Yet another friend thinking about greener grass

I have been thinking of greener grass on and off over the last few months, but I have a friend who works in a services company and she has been thinking a lot about the other side of the fence.

Let me be a bit clearer. She provides services by the hour. And she always wonders what it is like to be on the other side. To work inside for a company. And she gets offers. And sometimes the pay is better.

Today, she called and asked my advice on a real, honest to goodness offer. So I asked why she was interested and the number one reason was the opportunity for advancement. OK, let’s pause and think this one through:

1) She is currently a high level service provider with minor management responsibilities in a service company. She is a Subject Matter Expert who is encouraged to mentor the rest of the team.

2) The company is growing and is in the early stages of that growth.

3) If she takes the new job, she will be the only expert in the subject at the new company which is also experiencing growth.

So if the opportunity for advancement is the goal, which company is the place to be?

As companies grow, who moves up? The experts in the core business. It isn’t the experts among the support staff that run a company. You are a distributor of plumbing products and you need a new operations or marketing manager? Who do you tap? The IT manager? Hmmm. On the other hand, you are a growing IT services company? Who do you tap to be Customer Service Manger, or QA Manager? An accountant? A Lawyer? Or how about your best service provider?

Is there a moral to this story? Well, that remains to be seen, but having a deep understanding of your core operational model is a key to advancement, or rather should be!