When to move: the four honest signals
Staying too long and leaving too early both cost you. The timing question has actual answers.
Most career moves in financial services happen for one of two bad reasons: boredom dressed up as ambition, or a bad quarter dressed up as a dead end. Both are recoverable, but only if you can tell them apart from the real signals.
The four signals that justify moving
- Learning has stopped: you can do the year's work on autopilot, and the next rung is blocked by tenure, not merit
- The platform is shrinking: the book, budget or mandate you were hired to grow is being wound down
- Your market value and your pay have clearly diverged, and the gap survives an internal conversation
- The institution's risk culture has changed in a way you cannot sign your name to
The signals that do not
A new manager you dislike, a promotion cycle that skipped you once, a recruiter with a shiny story. Each feels urgent; none survives ninety days of scrutiny. Test them by writing down what would have to change for you to stay, and asking for it. You would be surprised how often the answer is yes.
The compounding argument
In credit, risk and relationship roles, tenure itself compounds: book knowledge, audit history and internal credit with decision-makers are all location-specific. Move for a clearly bigger platform or a broken one - not for a 20% raise into the same job with a new logo.