Flibbertigibbet

Moving Forward or Moving On

I just had my annual review and it went well. I got "exceeds expectations" and "strong" on pretty much everything.

I had decided that I wasn't going to tell my boss that I wanted that other position in the company, so I entered my review thinking that I would reiterate my career objectives and expectations.

The conversation went really well, though, and I told my boss my "wish I could" goal for staying within the company. He responded positively to that and suggested that I move into that other position in the company -- the one I had decided I wasn't going to tell him I want. Apparently, you can't move straight from my position to that "wish I could" spot even though my position and that other position have been described as being peers in the past. (Never mind my resume which well qualifies me for the move.)

Anyway, he suggested trying out that other position and I responded telling him that I would be interested in exploring that option.

Overall, the conversation was very positive and encouraging. I ended the conversation saying to him, "I want to make sure that we're on the same page and that you know that am at the point where I need to know that I am either moving forward or moving on." I didn't say that threateningly, but as a firm qualifier for my expectations about the near future.

Again, he responded well to this and thanked me for letting him know and asked that I just give him a chance to work on it.

The average job hunt takes six months. I haven't really earnestly pursued finding a new job, but I am poised to do so. I think I will take a couple months to organize and refocus some other areas of my life to allow the business situation to shift and see if anything turns up for me here. If so, fantastic. If not, I will have to start a serious job hunt around the New Year.