I love my company, but I hate my job.

April 30, 2010 8:53 AM

I want to keep working for the company I do now, but I am starting to hate the position I'm in. I want to move to a different department that I think I will do well in. How and when should I approach leadership about this?

I love pretty much everything about the company I work for now. The people are great, the location is perfect, the atmosphere is wonderful... I could go on. However, the position I took when I started two years ago is starting to drive me crazy, and I'm now sure that it's not what I want to do with the rest of my life.

There is, however, another department in the company that I would love to work for. It's something I'm interested in and passionate about, and after doing some real soul-searching and taking countless personality and job tests, it's where I think I need and want to be. I think I would be very good at it. The biggest issue is that I don't have much professional experience in this field.

I am interested in approaching leadership and talking with them to make my desires clear. I won't be expecting to move in two weeks or anything like that, but I would like to start cross-training and maybe getting more of a taste of what the other area is like.

I'm just wondering if there is anyone out there who has done something similar to this. If so, what advice do you have? How should I word things? What documentation, etc. should I prepare? Should I try to spend a few months getting some part-time or casual experience in the new field before approaching leadership, or should I let them know as soon as I can?

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (1 answer total)

What does your current management say about you (e.g. in performance reviews)? It is much easier to make this kind of move when you are highly valued in the job you have now.

Next, do you have any sort of mentor -- someone who has been there longer than you that understands the politics of the situation -- that you could discuss this with? Who could give you feedback both about the potential for this transfer as well as about your perceived suitability for the position? If not, is there any kind of development planning in your company -- where your boss will ask you what you might want to do in 3-5 years? You could bring this up with them at that point... say that you might be interested in eventually moving into this other department.

You might also talk to the leadership of the other department -- asking them whether or not they ever consider internal transfers, what qualities they look for, etc...

I would suggest keeping things informal (e.g. no documentation) -- as you figure out the lay of the land.

I have worked in organizations where transferring from one part of the company to another was considered almost treasonous -- crazy, I know, but that is the way it is sometimes -- if these two parts of the company are rivals, you can find yourself in an awkward position very quickly.
posted by elmay at 9:03 AM on April 30, 2010