Help me decide which offer is best!

[Pumpkinpie28]

I work as an Operations Manager in a large finance business and have recently been offered a role at a large law firm as an Admin Manager.

My role as an Operations Manager is very broad and I manage two successful offices which are around 30 miles away from each other, so I'm commuting 4 days of the week as I live in between both offices and WFH 1 day a week. My job encompasses managing a large support team across the two respective offices, liaising with HR, IT, Finance, internal stakeholders and supporting on projects to keep everything running smoothly. I really do enjoy it but it can be quite challenging at times and the travel can often feel like hard work especially as I have a young family.

I genuinely wasn't looking for a new role but was contacted directly by the company recruiting for the Admin Manager role as I know a few people who work there and I decided to go to the interview to hear more about it as it sounded /looked like a good role from the job description they provided me with.

The new role would purely just be supporting a team of 50+ admin and support professionals and would entail dealing with performance reviews, training and development, updating processes and procedures, managing expectations of internal stakeholders as well as liaising with HR, IT and Finance for my support function, and I'd be losing the office management side (such as dealing with leases, landlords, contractors, facilities, BD & Marketing etc) that my current role has, but I'd only need to go into the office 3 days a week which is 8 miles away from my house and could WFH for 2 days, so it wouldn't feel as stressful or draining.

I'm conflicted as both roles are great but it makes it harder that they aren't really like for like so hard to compare, and I'm worried that my current role is so broad that I could move elsewhere in a few years time (if I felt that I wanted to change roles) but the new role would pigeon hole me into a more niche/unique role and I'd be less marketable in years to come.

The new role is better salary, an annual bonus, which I don't get currently, as well as the potential for long term career progression whereas I'd struggle to go much further in my current role but could work towards a better salary. I still wouldn't ever achieve a bonus in my current role as it's just not offered to our specific department and that won't ever change.

Sorry for it being quite a big read but I wanted to try and give you as much information as possible and would appreciate any views or opinions.

Thank you 😊

The new role, admin manager. More money, a bonus, less commuting, career progression- what's not to like?

The only thing that would put me off is the amount of annual leave, sick leave and mat leave which might be something you need to find out about.

Congrats, this is a nice position to be in, you just need to decide what is right for you at this point in your life, in light of your current priorities and responsibilities.

Sounds like you are excelling at your OM role, however you are also thinly spread, maybe working at a high pace constantly - is that always going to be sustainable physically and mentally for you?

The new role sounds mega exciting - if you feel those duties and responsibilities float your boat. It gives you an opportunity to hone in on some specific, meaty tasks, dropping the facilities management piece and so on. You'll be stretching yourself in other ways, have better remuneration and all of those other plus points you spoke of. Maybe it'll give the ability to focus more quality time on those tasks you'll be responsible for.

Sometimes a change can do you a world of good. But whatever you do, make the decision for you, and good luck!