Chance at a promotion on the eve of a career change

[Krytie TV]

I am expecting to be completing my doctorate somewhere between December '12 and April '13. When that happens, I will be changing my career in Social Service for one in Educational Evaluation.

 

It has come down the pipe that I have an adequate possibility of being the new supervisor of my current program as our supervisor is moving up. All I can say is it's a good possibility and my question depends on the assumption that I would get it. My position involves working with adolescents who are returning home from residential treatment and are wards of the state.

 

My job, as it stands, allows me great schedule flexibility which enables me to watch my children 1.5 days per week while my wife is out of the home. This is very important to us, but not to the exclusion of all other career possibilities. If I were to take the supervisor gig, I might be able to swing a half day at home a week while having to find family/friend coverage for the children one day per week. I would have to be spending more time in the office and the raise would be minimal (max $2k/yr). Supervisory experience is one of the main voids in my resume at this time.

 

Does anyone know if having ~1 year experience in this current field managing a team of 6 would have any benefit to me in my new career in educational evaluation? My wife does not believe so, but I just don't know. I don't want to take the promotion just to take it, but this would be my last chance to nail down a year of supervisory experience before I start my new endeavor. If it is, I feel like I need to grab it.

 

Any thoughts?

[january2011]

I have experience of recruitment, but not in your field. For what it's worth, supervisory/teamleadership/managerial experience tends to be highly transferable and will be useful in most careers. Very few career structures (if any) are completely flat - there is nearly always some kind of hierarchy. Even if you want to remain a specialist in educational evaluation for the rest of your working life, being able to manage projects/people/budgets are useful skills to have.

 

And if you don't see yourself in that field until you retire, it's especially prudent to get the supervisory experience while you have the chance.

 

I suggest that you apply and then see what happens. If you don't get the promotion, then at least the choice has been made for you. If you do, then you can review the situation again.

[Krytie TV]

Thanks for the response Jan. It's a decision I really struggle with. If I didn't have to worry about juggling the children's schedule, I think I would take it in a heartbeat. I'm just afraid that doing this would change my personal life in a way that I wouldn't be happy with in the short-term, and in a way that I'm not sure about in the long-term.

 

I was really hoping to get a couple of opinions on the matter as I have no one personally (besides my wife) that I can discuss this with. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

[spiderowl]

Lack of (official) supervisory experience has held me back in my career. I have heard several other colleagues - who I consider highly capable - to say they have been similarly held back. It is not easy to get supervisory experience without having it in the first place so it's a Catch-22 situation. Getting one year's supervisory experience would stand you in good stead and I can't imagine it would get in the way of going in a different direction afterwards. Unless you know you are going to get that experience elsewhere in the near future, I would think very carefully about turning down the opportunity, should it arise.