Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Straight Answers to Real Questions

Question: I’m the CFO of an owner-managed cosmetics manufacturer here in Mississauga. I’ve been here for over nine years and I’m wondering if I should start looking at the market. It’s not that I’m unhappy; I like my boss, the work’s interesting and everything’s humming along pretty smoothly.

My concern is that if I stay too much longer that it may be difficult to find another job if and when I need to make a move (I’ve heard that if you stay too long in one place that you’re less marketable). I don’t have any reason to think that I’ll need to look at the market anytime soon but my boss will be sixty next year and I wouldn’t be shocked if he decided to sell out and move south in the next five or ten years.

Do you think putting myself on the market is a good move or do you think I should I stay where I am?

Answer: I would say that the answer to your question is: both. Put yourself on the market but stay where you are. First of all, if you decide that you’re officially in play as of today, it’s not like the phone’s going to start ringing off the hook. Someone at your level can reasonably expect that it takes eight months to a year to find a new position (in some cases, people find that it can take up to two years). And that’s someone who’s really motivated to make a move, which you’re not. Positions that you’re going to be a good fit for and more importantly, interested in, will be few and far between.

Since you’re in a comfortable position right now, you’re not going to move for just any position. In fact, you’re only going to move for a position that is materially better than what you’ve got now. For you, whether or not you make a move will be self-selecting. If you don’t see anything really good, stay where you are but keep your eyes open. You won’t move for something that’s only somewhat better than your current situation. You’ll only move if you see something that’s just so good that you just have to take it. So you really have nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain by putting yourself on the market.