Minimum time in a Manager role

[Fearnecuptea]

I am feeling I'm loosing perspective on this. I've been in my role (as title suggests, manager role) for 1 year and a few months.

I'm thinking of applying elsewhere (grass is greener vibe I guess) BUT this is my first manager role and feel it would look better if a wait until I'm past the 2 year mark (preferably 3 years).

I spend allot of time on Linkedin every day and have noticed a trend of people bouncing upwards in roles- Manager- Head- Director levels with only 1.5 years experience average per role.

Is this the new norm? am I being too conservative staying in a role for a "fixed term" of 2-3 years min?

Is it normal now to move quicker to become more successful? I feel like 1.5 years isn't that long, but I'm seeing people in REALLY great roles (and great companies) and feeling like I'm working to rules that aren't really there.

Anyone work in HR/ recruitment who can give me perspective?

Yes I am being reasonable and should wait a sold 2-3 years in Manager+ roles, no I'm being unreasonable and need to get a grip and apply and move around to get to the top (top being, Director)!

I think this really depends on your industry, how well you are performing in your role, how many people you are responsible for, if you are going above and beyond, and how much confidence you have.

Sometimes trying to rush to the top can cause burnout. It's really all up to you.

My husband is director and has moved/been promoted once a year for the last 7 years when he entered a new industry essentially as an intern (3 organisations total since his career change 7 years ago). That's possibly an extreme case but it's been moving organisations that has opened doors for him rather than hanging around for opportunities.

Just to add it probably is industry specific. DH works in IT for a large international bank.

I don't know the answer. It depends on you ultimately. Take a objective look at yourself, have you learnt all you need to know where you are, and need a different experience to develop further? Or are there gaps in your knowledge, where this current role could help?

Stupid example, conducting a disiplinary. If you've not had this come up yet - does your current role give the opportunity to do this (even if it hasn't come up yet), or even if the situation atose, you'd have to refer elsewhere and so will never learn to conduct them in your current role.

That's the first step I think. Ultimately, if you put yourself out there for new roles, some might think your service is short - but if you show that its been a experience packed 1 year - compared to someone else's 3/4 year relatively quiet stint then that's what matters. Quality over quantity.

Be careful who you compare to though - a manager that seems to race to head, and then to director could have years of manager experience elsewhere, before they came to manager role you're looking at. The head to director could have set up their own company, or been acting head as manager for much longer than they held the title.

I think what I'm saying is, move if you ready - no use comparing how fast or slow others move. If you bounce from company to company in manager roles then just confirm its a actually a step up and you're gaining new experiences.

Surely, if you see a job you want you go for it. If you tick all the boxes in the job ad, then it's up to the interview to figure out whether you are right or wrong (including your own thoughts on your suitability). Seems odd to let an amazing opportunity go, because you think it should be eg December not April when you apply for it.
If you are too green, then I imagine you wouldn't get it. But, you definitely won't get it, if you aren't applying.

Thanks all for your viewpoints- this is why I love MN! (usually) get such helpful, unbiased advice.

My industry is fairly niche and dull (dare I say! its just not that glamorous). We do work with allot of clients though from creative industries and I think this is where my comparison urge is coming from! I see everyone moving around (and upwards) quickly seemingly not caring that they've only been somewhere a year...

80% of my role I could do on autopilot, but some aspects are brand new. Maybe I need to focus more on these "learning" areas. Its difficult to know whats best long term, I guess moving up isn't a race!

I have watched people higher up blag their ways through whole projects so I do think to myself, you don't always have to be experienced, sometimes you have to be cheeky and just go for the next role up.

Hmmm!

Agree with others, it's industry and role specific (in some roles you may reasonably feel you've got everything you can from it within 6 months, others that have more longer term projects etc ongoing you won't have had time to see anything through unless you stay for 2 years or more). I don't see why in principle you shouldn't apply for roles you meet the criteria for now, if you know you'll be wanting to move on at some point you may as well get into the swing of applications and interviews etc asap - I know it's an annoying process but I think you have to put yourself out there a bit and be prepared for (some) rejection which may or may not be based on your length of time/experienced gained in current post.

One thing I will say is there is still (in my world anyway) a bit of prejudice in some places against people who change jobs very frequently - I'm talking about multiple moves having been in post 6 months or less - without a clear explanation or rationale. I think people then worry about their new recruit being a 'flight risk' if they're the kind of person who gets bored easily and constantly needs/wants something new - that kind of person is great for short term/project roles but you'd be wary of hiring them as a long-term investment e.g. if you needed to pay for expensive training or there was a long familiarization process. Like I say I don't think you need to worry about this now but you might want to think about what your next move is and hopefully it being something where you can stay a little bit longer, perhaps something with the option of some internal progression or stretch, just in case?