Wwyd, senior role?

[Schooldil3ma]

My DSis is looking to me for advice and I'm clueless, I'm public sector so her dilema is alien to me.

She's presently mid level, global company, been there years and worked her way up, well thought of. She enjoys her job but it's challenging.

She's been head hunted by an ex colleague to join another global, next step up, possibly director. The spec is so vague, basically build a team, get shit done, vaguely relating to X part of the business. The worry is if there's no real job spec, it could be chaotic, and if she's nothing concrete to be measured against how will she show success?

I've advised her to speak to people in her field obviously, as I'm clueless, but what's the feeling about taking the leap? For context She's by far the higher earner in her family. Her skills are somewhat broad, but not always fitting in to a set job title, so of this didn't work there wouldn't be loads of other jobs she could just hop in to.

Thanks for any advice.

What does mid level mean? What skills does she have/use in day to day work?

I've been in this situation in the public sector - so it's not so rare anywhere. If you are that senior then you should know how to frame discussions and performance frameworks. It's a chance to develop and deliver something that you believe in and are passionate about. Before starting you can establish the groundwork but it's after you start working from there that the creative elements enter the equation. It's always a risk - moving to any new job is. Just because someone has created a spec for you doesn't mean much - they may not have a clue (often don't), and it may not be right (often isn't).

Being honest, this is the test of how much you believe in yourself - if one doesn't have the confidence to firmly believe that you will succeed then it isn't a risk you should take. But my top two "go to" questions would be "why have to created this role and what are you expecting from it" and "what are the troubling things that you aren't telling me in case it puts me off". There is always, no matter what, some difficult staff, something that has failed... just something that hasn't worked/ has gone wrong / they don't know how to do. If they say there is nothing, avoid like the plague - they are either delusional or lying through their teeth.

@Jalisco thank you! Your words are wise and succinct, and those questions are excellent. It's a new role in the company with such a wide and vague spec you're right, it's a test of skill and experience to interpret those and deliver. But would her interpretation match theirs is the question, I guess it really needs to be hammered out.

@NotRainingToday her mid level is a 70k role managing a team across Europe, sort of IT meets business delivery. Because she's worked her way up in the business her knowledge of the company is excellent, but this doesn't necessarily translate to her being able to deliver at the next level in a business she doesn't know so we'll.

IT/business interface is a great place to be - I'm sure she has excellent technical skills and an understanding of business need and can deliver against it.

I think that if she is confident in what she can do, she will be fine and will carve out a 'new way of doing things'. Also, I would imagine the recruitment process will have many stages, including meeting the senior stakeholders, so she will be able to get a feel for how she might work with them and how influencial she could be. If her gut feeling says 'no', she can always walk away, but it seems (to me) like a good idea to have the conversation.

Just to add, it's fairly normal for senior roles not to have a strictly defined job spec.

Mine says things like: 'deliver to business need' which could literally mean anything or nothing!

Also, to your question of how to show success..... it's mostly about highlighting what you've done and how it has benefitted the company. She might have to toot her own horn a little bit here, hence the comments about being confident!

@NotRainingToday thanks for your really helpful insight. She's had 3 meetings with the new company, and each one reveals how little anyone has scoped out the job, just that "shit needs to get done". I guess that could be a really beneficial place to be as she'll definitely get stuff done, it's in her personality to do so.
I'd personally be bricking it, I love a structured job description, but I guess that's why I'm not on 70k and looking for the next stage up!
She's probably reached her potential and isn't going to go any further in her present company, she's seen as a safe pair of hands...or possibly the Glass Ceiling at work, who knows.