Career Crossroads: Is It Time to Stay, Go, or Grow Where You Are?

This time of year naturally invites reflection. With a new year underway and priorities resetting, many of us find ourselves asking the same question: am I still where I’m meant to be?

Career crossroads don’t always arrive with a bang. More often, they show up quietly, a sense that your role no longer stretches you, that your priorities have shifted, or that what once felt right no longer quite fits. You might be performing well and still feel unsure whether staying put is the best long-term choice.

When weighing up what comes next, it can help to step back and look at your situation through three simple lenses.

Progress
Are you still developing? Progress isn’t limited to promotions. It can show up as new challenges, exposure to change, leadership opportunities, or increased influence. If your role feels static, it’s worth understanding whether that’s temporary, or a sign that growth may lie elsewhere.

Purpose
Does your work still align with what motivates you? Values evolve. What mattered earlier in your career may not be what matters now, whether that’s impact, flexibility, pace, or stability. A disconnect here is often subtle, but significant.

Possibility
If nothing changed for the next 12–24 months, how would that feel? Sometimes there’s a clear roadmap ahead; other times the future feels uncertain or repetitive. That clarity, or lack of it, can be an important indicator.

Choosing to move on doesn’t mean you’ve failed, just as choosing to stay doesn’t mean you’ve settled. What matters is making a deliberate decision, rather than drifting into one through habit or uncertainty.

From a recruitment perspective, these conversations are happening across both permanent and interim markets. Professionals reflect on their careers for many reasons, ambition, curiosity, a desire for balance, or simply wanting to understand what options exist. Some are exploring interim work as a new challenge or fresh perspective; others are established interims thinking carefully about their next assignment. Equally, many are considering permanent roles that offer long-term alignment and progression.

This is where a good recruitment partner should add real value. Not by pushing one path over another, but by listening, offering honest insight into the market, and helping you navigate your options with clarity. Whether that’s sense-checking a move into interim, planning your next assignment, or exploring permanent opportunities, the right support helps you make informed decisions with confidence.

Career crossroads are inevitable. Navigating them well, with the right perspective and the right conversations, is what turns uncertainty into opportunity.