Changing jobs after 10 years is scary but the biggest reason to do so is that company loyalty is punished with low pay. Companies don’t reward loyalty but they rather take advantage of it. The standard 2% raise just shouldn’t cut it for you if the company rakes in record profits.
Labor exploitation is real. When you offer yourself up for exploitation, companies does everything they can to exploit you. No exceptions and they are ruthless in doing so. When they have a chance to take advantage of someone else, they’ll take it. It’s why the American work culture is toxic.
There’s no morality or second thoughts here. The company wants and needs to make a profit. That’s all they were created on Earth to do. If they see that they can get away with giving you a 2% raise without having you leave, they have no incentive to pay you more.
Changing jobs after 10 years is most encouraged when the pay is low. I’ve actually worked for companies where they give out 0% raises! That’s not a typo. They literally gave out 0 raise, from the lowest rungs of the ladder to the highest rungs of the ladder as a Managing Director.
Even if it’s a risk, there comes a time when the relationship is so exploitative that you have to leave the relationship. Companies abuse their employees to the max and try to figure out how to abuse them even more every year. Companies try to look for ways to pay you less every year.
This is why changing jobs often is encouraged. You can’t afford to be the dim and loyal. It’s time to be smart about your career.
Changing Jobs After 10 Years: 9 Reasons to do So
Below are 9 reasons that changing jobs after 10 years is the right move. No matter how much they took care of you, if they have to choose between themselves and you, they will never choose you. You have to know how to get what you deserve in life.
1) Company Loyalty is Punished with Low Pay
Especially more so if the employee elects not to leave after a 2% inflationary raise. I personally make close to $200k and have no desire to change jobs. Even if other jobs pay $250k+. I love my boss and coworkers and the work is very interesting for me to keep going.
However, until I got to this point, I went with the highest bidders. I didn’t care about loyalty because I needed money to move up in life and pay for food and rent. I changed jobs every 2 – 3 years without giving it a minute’s thought. A career is a business relationship that should be win-win.
Even a 10% promotional raise isn’t enough. I’ve gotten 20 – 30%+ raises after just one move. Changing jobs after 10 years is all the more reason to do so if they pay is low. Obviously, this may not be possible during a recession. However, during booming times, it’s time to get paid what you’re worth.
Once companies figure out you will work long hours for low pay, they see a goldmine. We have to demand more from our employers without looking like we are always complaining.
2) Changing Jobs After 10 Years: Pigeonholed Career
Whether we like it or not, companies pigeonhole employees. One of the support people at my last company knew he had no upward mobility, career wise. And he took the job anyway because he didn’t care about moving up the corporate ladder.
However, for some, that’s not enough. We want upward mobility and we want to climb up the corporate ladder and level up whenever we can. Changing jobs after 10 years is recommended if we don’t want to be pigeonholed. I’ve seen many working in oil and gas pivot to real estate.
Because it’s what they want to do over the long term. Companies will pigeonhole you if it’s in their best interest to do so. Some employees are OK with that and others, not so much. If you are one of those people who want the opportunity to move up, it’s time to change jobs.
You spend more than a third of your life working and building a career. It’s time to make the most of it.
3) New Adventure
The new job may take you out of your comfort zone. Obviously, changing jobs after 10 years doesn’t make sense if the new role is a step down from where you currently are. One company wanted me to take a pay cut just for the “privilege” of working for them.
I turned that offer down real quick and the HR person got fired after 2 months (I know the feeling of getting fired). However, if the new job is a great adventure that’ll increase your skillset even further, then it’s a good idea to take it. I took a new job at the start of 2022 and moved to a new city to do so.
It was still one of the best decisions of my life. And I would still say that even if I got laid off. Some adventures are just worth taking the risk. It may not turn out the way you envisioned but it still might be the best decision you’ll ever make in your life.
I’m confident that I found a forever company to work for. Moving to another city for a job is exciting.
4) New Work Experiences
Not only does it get repetitive if we worked the same job for 10 years straight, it actually stunts our intellectual growth if we do the same thing over and over again. We need to be mentally challenged on a daily basis and especially at work.
Work is when we solve challenging problems. Changing jobs after 10 years is a good thing if we’ve been doing the same thing for 10 years straight. I personally get intellectually stimulated the first year, get used to it in the second year, and get straight up bored in the third year.
New work experiences are necessary for our growth. There isn’t many people who only worked a single job for the rest of their careers. Promotions mean that we need to be doing something different otherwise we get pigeonholed by the company.
Challenges are a good thing especially when we are more than capable of overcoming them.
5) A More Profitable Company
Changing jobs after 10 years is necessary if the new company is more profitable. I started my career in an unprofitable area of the company and every month, it would get me nervous if it was my last day at the company. When I moved to another profitable company, it put my mind at ease.
It doesn’t feel safe when you work for an unprofitable company. Even though Uber is a $50B+ company, it doesn’t feel good because Uber continually lost money hand over fist. No matter what, we view money as security. We feel great when the company does great and turns a profit.
I’m currently working for the most profitable company I’ve ever worked for and it makes me feel great coming into work every day. Yes, there is turbulence just as there is turbulence with any other company when it comes to generating a profit.
However, it’s much better than working for a division who is single handedly responsible for a large portion of net losses in the financial statements.
6) New Work Connections
We love meeting new people and especially new work connections. It’s someone new. New people are the ones who are going to elevate us to a good life. Or maybe be a future new business partner. Whatever the case is, new work connections is never a bad thing.
Many job interview opportunities I got was the result of prior work connections I held. It became infinitely easier to interview with the new company when the interviewer says things like, “it’s invaluable to work with a coworker that you actually like”.
Changing jobs after 10 years is a great thing when we get to make new connections and meet new people. Amazing things happen when we get comfortable speaking to a complete stranger and we learn how they got to where they are and the like.
Connections and friends influence our lives more than we know.
7) It’s Good for Employers as Well
Some companies want their employees to leave, even great ones who’ve been loyal to them for years on end. Companies like it when their employees grow and go on to do bigger and better things. Changing jobs after 10 years is a beneficial decision for both the employer and the employee.
Companies may want to refinance your salary with a brand new employee and pay them less. Or they just may want a fresh face they want to work with. Or anything of the kind. Companies even encourage employees to do something different after a number of years.
Once they find out the employees can grow their skillset at another company, they want them to leave. At the end of the day, a job is something that benefits both the company and the employee. We may be overthinking just how valuable we are to our employer.
Or just how little our bosses may think of us leaving. Some are great bosses who want you to develop professionally, even at the expense of their profitability.
8) Changing Jobs After 10 Years: You are More Attractive for Future Jobs
It’s not about what the job is but what the job could lead to. Some jobs are dead-end jobs with no ability for upward mobility. A $50k job with no upward mobility potential is worse than a $50k job with upward mobility potential.
Even though most job changes should come with a pay increase, it’s not a bad idea to take the same pay if the upward mobility potential exists. After a 10-year career, most companies put you in a box. If you’ve been working in finance, companies see you as “the finance guy”.
Therefore, if the new job is a pivot to another field that you feel like you can thrive more in, then changing jobs after 10 years is a good idea. At a certain point, the money doesn’t matter. At a certain point, what matters is the motivation to get out of bed every day and tackle the world’s problems.
Money can be always made but what can get lost is the passion to keep getting out of bed every day.
9) Better Happiness
There are companies I worked for where if I stayed with the company for a decade+, it would’ve made me downright miserable. I couldn’t even stand 3 years, let alone 10 years. No amount of money is worth your happiness because we spend a third of our lives working.
A job isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. However, companies who pay employees well AND provide a good work-life balance exist. You don’t have to choose between happiness and good pay. I personally found an employer who I want to work for for the rest of my life.
Changing jobs after 10 years is worth it if it provides better happiness. If they pay more, that’s just icing on the cake. There are jobs I worked in which the stress gave me consistent heartburns. Guggenheim CIO passed away at the ripe age of 63 most likely due to health issues that stemmed from stress.
He was at almost the top of the company yet none of that mattered. There’s no point in money when you don’t have your health.
Changing Jobs After 10 Years: The Exception
Not everything is all rainbows and sunshine by changing jobs after 10 years. I took my current job from a person who’ve been with the company for 10+ years. I couldn’t believe that they passed up this great of an opportunity. Every day, I sing tunes I go into the office because I love my job so much.
She privately told her prior coworkers that she regrets leaving the company. She’s also had to change jobs twice in one year as her new employers weren’t working out. The exception to changing jobs after 10 years is knowing how great of a company you’re already working for.
I personally worked for horrible companies so I know exactly what I’ve got and know that I never want to give it up for the rest of my life. Some companies, you shouldn’t leave ever. I personally wouldn’t ever leave working for Google, Facebook, Apple, and the like.
Not only do they pay employees well, but their work life balance is great as well. Changing jobs after 10 years shouldn’t even be considered if you work for your dream employer. The little things like an offhand comment once in a while is irrelevant.
What matters are the big things like do you work for a good boss? Are you learning? Is the work intellectually challenging? Is the pay good? If all the big picture items are checked off, there’s no reason to change jobs. Money does only so much for you.
Even if a company offered a $50k/yr more salary, I still wouldn’t take it.
Changing Jobs After 10 Years is Almost a Necessity
Ignoring the exceptions, changing jobs after 10 years is almost a necessity under most circumstances. Company loyalty is punished and taken advantage of instead of rewarded. Most employers are not good employers. They give off the illusion they care about their employees.
But when it came time to *show* it, companies that I worked for failed. Bosses thought “appreciation events” or “taking us out to an expensive lunch one time” was what made the difference when it’s respect that makes all the difference in the world.
There are many more bad employers and companies than there are good ones out there. Therefore, changing jobs after 10 years is the smart move because most companies do not treat employees well. It’s not time to reward your employer with more loyalty.
It’s time to do what’s right for yourself and move up in the world. You are deserving of more and you deserve to have the good things in life. I couldn’t imagine what my life would be like if I stayed with my past two employers. My miserable life would’ve been even worse.
Changing jobs after 10 years provides a fresh start. Another chance to work for another company that has everything of what you’re looking for. Companies already make so much profit from employees’ labor. It’s time to take some of the profits and put it in our own pockets.
We do not want to be sitting ducks.
Changing Jobs After 10 Years: 9 Reasons to do So Shortlist
- Company loyalty is punished with low pay
- Changing jobs after 10 years: pigeonholed career
- New adventure
- New work experiences
- A more profitable company
- New work connections
- It’s good for employers as well
- Changing jobs after 10 years: you are more attractive for future jobs
- Better happiness
