Before you change jobs, ask yourself three questions

In more than 20 years in executive search, I’ve noticed that people considering a move can usually explain why they want to leave. They say less about what they want from their next role or what they’d miss about this one.

When an opportunity comes along, it’s natural to focus on what it promises to fix. But a role can resolve the frustration that made you want to leave and still cost you something you value. It may also offer little of the work you find most satisfying.

When I work with someone weighing up a move, I find three questions useful.

What am I moving away from?

“I’ve outgrown the role” is worth unpacking. Is the work becoming too familiar? Have opportunities to develop narrowed? Are you accountable for results while having little influence over the decisions that shape them?

Each answer gives you something different to investigate. If influence is the issue, ask a prospective manager about a recent decision affecting the role. When was the person involved, and what could they decide?

I’ve worked with entrepreneurial leaders who gained greater authority but found that decisions required extensive consultation and consensus. They had underestimated how much they valued being able to act quickly. Understanding how decisions are made would have helped them assess what that authority meant in practice.

What do I want to move towards?

A managing director may welcome the responsibility of a regional role, then discover how much they miss running a business day to day. More of their week now involves strategic conversations at headquarters, negotiating priorities across businesses and building agreement. They have the broader influence they wanted, while others lead the work that follows.

I’ve also worked with people who moved into senior strategy roles and enjoyed the complexity and client contact. What some hadn’t anticipated was how much they would miss developing a team. Only after moving did they recognise how much satisfaction came from seeing someone they’d supported grow in confidence and responsibility.

In coaching, I use Gallup’s CliftonStrengths® alongside examples from someone’s working life to explore what frustrates them, what they enjoy and the conditions that help them do their best work. What makes autonomy important to you? What did you find satisfying about a recent piece of work? Understanding those answers helps you describe what you want more precisely and discuss it with a prospective manager.

What do I need to protect?

Some of what matters may already be present in your current role. It could be the opportunity to develop people, the freedom to act on your judgement or the flexibility to organise your week. When these things work well, it’s easy to assume they’ll be available elsewhere.

This question also helps when you want a change but feel stuck. You may have worked hard to build security and feel reluctant to put it at risk. What does that security mean in practice? A level of income your family relies on? Flexibility around commitments at home? The trust you’ve earned over time?

Naming what you need to protect can help you find a way forward. You might establish an income threshold before exploring opportunities, ask about flexibility early in the process or try a project in another part of the organisation while retaining the security of your current position.

Before accepting an offer, come back to this question. What do I value in my current job that I’ve assumed I’ll also have in the next one?