Here’s my situation: I’ve worked at a small RIA for about the past three years and I’ve maxed out what I can do here. If I stay, the best outcome would be a more senior title and a modest pay bump ( < 10% over what I make now) and maybe a tiny bonus. My exact job responsibilities would remain the same. It’s gotten to the point where I’m really not interested in the work I do, I’m not learning anything new, and I’m stagnating career-wise.
Review are coming up in about a month. I’m not sure how mine is going to go but if my boss asks me something like “Are you happy here?” or “Where do you see yourself?” my honest answers would be “not really” and “not here”. Of course I wouldn’t be that blunt but what do I do? If I lie and come up with something about how I see myself staying there for the long term then nothing is probably going to change. If I bring up that I’m unhappy and renumerate the points in my previous paragraph, I’m afraid my boss might take it personally, tell me to leave, or in the least make things more awkward between us.
In the meantime, I’ve been networking and applying for jobs. But assumuing leaving is not a viable option when reviews roll around how exactly should I handle this? Any input is appreciated.
Do you dislike the people and environment where you work? It sounds like you just don’t feel you have anywhere to move up.
In that case, if asked “where do you want to be in five years,” why not focus on roles and responsibilities that you want to be doing. There’s no real penalty for honesty in this case. You’re not demanding that you have those roles in a month, It’s a sign for the company to start thinking about what to do with you long term.
Assuming you have decent working relationships with people, they won’t begrudge you the desire to keep moving up in responsibilities. Maybe they can’t actually accomodate that, but they can then talk about how to assist with a transition - help you network to something better in return for a commitment to help train your replacement. These things can be done amicably, provided that there is no intellectual property or client lists that are going to be going to competitors.
Do I like the people and the environment? Some of the people I do really like but, bottom line, we’re an asset gatherer and that is definitely NOT the sort of environment I want to be in if it were a perfect world.
I’ve tested out what you described above and the response was luke warm at best so maybe the feeling here is mutual I don’t know. Even my boss wasn’t thrilled with my decision to purse the CFA.
(1) Actively seek other opportunities and test the job market. The best thing to give you confidence in your negotiating platform is to literally improve your BATNA and see what else will pay you. Having said that, I have gone into salary negotiations with a company where I had no alternative offers and was still able to secure a 10-15% bump in compensation, but you literally have to be ice cold and know what the market is like for your services. Negotiations are one of just a few areas in life where I can maintain a poker face because I really see it more as transactional than emotional.
(2) If nothing else, by keeping tabs on the market you’ll have a better pulse of what someone in your role should be paid. You probably shouldn’t say you’re dissatisfied with the company per se – if it sucks that much, you ought to just leave. However, if some of that stress can be alleviated with greater pay or greater responsibility, those are things you should talk about.
In general, honesty is a good policy if for no other reason than to help you sleep better at night. However, dealing with companies, co-workers, girlfriends/boyfriends, whatever is a game in some sense. If you’re going to play the game, you have to be willing to put on your game face.