Looking for work when already employed

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I'm 25 years old, been working in my current job for 4 years and I've enjoyed it and learnt a huge amount. Work atmosphere is good and I've been provided with opportunities to do a whole raft of different things whilst I've worked here. The problem is that this place has limited opportunities for moving my career forward, single site with 50 employees, IT team of 3 with me being the only 'serious' support tech and an outside support company who handle a lot of the heavier server side bits and pieces (which I'd love to do).

I think the time has come to look for other opportunities but I'm a little nervous of discussing this with my current boss, not that he'll react particularly badly (I don't think anyway) but it just feels weird talking to your boss about leaving.

Has anyone had experiences like this? How did you approach things?

 

Thankfully I have a pretty good relationship with my manager so I should be safe

Good advice Ken thanks I'll book in some time to have a chat with the boss when hes back in the office.

 

Be very careful about how you approach this subject. Yes, a manager/boss may appreciate you coming up to him with concerns of your advancement in IT, but at the same time they may see you as a future bailer if you say the wrong words...

I would definitely try to find a way of taking on some of those heavier server related work tasks from the outsourcing company, you could even show this to your boss as a way to save money and perhaps transfer those saved £££ to an increased pay check ;)

Good luck!

 

If you are staff, then theres not a whole lot they can do about it to be honest. Sure they could scrutinise you further in an effort to sack you before you leave, but that achieves nothing.

I spoke to a previous manager after months of attempting to get a role I wanted (even though it wasnt actually available at that point). I plainly stated to them that I would prefer to take on the new role in the company, but after several months of trying, it was plain that it wasnt going to happen. Therefore, I would have to start looking outside the company in order to progress my career.

She took it pretty well. Some might get arsy with you, but who cares? At the end of the day, it means that you can tell them you are going to an interview rather than having to make up excuses for taking time off/turning up to the office suited up.

If nothing else, it could give them a kick up the arse to see that you arent happy to sit in the same position. It may encourage them to find you a new role more to your liking, or give you more responsibilities.

Up to you though, you need to make a judgement call on how you think they will take it.

 

Very true, previous discussions have lead me to believe my boss understands the chances are I won't be here forever. But I understand there is a need to approach this carfeully.

I'd love to do this, my goal for our IT has almost always been to pull the majority of 'support' tasks in house but I've still got a fair amount of learning and leg work to make that happen. At the moment I'm tending to come up with ideas which are a short term cost but a long term saving which is proving unpopular

Thanks!

 

A lesson for the first movers from my first experience switching;

I was too much of a wimp to tell my boss that I wanted to move, so was applying speculatively, anyway, the company I eventually went too sent a letter asking for references and that was how my manager found out I was looking to leave. Safe to say, that bridge was burned from that moment on. It made a difficult split, very.

So, point being, 99% of the time, be nice and let your manager know, talk to them.

 

Also keep in mind that by bringing support in-house you expose business to potential bigger cost of hiring your replacement. Not to mention increased costs of recruitment itself (more skills to check).

 

This is a great suggestion and probably advice worth following for some on here but...

Our outsourcing company has the grand total of 5 employees and one of those is a uni student on a year in industry, they are also based 76 miles from my current location! Even with that they unfortunately aren't hiring at the moment.

This comment is a lot of the reason behind my current thinking, staying in the travel industry is certainly not something I see as a possibility at all. Even if it wasn't for the crap economy and UNITE doing their level best to kill us (I don't work for BA, but we are a BA preferred partner).

 

I've had very good experiences working in IT for non-IT companies, but I have to say that my current job is the best yet.

When everyone around you is so much into IT, the whole atmosphere is just magical. I can talk geeky computer stuff from the secretary to my HR advisor, and that's just simply awesome.

YMMV of course.

 

Thought I'd update this having just had a (fairly uncomfortable but positive) conversation with my boss. I was honest and open about the fact I am currently applying for work elsewhere and he was very appreciative of the fact, he was very aware that I was under no obligation to tell him.

He's offered 2 things to try and keep me around, 1 more money and 2 a bigger hand in the strategic direction of Ramblers IT over the next year/18 months. This is to the point that he wants me to draw up a document explaining what I think we should do and some rough cost estimates. The idea being that it'll then be my job if it gets the go ahead to make it happen.

Number 1 is by no means guaranteed and depends a lot on the feasibility of number 2, his most used phrase was "a win-win situation" where both myself and the company benefit.

All this means my advice to anyone who finds themselves in a similar position is.... talk to your boss! Its done me a lot of good in terms of confidence and has opened up the possibility of a better option for me in the current job market when compared to the hard slog of finding another position.

 

Good to hear mate, the boss isnt always there just to tell you what to do. Remember your there to make his/her life easier too! Sounds like you have a lot of IT people in a company with just 1 site and 50 users. I can't see why with 3 full time members of staff you couldnt bring the outsourced stuff back in house at some point?

 

Because its not 3 full time for a start I'm the only full-timer on the IT staff, my boss does 4 days a week and the other staffer is on 3 days a week. Combined with the fact that my boss is a developer and the 3 dayer isn't an IT support specialist (she was the most knowledgeable person in the company when they started using IT and got lumbered with the IT admin job all on her own until I joined 5 years ago).

Our outsourcing company have actually recently suggested reducing their support hours because we haven't actually been using them enough anyway but we'll never be in a position to get rid of them completely with our current team. Theres already a certain amount of panic anytime I go on holiday!