Progression within a Co or moves between?

[SmuttyYoda]

Evening all,

I work in Finance (mgmt accountancy) for a large financial institution. However, things seem a bit stagnant there at the mo and progression is very much 'dead mans shoes' - they seem to take the line of tenure rather than ability, not in all areas, however it can be a bit of a pain when you're out performing people who have been in the role a decade yet they want to hold you there.

So my question... Those that have been around a while and have the experience/have had vision of it: do you tend to find progression happens more fluidly/quicker if you stay within your company or if you move between companies?

I'm just weighing things up at the moment....


Thanks

[rog007]

Every organisation is different so only you can weigh up the pros and cons of your situation and the type of organisation you're in. If having weighed up the benefits of your current predicament you find it's not where you want to be, then a move may well be your best option. Good luck!

[craigjm]

Progression always happens quicker by moving around. Partly because it avoids dead mans shoes as the man is already dead but more importantly it prevents you being held back by perceptions and reputations that you may or may not deserve that will be prevalent in an internal promotion situation regardless of processes to eliminate bias. People generally hate being interviewed by people they know because its harder for them to blow their own trumpet which makes internal promotion more of a challenge.

Also look at it this way. Thirty years in to your career where you have worked for Joe Bloggs Ltd for all that time and you get made redundant how attractive are you to a new employer? employers generally like new blood and people who have been here there and everywhere can bring lots of ideas and experience. 30 years in one company can equate to one years experience repeated year one year. Extreme example but good illustration of why its good to move.

[Siscar]

craigjm said:

Progression always happens quicker by moving around.

That's a gross generalisation, for example I have an employee who progressed from graduate recruit to Director running a company overseas for me, all in eight years.

It all depends on the company and the role and the person, you can't generalise.

[deckster]

Siscar said:

craigjm said:

Progression always happens quicker by moving around.

That's a gross generalisation, for example I have an employee who progressed from graduate recruit to Director running a company overseas for me, all in eight years.

It all depends on the company and the role and the person, you can't generalise.

Of course you can generalise, that's what the term means! Sure there are exceptions, and I would suggest that your example is truly exceptional, but in the main I would wholly agree that people who move between companies both progress more quickly, and are almost always much the better for it. I spend a lot of time working as a consultant in large organisations, and the one constant is that companies with a significant workforce who have been there more than 20 years are bound by undue process and a 'not invented here' attitude. Neither of those are useful attributes for companies to have in the modern world.

[Siscar]

My example is exceptional, but the point remains that there is no one right answer. A lot of people who stay in one place do it because they have no dynamism about them and aren't adverts for best practice in anything, it's actually one of the problems as an employer where you get people who have reached their limits and sometimes you would dearly love them to move on.

The reality is that you need to take progression where you can find it, I maintain that the best of all worlds is to be highly rated where you are in an environment where you are being developed and offered new opportunities. If that is the case you will progress fastest, but if it isn't - if you feel ready to progress but see no opportunity to do so then it's time to move on.

But you do need to guard against doing it too much, to move every two or three years in your twenties is fine so long as you are clearly progressing. But continue doing that and you'll find it becomes harder to get a decent job, show me a CV of a 30 year old with 4 or 5 jobs on it and that's OK, but show me a 40 year old with 8 or 10 and the chances of getting an interview get slimmer and slimmer.