Brehs or brehettes looking for a new job/opportunity in 12 months, some questions.

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

What is pushing you to come to this decision?
Do you feel you are ready?
What are you hoping to get or obtain out of your next position?
Is this new job going to help with getting you to your ultimate career destination?

Below is a bit about myself and my current dilemma.

I'm a black breh, working downtown Chicago as a controller. Salary is great, location currently is eh as commute from northwest Indiana and my staff is good to ok-ish. The executive staff is great but I have no options for upward mobility given how our company is structured.

The learning curve path that I thought I was going to take here was flattened when I first started because I've been swimming with the great white sharks on day one. With that, I'm starting to feel that the confines of my position holding me back a bit and have begun yearning for going higher.

My next path desired is one of two positions or similar ranks.

Chief Financial Officer: This is the most logical one as I'm an accountant.

Benefits are salaries are outstanding, your voice will be heard, good stepping stone towards becoming a CEO.

Cons are that you aren't just flying close to the sun, you've taken up residence on it, for all that this entails. Anonymity is all but gone.

Chief Operating Officer or Vice President

Benefits, as I perceive them, are the same as CFO with, depending on how you look at it, more customer and business management and relationships. Some people can do it, some can't.

Cons are that the job duties can be ambiguous. Like, it can just be shyt the CEO doesn't want to do. The whole company as far as day to day is in your hands, for good or worse.

Both brings stress along with the spoils of success. I'm still heavily thinking CFO but a few recruiters have put the COO thoughts in my head and I don't shut doors that I might have to walk through in the future.

Just sparking discussion here and speaking on myself for a bit, always with an ear open for advice. A lot of shyt to unpack here. I was thinking aloud but I figured I'd post here to see if I get anything by way of a response. As an indictment of sorts of what raised me but of the black middle class, I don't know anyone personally that I can bounce these ideas off of. My folks worked in a factory as does my sisters while my wife does secretarial work. Career talk gets lost in translation with her. She's the female embodiment of the hook of Hey Papi, she doesn't understand the flow but she understands the dough. My lifelong friends kind of live vicariously through me because they haven't reached the heights that I have. I've come to find it difficult to have these discussions with people who have never walked in similar shoes, even if they love you and want the best for you. Ultimately, I know that there are pretty successful people here and so I've posted all of this here. If you got this far, thanks for reading.

 

[phcitywarrior]

Lol, you’re far ahead of me so I should be asking you these questions.

For me, there are a couple of reasons I need to move.

1. I’m just not learning anymore.

2. My department is very siloed and although I’m learning about our department, I’m not getting a macro level view of corporate business.

3. Pay. I can get more elsewhere. Like 20K more, minimum.

4. My manager and team isn’t set up for success. There’s been so much turnover and pivots that we have yet to hit steady state. Me being 24, I feel this ambiguity has stunted my development. I’ve been at my role for 32 months, I should have dipped 10 months ago tbh. My goal is to be gone before my 3-year mark. In many ways, I should have been dipped at 18 months. That’s long enough where you don’t get questioned for not staying long enough.

5. Long term, I’m looking to be in SS Africa and I’m gunning for a top MBA as a tool to pivot back. So ideally I work another 2 years at another company before making that jump.

All in all, I’m putting in more to my current role than its worth.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

1. I’m just not learning anymore.

What is there that you can get into? Anything with upward mobility in the same department, same company. Whenever I get the feeling of not learning, it's time to move on.

2. My department is very siloed and although I’m learning about our department, I’m not getting a macro level view of corporate business.

Ultimately, where are you trying to get to in your career? Does your skill set align with that goal? How soon are you trying to get there?

3. Pay. I can get more elsewhere. Like 20K more, minimum.

This usually happens when you leave a company to go to another.

4. My manager and team isn’t set up for success. There’s been so much turnover and pivots that we have yet to hit steady state. Me being 24, I feel this ambiguity has stunted my development. I’ve been at my role for 32 months, I should have dipped 10 months ago tbh. My goal is to be gone before my 3-year mark. In many ways, I should have been dipped at 18 months. That’s long enough where you don’t get questioned for not staying long enough.

Yes, if you haven't already, start preparing for your departure. People will look at the three years there and be cool with it. You can easily sell that there were any opportunities to move up. Not to mention that with that much turnover, your team will never be anything more than just a rotating cast of people.

5. Long term, I’m looking to be in SS Africa and I’m gunning for a top MBA as a tool to pivot back. So ideally I work another 2 years at another company before making that jump.

What groundwork has been laid for this now? What is the timeline, 2023-2024?

All in all, I’m putting in more to my current role than its worth.

Yeah, it's time to leave now.