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In the interviewing series, Mark hammers at the point that one should "tell no one" at their current employer that they’re interviewing.

A year ago (after I’d been there for 3 yrs), the president of our firm told me that she wanted me to stay as long as it was still fun and challenging, and when I was ready to start looking elsewhere, she encouraged me to let her know—she offered to open up her rolodex and make calls on my behalf.

Over the past 6 months, my learning curve has flattened out and our organization is so small that there’s little room to change my role, so I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what’s next. On the one hand, I want to tell our president about this because she and I get along very well and I believe she could be very helpful. On the other hand, I’m reluctant to ‘tip my hat’ about my plans out of fear that it would affect me in ways I can’t foresee.

Do I really tell no one, not even a senior exec who has expressed interest in my career?

jhack's picture

My advice is to tell no one.

Do, however, talk to the CEO about your concerns with your career. Talk about your aspirations and how your current company fits with them.

CEOs like people to come with solutions, not just problems. It would behoove you to have a role in mind for yourself. CEOs will sometimes say, "OK, what role would you like to have?" and if you haven't thought it through, they'll think "Why is this person in my office?"

John