BLUF: I am looking advice on proposing to my boss that I switch departments
Hi Everyone - long time lurker, first time poster :)
I work for a small company of about 50 employees and am currently in the International Department but a lot of work I do is with the marketing department. Recently the VP of the Marketing Department left the company and my boss is running the Marketing Department as well as the International Department for at least the next four months.
The VP of the Marketing Department left a void in the skill set of the department (basically there is now no one to write marketing copy) which my boss is currently filling; this is something I am very good at and could help Marketing with, I already write most of the copy for International marketing. Additionally I am pretty bored at my current job and looking for a new challenge.
I would like to propose to my boss that I move to the Marketing Department.
I do think she would be receptive to the proposal, but I am a high C and horrible at managing office politics - this plays to all of my weaknesses.
Does anyone have advice on how to approach her with this topic or experience in a similar situation?
Thank you in advance for any help!
It sounds to me that your
It sounds to me that your keen to move, and this may even be well received by you boss; so it appears to be a good situation to be in.
Judging but your post and the way its worded, my guess is that your not as horrible at office politics as you may think.
I know very little about marketing or moving departments, so please take my thoughts in that context. But perhaps setting some time aside with your boss to discuss your proposal, along with a bit of thought beforehand with regard to how the transition could be managed, and the conversation could well be quite smooth.
Also, I would be inclined to focus on the 'pull' factors of the other job i.e. a new challenge, rather than the 'push' factors of your current job i.e. its becoming boring.
I did move up within my organisation about six months ago when my boss left, and I was very unsure if it was a good idea to even apply for the position (I'm noticeably younger than others and had only been with the organisation a little over a year). It turned out after I went through the tough interview process and accepted the job, that the organisation was hoping that I would apply but wanted all of the motivation to come from me. The reason why I share this is because its not impossible that your boss may even say something like 'I was just thinking that myself'.
Best wishes if you do decide to talk to her, I hope it goes well.
Thanks for the
Thanks for the encouragement!
I will definitely try to play up the positive aspects of the move and try to consider how my current responsibilities could be handled. I figure I could continue doing 15-25% of my current job from the marketing department. We're also in the middle of our busiest time of year, so I would like to propose the move now, but note that it wouldn't take place until mid-March when things are much slower for us.
Congratulations on your recent promotion!
Why do you need to change departments?
It seems to me that you want to do some work that has a been done in marketing, and now your boss has the ability to have you do that. You don't need to move departments to do so.
If you're good ( sorry), your boss will be LESS likely to move you if he knows he'S going to lose the marketing department, right? When he loses them, he will have lost you.
So ask for the work, but not the move.
Go to your boss, and make a case for why youre the best person to be dong the copy writing. Show him past work show m your deliverable/deadline metrics ( how on time have you been?), and tell him you want more responsibility,
Mark
Sent from seat 6b, aa flight aa753, lga-DFW.