hires

    Some fields fill roles through recruiters and formal postings, some through portfolios or auditions, and some almost entirely by word of mouth. Where the real openings surface decides where your hours are best spent.

  • How long you've been there

    A short stay invites a question you'll want a calm answer to. A long one can mean your interview skills are rusty and your best work is described in your employer's private shorthand. Tenure also decides what you'd leave behind in unvested pay.

  • Where you live, and whether the work can be remote

    In a small local market, people in your field know each other, so discretion matters more and reputation travels faster. Remote hiring widens the choice and the competition together.

  • Your contract and your status

    Notice periods, restrictions on working for a competitor, a visa tied to an employer and health cover tied to a job all vary by country and by contract. Any of them can change the timing of a move, so read what you signed early.

  • The size and stage of the place you'd join

    A large company may have fixed pay bands and a slow, structured process. A small or young one may decide quickly, bend more on terms, and offer equity whose worth is hard to judge from outside.

How changing jobs shifts through your career

  1. Starting out

    Early moves are cheap and expected, and each one teaches you a lot about what you like. The risk is mostly in leaving before you've learned what a place had to teach, or staying somewhere poor because moving feels disloyal.

  2. A few years in

    You now have real work to point to, and other employers can see it. This is often when a move changes your scope or pay most, and also when it's tempting to take a bigger title without asking who you'd be learning from.

  3. Senior

    Fewer roles fit, searches tend to run longer, and more of them start with a conversation instead of a posting. You're also being hired for judgment, so the manager, the mandate and what you'd be allowed to change deserve as much scrutiny as the offer.

  4. Later on

    What you're moving toward often shifts: more say over your time, work you'd be proud to finish on, a chance to teach. A deep network helps a great deal. Some employers will make assumptions about age, which is unfair and worth planning around by leading with recent work.

Job change terms worth knowing

Informational interview
A short conversation with someone who does a job or works at a company you're curious about. You're asking what it's like, not asking for a job.
Referral
Someone inside a company passing your name to the people hiring, usually with a line about how they know you.
Total compensation
Everything the job pays, added up: salary, bonus, equity, retirement contributions, time off and benefits.
Vesting
The schedule on which equity or an employer's retirement contributions become yours to keep. Leave before a date on that schedule and some of it stays behind.
Counteroffer
Used two ways: your reply asking for better terms on a new offer, and your current employer's offer to keep you after you resign.
Notice period
The time between telling your employer you're leaving and your last day. It may be set by your contract, by custom, or by law, depending on where you work.
Noncompete
A clause that limits working for a competitor for a while after you leave. Whether it holds depends heavily on where you live and what you do.

When you have more time

Questions people ask about changing jobs

Should I quit before I have something else lined up?

It tends to be easier to search from a job, both for your nerves and for how the conversation about pay goes. That said, some jobs cost more to stay in than to leave, and if your health is going, that counts. If you're close to walking out on a bad day, give the decision one more night and a look at your savings first.

Blowing up your life →

I've been out of paid work for a few years. How do I come back?

A gap is more common than it feels from inside one, and most interviewers want a short, unembarrassed account of it followed by what you can do now. People returning often find the way back starts with a few easy conversations with former colleagues, well before any application.

Back on the Career Track →

My search has gone on for months and I'm starting to think it's me. Is it?

Possibly something in your approach could change, and it's worth asking one honest person to look at it. But long searches happen to capable people, and hiring is slow, noisy and often decided by things you can't see. The feeling that it's a verdict on you is common, and it isn't good evidence.

Flawed System/Flawed Self →

My contract has a clause about working for competitors. Does that stop me?

It depends on where you live, what you do and how the clause is written, so don't assume either way. Read it before you interview, and if the new role is close to your current one, a short conversation with an employment lawyer is usually money well spent.

Noncompete Rule →

What might I lose by leaving at the wrong moment?

Often more than people expect: a bonus that pays only if you're still employed, equity that hasn't vested, employer retirement contributions on their own schedule. Ask for the dates before you set yours. A new employer will sometimes make up part of the difference if you can show what you'd be giving up.

Retirement Topics: Vesting →

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