Spend 4 months finding the right job, not 4 years in the wrong one

This Director of Full Stack App Dev at a German bank told me, “I’ve been here 8 years and honestly it’s a bit too long. My salary hasn't even kept up with inflation but when I see my peers they're far, far ahead."

It’s not like he hadn’t thought about moving.

"I'm out of practice and don't know how to start a job search."

He had spent the last two years passively looking. During that time, he had failed interviews at Amazon, Meta and Okta.

And after enough of those experiences, the job search started becoming personal.

"I'm low in confidence and this is weighing on me personally."

Why senior leaders stay too long

Week-in week-out I speak with senior leaders who stay at the same company for too long.

You get comfortable with the systems, the people know you, your calendar is full, and you keep telling yourself you'll look seriously when the timing is better.

Then five or six years pass.

Your compensation has fallen behind the market. Your external network isn't as strong as it used to be. Your interviewing muscles are rusty. And suddenly finding the next job feels much harder than it should.

There's also an opportunity cost that doesn't show up on a payslip.

If you're spending four years in a role where your scope, compensation and learning have stopped moving, you're giving up four years of potential career progression.

What four focused months give you

What makes much more sense is to spend four months seriously looking for the right next role rather than spending four years hoping your current situation changes.

Four months of focused work gives you time to understand your market, fix your positioning, identify the companies where your experience actually matters, rebuild your interview skills and have enough conversations to make an informed decision.

And if you discover that your current company is still the best place for you, that's useful information too.

A career search is a skill

The mistake is waiting until you're frustrated enough to leave and then expecting yourself to suddenly become excellent at job searching.

A career search is a skill.

You have to practice telling your story, understanding what the market values, talking to hiring managers, interviewing like a problem-solver and evaluating opportunities.

The earlier you practice those skills, the less likely you are to wake up eight years later wondering where the time went.

If you want to actually switch jobs, but have been struggling to land interviews, boy do I have a call for you to book!