Change job after 20+ years??

[Whoddathoughtit]

I’ve been in my job her two decades and it has good and bad points, worked my way to fairly senior role but pretty badly underpaid still
I feel nervous to leave, has anyone left a long standing job and regretted it or has anyone made the move and wished they had of done it years ago?
what are people’s pro and cons that they’ve experienced?

YANBU - stop overthinking it, take the plunge for a new job

YABU - better the devil you know, risky moving when things aren’t so bad at your place

I'm in a similar situation.
I know I cant do another Christmas where I am, but I am terrified to be honest.
I hopefully have another job lined up,,I just keep telling myself I'm a big girl I can do this!!
If your company closed in the morning what choice would you have?

I left after 20 years due to a change in leader. Got a new job which lasted 6 years and was better paid which enabled me to retire early.

I did last year, it was transformative. It was the right time and the right opportunity though (landed in my lap) even 6 months prior I would have balked at the idea. Handing my notice in to that long, safe, secure job was truly terrifying - but it ultimately set me free from what had slowly become a self imposed purgatory.

I did this after 25 years and it had been brilliant. Do it!

Good luck with the other job!
I have plenty of choices tbh, good cv and could earn quite a bit more if I move, just nervous I guess and I’d miss a lot of people I work with

This is what I needed to read I think.
well done on taking the brave step to leave

I did after 18 years. It was the best thing I ever did. I'm so glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I now earn 3 times what I did before.

The people who matter will keep in touch with you - I’m still friends with people I worked with many years ago. It’s very odd being the new person after knowing a different organisation for so long but it’s also very freeing because you can bring new skills and abilities to the fore. Go for it, even if the next job isn’t quite the right fit you’ll gain from seeing what else is out there.

I have just started job hunting after being in the same job for 13 years. It is really scary and I’m in a very senior role so I know it’s going to take me a long time to find something at the right level but I think it’s time. Good luck OP!

I had different roles but within the same company for 21 years before I left a few years ago. I’d been there since I was 20 and it was terrifying thinking I could start somewhere new.

Best thing I ever did. I was deeply unhappy with my old workplace and got lucky with the new one but I think it would always have been a good move. If you’ve been in a role a long time you can get taken for granted and you start to take yourself for granted too. Moving has made me realise that I have skills, am good at my job and could move again to another place in the future. Much better than feeling stuck.

Good luck!

I did 19 years in a role, similar to you worked my way up, but was very underpaid. I moved on, had my choice of three roles when I went looking, and four years later I’m in a senior role and have nearly doubled my salary. It was terrifying, absolutely and so hard going from being the one who knows everything to the newbie but it is very doable. If you’re more than 50% sure that you need to move on, go for it, there is life after your old job!

I took voluntary redundancy mid 50’s from a job I had been in for nearly 30 years. Within 6 months I was in a better paid job with better conditions and lovely colleagues. I was worried I would never find another job, let alone a better one. Good luck if you decide to take the plunge.

I did just over 15 years in my first job. It was extremely strange to leave (and I still used ‘we’ to refer to the firm for several years!) and I was slightly unusual in that I left for a sideways move into a less well-paying sector but my career has gone from strength to strength. I think leaving also showed me that it was fine to leave a job and the world didn’t fall apart, I had sometimes got slightly trapped into thinking that the role was my identity because I’d been there so long. I left my next role after 4 years which was a good stretch but also because I realised that it’s fine to move jobs!