Time to make a change? Feeling stuck. (employees, sample, consulting)

[bencronin04]

I wanted to get others advise on where exactly to go from this point. To give a little back ground, I'm in the field of Information Technology and work for a "consulting firm". I've been with the company now 5 years and I am their longest tiered employee. When I began we had one client, no outside projects and 6 employees. We now have 7 clients, multiple projects and over 30 employees. At the beginning of my career with them I moved up the ranks fairly quickly and worked in every business unit we expanded into. I've worked with every client we've had as well. We started yearly reviews about 3 years ago, and I've always received top scores across every sector. Every client I've been involved with has asked for me to stay on or requested me back time and time again. Every cert, project, task, etc that has been asked of me has been completed on or ahead of time to the required standards or higher. I've brought in new employee's to the company via referrals, interviewed employee's, trained, etc. My employer is very happy with everything I bring to the table....BUT there seems to be an issue. I haven't moved over the last almost 2 years now and I'm at a client site that I run so well, it's almost isolated. I'm stuck. I've brought it to their attention and they've know my intentions of moving up within the company since the day I started. The CEO often jokes at company meetings about how when interviewing I told him I wanted his job. With the growth the company has experienced over the last few years, we've brought in new employees that often take new key positions in the company. This includes everything from VPs to directors to managers. Time and time again we hire in new employee's and I'm sitting in the same spot because the client is happy and is making the company money. We are now going through a company restructuring and all 3 of the new middle management positions have gone to employees that have been with us for less than 6 months.

My question is....where do I go from here? Is it time to move on? Should I just completely shoot it straight with the exec and tell him what I'm seeing? Any advice is appreciated.

[G-fused]

I would shoot it straight with the exec but not with empty-like thoughts. Don’t go to him/her/them and tell them you want more, you deserve more, etc. Have a specific request, a proposed plan and maybe timeline, and a solution for the client you are engaged with.

Your Request: Director level, VP level, whatever you think is appropriate and realistic for you. Don’t be meek and say director when you think you are VP material, but don’t overextend either.

Your Plan: Think about what you think they think you need to be a director. Training? Mentoring? Shadowing? Whatever that is, propose it and maybe have a timeline and some milestones in sight. If you get to X in 6months – 1 yr, they’ll give you Y.

Your solution: Identify someone you think is a good replacement for your account, tell them why he/she would be appropriate. Offer to train them and introduce them to the client so the transition is seamless. Tell the client you will still be overseeing it all and remaining in contact throughout the entire engagement.

That’s just a sample but those are the basics. I’d give them a chance before walking away.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

[bencronin04]

Thank you for the feed back an info. I'll definitely take a lot of it into my review meeting next week. I think I need to be more decisive and assertive with what I want. In the past we've had process, plans, maps laid out for me and something always tended to come up. A new client they needed me to take over, and issue at a client I need to go jump on to smooth out, etc. Hopefully we can stick to the game plan this time.