Internal or external

The answers to these questions indicate whether you need to think about leaving your current organization and finding a new employer, and whether you stay or leave. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, including the opportunity for a fresh start, without baggage, but also, having to learn a lot of new things because every organization does things differently.

If you do decide to leave and go external, you can apply directly to the organizations you desire, or use a variety of recruitment websites and agents, or all of these options.

Remember to use a reliable source of unbiased market information where possible. There's also no substitute to your own personal network, whom you should also reach out to.

When I see an interesting role on a recruitment website, something I find useful is to always cross-check it on another recruitment website. It is often different and there's perhaps more information, which you can piece together to form a clearer overall picture. Job postings are often copied from site to site by time-pressed recruitment agents. There are also many automated platforms that syndicate these postings, with varying degrees of fidelity.

Similarly, if the hiring organization is using multiple recruitment agents, then the agents may have different interpretations of the requirement. So, their job posting will be different, even if it's for the same job and on the same recruitment website.

If there isn't a current manager vacancy, but you decide to stay, there are still things you can do to make the change happen. This is sometimes called "engineering a role." It's essentially influencing the organizational decision makers that there is a need for a new manager position and that you are the perfect candidate for it!