Just applied for a job outside my current company of 18 years.

[NickK]

Please regale me with tales of how things were much better after moving from a long term job or company. Posters of failure and disasters will be blocked, I don't need that additional worry. Thanks for your support.

Was with my first company for 12 years. Politics following a company merger killed the company.

Only point I would make is that given the current job market it's unlikely you'll hear back from applications unless you're applying to a competitor in the same market. Not negativity - just the reality of the moment.

 

[Begbie]

Moved after 15 years, the most terrifying and freeing moment. Also the biggest regret id ever had when I realised how easy it was and how significantly my life improved and why I didn't do it sooner.

 

[bakes0310]

I moved from a company that I thought I would stay in till retirement as they were brilliant but the commute was too much, plus my pay wasn't great (35k). Found a local job with promotion and a pay rise (60k) and it's been the best decision ever.

Moved for the right reasons, and don't fret it could work out better.

 

[TommyV]

I moved at the start of the year after 12 years.

Won’t write war and peace here, but it was one of the best things I could have done. It wasn’t until I was out of that particular work environment that I realised how toxic it was, how respected I wasn’t, and it was a root cause of years and years of bouts of mental hardships to varying degrees.

If any of the above applies then I’d suggest jumping into new pastures with both feet.

The grass can be greener on the other side, I promise!

 

[413x]

I've had 4 jobs in 7 years.
In what I do the only way to get decent pay increases is to move companies.

 

[FBi7]

Please regale me with tales of how things were much better after moving from a long term job or company. Posters of failure and disasters will be blocked, I don't need that additional worry. Thanks for your support.

Fashionably late to the thread, as is usual for me, but, whilst I can't offer you any advice, I can say this......

I used to work for your current employer, albeit as agency, back in 1999/2000 at the Livingston site. I can honestly say, despite the poor pay, it was probably the 2nd best job I've ever had. So much fun and laughs had every single day. It was a stopgap for a year before I joined @ivrytwr3 and @Penfold101 at their 'company'.

I stayed at that company for 9 years, began to hate it so left during a recession. Stupid decision in hindsight, but also a great one. Fortunate enough to find a new job quite quickly, kept a roof over our heads and have progressed well from there.

I didn't have to leave my company after 9 years though, I chose to. Am I right in thinking that there's some degree of uncertainty in your future prompting you thinking about jumping ship? If not, either way, it's ******* scary to leave an employer after so long. Especially if you have nothing else lined up. So much self-questioning of your own decisions. That's all normal.

What are your plans/what are you thinking of getting into?

All the best,

FB..

 

[MissChief]

Fashionably late to the thread, as is usual for me, but, whilst I can't offer you any advice, I can say this......

I used to work for your current employer, albeit as agency, back in 1999/2000 at the Livingston site. I can honestly say, despite the poor pay, it was probably the 2nd best job I've ever had. So much fun and laughs had every single day. It was a stopgap for a year before I joined @ivrytwr3 and @Penfold101 at their 'company'.

I stayed at that company for 9 years, began to hate it so left during a recession. Stupid decision in hindsight, but also a great one. Fortunate enough to find a new job quite quickly, kept a roof over our heads and have progressed well from there.

I didn't have to leave my company after 9 years though, I chose to. Am I right in thinking that there's some degree of uncertainty in your future prompting you thinking about jumping ship? If not, either way, it's ******* scary to leave an employer after so long. Especially if you have nothing else lined up. So much self-questioning of your own decisions. That's all normal.

What are your plans/what are you thinking of getting into?

All the best,

FB..

TBH I don't know what I want to do. I joined my particular department five years ago when it was a small, new part of the company and it grew from there, we moved offices a couple of times as we just got bigger and bigger. A couple of redundancies lowered numbers a little, outsource was brought in 'to help out' and you know what happened then, despite their initial promises. After their changes what we do is becoming more and more corporate, more rigid, more highly monitored when it's just not required and just more corporate. Since the last round of layoffs I'm now back doing what I did 5 years ago. It feels like there's been no progression, only sideways steps, requests to do more and now a backwards step. I'm the SME in the team, I feel I could and should be doing more but everything is so up in the air at the moment, hiring is frozen until early next year and even since the last layoffs people have left, both out of the company and within the company. It feels stifling and restrictive and regressive.

 

[FBi7]

TBH I don't know what I want to do. I joined my particular department five years ago when it was a small, new part of the company and it grew from there, we moved offices a couple of times as we just got bigger and bigger. A couple of redundancies lowered numbers a little, outsource was brought in 'to help out' and you know what happened then, despite their initial promises. After their changes what we do is becoming more and more corporate, more rigid, more highly monitored when it's just not required and just more corporate. Since the last round of layoffs I'm now back doing what I did 5 years ago. It feels like there's been no progression, only sideways steps, requests to do more and now a backwards step. I'm the SME in the team, I feel I could and should be doing more but everything is so up in the air at the moment, hiring is frozen until early next year and even since the last layoffs people have left, both out of the company and within the company. It feels stifling and restrictive and regressive.

Sounds tough mate.

I think I'd be looking for something else so you don't become one of their next victims.

 

[malachi]

Just another example of never stay loyal to a company.

When it comes to a restructure or cuts, they look at the numbers and if your name is on the list then see-ya!

 

[ChocAndGray]

For me personally I realised the grass wasn’t greener and I regret leaving my last job.

The temptation of a promotion and higher basic salary is what made me move, but I actually earn less now, and it turns out that what I disliked about my previous job pales in comparison to my current one…..

 

[malachi]

For me personally I realised the grass wasn’t greener and I regret leaving my last job.

The temptation of a promotion and higher basic salary is what made me move, but I actually earn less now, and it turns out that what I disliked about my previous job pales in comparison to my current one…..

I am in a better position now but I have moved into a job I though was better and actually been financially worse off and it happened more than once. Recently was this year, I emailed my boss and HR and told them I am not coming back and I walked out.

I had been there for nearly a year. I had an senior title but I was doing the same work I had left behind 10 years ago.

If you have the skills you can quickly pivot from such setbacks.

 

[dacads]

Been in my current job the longest, 2 years and 8 months ish.

Crazy to me how someone can be in the same job for donkeys years.

Comfort and security is one thing, but risk and reward is also another thing.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Been in my current job the longest, 2 years and 8 months ish.

Crazy to me how someone can be in the same job for donkeys years.

Comfort and security is one thing, but risk and reward is also another thing.

Yea I was like that I moved around a lot until I found one that suits me.

The minute it stops suiting me I'll probably start jumping around a bit.

I can't complain at the moment I got a pretty good gig, I'm quite literally a professional PUBG gamer most afternoons.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Moved after 15 years, the most terrifying and freeing moment. Also the biggest regret id ever had when I realised how easy it was and how significantly my life improved and why I didn't do it sooner.

Same but I did 22 years.

 

[adam cool dude]

I was at my previous job for 15 years corporate from the shop floor. I was going to be made redundant in 2020 but managed to secure a job at another site within the same company but ended up handing in my notice within a year. It made me think a lot and now I am on a different path.

Like some others have said the only regret I have is that I never done it sooner. I was under the deluded impression that in corporate you work hard and do well at your job you get on. Once getting up to a decent position it became quite clear that social networking and being able to juggle ass licking and stabbing people in the back were the required skills to have. Not being actually able to manage people.

Anyway enough of that negative my life has changed dramatically in the past 3 years and whilst not any different at the moment financially I am well on my way to setting myself up for the future.

 

[malachi]

Been in my current job the longest, 2 years and 8 months ish.

Crazy to me how someone can be in the same job for donkeys years.

Comfort and security is one thing, but risk and reward is also another thing.

From 2009 till 2019, I was in one job. I stayed for too long.

Now in 2025, I'm on my 7th job, none have been temp or contract work.

 

[#Chri5#]

Moved after 15 years, the most terrifying and freeing moment. Also the biggest regret id ever had when I realised how easy it was and how significantly my life improved and why I didn't do it sooner.

Same but I did 22 years.

If I could, I would triple like what @Begbie posted.

I did just shy of 23 years in my last job. I sweated and worried less about trying to fix system outages in the middle of the night than I did when I had to give my notice letter to my boss.

I thought that having that much time in a job would be a good thing to have on your CV but that was wrong. I think I lucked out finding a ne job. I'd had one semi-informal interview / chat in a pub one night but the position I took (which I'm still in) I had two interviews and was offered the role. Perhaps it's different working in a big corporate than a SME, but when I was speaking to agencies and at my interview, people correctly identified that 20+ years makes it damn hard to leave somewhere.

OP - IMHO, you're in a strong position to be looking with already being in work. Removes the sense of fear or desperation as you watch savings slowly ticking down if you weren't working. Is there scope for your role to change or grow internally to become more interesting or challenging? It doesn't sound like it. I'm not sure what triggered the thought process for me, but eventually I realised that if I didn't make the difficult decision, I would still be doing the same things in 3 years, then 5 years (etc) and it wasn't going to get any easier to leave.

I think now is the time - go for it.

 

[bigmike20vt]

good luck OP. i am in a similar boat.

whilst i have not done the same job since 1998, i have worked on the same campus since then however i applied for my 1st totally new job since then Friday just gone. Funnily enough it is likely to be based on the same campus even then but it is a completely new job with new management and new goals which is a 1st for me really like i say since joining the human genome project in 1998...... my previous roles have all been natural progressions from that 1st job and all tied to each other in 1 way or another.

no idea whether i will like it more, but its a forced move as my current contract is up soon after 9 years which is the max allowed at the current gig.

 

[malachi]

I thought that having that much time in a job would be a good thing to have on your CV but that was wrong. I think I lucked out finding a ne job. I'd had one semi-informal interview / chat in a pub one night but the position I took (which I'm still in) I had two interviews and was offered the role. Perhaps it's different working in a big corporate than a SME, but when I was speaking to agencies and at my interview, people correctly identified that 20+ years makes it damn hard to leave somewhere.

I wish people knew this, they think being a job hopper hurts your CV. Maybe in 2005 but not in 2025, you been in one job for 10+ years they don't even care. Doesn't mean you be top of their list to be hired just because you stay in one job for over 10 years.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Although I had been at the same company for 22 (nearly 23) years, I wasn’t doing the same job. In fact every 4 years or so, I was promoted from the very bottom to the very top (In IT) so I would hope that reads differently to being in the same position for 20+ years.