So sometime in your career you will have the very flattering moment when someone you’ve worked for in the past wants to hire you away. If you already have a job, this becomes riskier because you’re leaving to go somewhere else…so you want to be wise. A couple of things to keep in mind:
1. How do you feel about your current situation? Gut reaction? Is there opportunity? Do people treat you as valued? How do you feel about the work you’re doing? Do you trust your boss? You should have a pretty good idea since this is your current situation…you just have be careful you’ve got a realistic view.
For me, who I work for and the type of work I do drives my satisfaction. How much I get paid and whether or not I’ve been promoted is more of a negative influencer: no one wants to feel like they’ve been taken advantage of. If you’re really unhappy, this might be the time to right the wrong…as long as you are seeing things clearly. Remember the frying pan and the fire!
2. What do you know about the future role? This is your unknown…and probably your future boss’s unknown too if they are newly hired. You want to take your time on this: understand the problem that needs solving, figure out how you can help and in what role. Salary negotiations, promotion upside…don’t get swayed by the sales pitch. What you do know is the person trying to hire you…be honest whether or not you liked working for them. You know your skills…can you help the situation? Does this opportunity give you the ability to expand your resume meaningfully? What is your boss worried about, now that he/she has joined the firm? What are the warning flags?
3.Talk to someone you completely trust and who knows you. This is typically not someone at work…they’re too biased. The last thing you want is someone spilling that you are/were looking. No one looks at the person the same way again. Ever.
4. If you do decide to go, leave with grace. Be professional and considerate. This is not the time to talk about all the things that made you want to leave in the first place….they don’t really want to know. Make the transition seamless and easy, have a standard response “I really have loved working here, but this opportunity was too good to pass up.”
5. Listen to your gut and check your anchor value. At the end of the day, you can’t know everything. But if you’ve been honest with yourself about your situation, done the probing to understand the opportunity, and spoken to someone who really knows you for an outsider check, you’ve probably come up with a pretty good decision.