Company
The most obvious “C” to get comfortable with is the company — in the broadest sense. Most critical will be the literal company you will keep. Who, specifically, will you be reporting to and working with, and more importantly, what are they like as leaders and peers? How does the culture feel in practice? What is the company’s purpose? How mature is the governance model? Just like the company will check references on you, it would be prudent that you also conduct your own due diligence with trusted sources.
Other more quantifiable elements will be more visible: how is the company performing today — stagnating or growing, profitable or struggling? (Either direction could present an opportunity; it would just be useful to know which one you would be dealing with). How strong is the balance sheet? What is its brand equity in the market?
Reflection: Beyond ensuring fit with your hiring manager, do not underestimate the broader cultural dimension in making your choice. It is one of the most reliable indicators of longevity in a given role. If you do go forward, give yourself six months to adjust to your new environment.
Challenge
If the company feels right, ask yourself whether the challenge also feels like a good fit. Is this an opportunity where you can leverage your experience, capabilities, and potential to make a meaningful, positive impact? Conversely, is it also a role that will allow you to grow as a professional? In order to answer the preceding, it is critical to inquire about the key expectations from the role. What does success look like? How will it be measured? And crucially, are the stakeholders aligned around these criteria?
Given the investment involved — and the risk you take — each time you make a career move, it is fair to ask whether you can see yourself not only in the immediate seat, but also beyond it. In other words: are there additional growth opportunities in the firm, and what might come next?
Reflection: Do not get hung up on titles. Focus on the role and its impact. And remember that sometimes, you might have to take a step sideways to go two steps forward.
Compensation
At Spencer Stuart, we conduct thousands of interviews every year. When we inquire about motives for a career move on a résumé, an executive will sometimes say: “That one was poor judgment!” When we probe to understand why they believe it was not a good choice, one of the most frequent answers we hear is: “It was the lure of compensation.”
First decide whether it is the right company and challenge for you — and if so, then of course the compensation also has to be right. This lens is also useful in evaluating your current role: do you have “golden handcuffs” that may be preventing you from considering an attractive opportunity?
Of course, ideally, the compensation should also present an attractive move in the right direction. When evaluating the offer, it is important to keep an open mind and to take a realistic and holistic view of compensation. Some companies will offer a more modest cash compensation (base and short-term bonus) and yet may have a very attractive upside. For example, a Private Equity portfolio company executive can realise a life-changing long-term bonus if the company exercises a lucrative exit.
Reflection: If your primary motivation to make (or not to make) the move is compensation, think again. It is not what typically motivates executives to get up in the morning and can therefore only act as a short-term fix in the absence of having the right company and challenge.
Context
As usual, context — personal as well as professional — is key. You and your family will be the best judges of your personal context. Sometimes we have the right opportunity in front of us, but it may not be the right time. Some choices are obvious: you may not relocate due to the needs of aging parents, or the uncertain health condition of a child.
Other choices will be less obvious: an opportunity may be exciting, but it may also involve more risk than you have an appetite for — especially in a turbulent macro environment. Alternatively, you may be up for a promotion and may want to wait for that to materialise before making your next move. Or perhaps you want to preserve the option of relocating to another geography, in which case a multinational may have more to offer than a local company can.
Reflection: Every choice involves a trade-off. Which trade-offs can you live with?
Managing the journey
We hope the above provides a simple, useful framework as you weigh career choices. However, we also realise that while this is a rational and neat framework, the reality is messier and equally emotional! Even as you rejoice about a new opportunity, you are simultaneously also mourning the loss of the existing identity you are leaving behind.
Moreover, the process may feel uneasy as you will be searching for an answer and contemplating stepping outside your comfort zone; ambiguity tends to make most uncomfortable. The average search process takes six months end to end. As such, give yourself time to ask the strategic questions, consult with your network, discuss with loved ones and to reflect on the incoming information as well as to process the feelings.
There are two pitfalls to be mindful of: firstly, sometimes you need to go through the process to find the answer. You may not have clarity at the beginning, and it is fair to proceed if it is a “maybe” at the outset — so long as you are transparent with the interviewing party.
Secondly, while you ideally want to feel comfortable across all four dimensions before making a move, resist the temptation to maximise on every C. Instead, aim to optimise across the four.
For further content on navigating your career, please visit our Career Advice page.