Extremely Slow Ramp Up

Joined a new firm several months ago. Ramp up for role has been extraordinarily slow (many months, really not much to do, which is weird for me, especially at this level in my career (almost decade in development)). Report directly to SVP who runs our team. Role was created because a senior member of the team is likely retiring in a few years. I have little to do because, although we have lots of capital and pipeline, our team is currently able to handle it...until this person retires. What would you do with this time? The most obvious answer to me seems to be network with other departments internally (we're a huge organization), since I will need strong working relationships with those people once I get active here. But the only pushback I have is that sitting down 1:1 with other departments, as strategic (and even enjoyable) as that may be, isn't the same as actually working with them on actual projects. So, what would you do with this time, in an extremely slow ramp up?

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Thanks, don't disagree with you. I'll add though that I'm pretty satisfied with comp and overall situation, just more that I want to be doing strategic things to position myself for when the time comes. The retiring person is a half-step / step above me even though we report to the same person, so I want to be "proving" myself to be able to take his role down the line, not have to wait until that time comes to start the process of "proving" it from ground 0 whenever that time comes. I also have a few peers on the team who in theory shouldn't be competition for that role, as they are a lot less experienced than both the retiring person and myself (both basically doing development for the first time), but it's tough to sit idle while they get some experience and momentum internally, while I sit and wait essentially. I feel like competitively I need to keep the "gap" between us, which is hard to do without the projects, while they continue to grow (nothing against them and happy for their growth, but have to protect my own reputation for having many more years of experience, especially optically internally). Any advise with this additional context would be greatly appreciated.  

 

My only advice is that unless there is a contractual agreement, there is in effect no agreement. I would not be expecting the role at this point in time. I would be operating under the pretense that your current role is all that you will be "getting." 

This is especially true if the other "juniors" are more senior than you at the firm or if the retiring SVP has a good relationship with either of them. You would be surprised at how backhanded some people can be.

I can't really give you any other advice. I think that you probably already knew what I just said to you.

 

Thank you. Your point about the "juniors" having a closer or longer-standing relationship with the SVP and more tenure at the firm is an important one. Very much agree that can play into more than I would like it to. I guess even more reason I would really like to show my expertise/experience/leadership. Hard to do without the visibility that comes with leading projects. 

 

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