Anyone on LinkedIn most likely has seen an article or two floating around encouraging people to pick a job based on a manager vs the company itself… Let us first start off by saying that any manager absolutely has the power to make a job an enjoyable or frightful experience for their employees. And any good leader knows it is completely in their power to do everything they can to make a job experience as enjoyable as possible. We’ve all had good and bad managers; however, making a decision solely based on who your potential manger will be is a HUGE mistake… Here’s the reality: regardless of the manager, when starting a new job, you become married to the company and not the manager. If we were talking about the job market 20 years ago, our opinion would be different. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for employees to stay with an organization for many years—and in some cases, decades or full careers. In today’s climate, the average employment tenure is roughly 4.3 years… That is employment overall and means on average, you are all but guaranteed to get a new manager every four or so years, regardless of how strong you feel about their management ability. However, it goes much further than that… As that number is purely in relationship to how employees stay with the organization and doesn’t account for shifts in position, team changes, or promotions. In reality, this means that someone as your direct manager has a shelf-life of somewhere between one to two years tops. From a personal experience, almost every organization I’ve been employed with throughout my career has seen at least one direct management change. Some have seen many many more… In Oracle for example, I experienced four direct management changes within a little over a year without personally changing teams once. Yes, that’s right—my team had four different managers in a little over a year. For others, it wasn’t uncommon to have had three to four management changes throughout a multiyear tenure.
With all of that said, do your homework on your prospective manager and ensure they are the right person for you, BUT do not forget to pick the right company for you as well. Chances are, they will not be your direct manager forever!