Am I on the Right Path?

I'm working in a pretty large company, where I started off in sales, and having done pretty well I got promoted into a role where I am responsible for building an international sales training plan. Don't get me wrong, it's a great job and I'm going further, and faster than I might have otherwise. But it's not where I ever saw myself and I don't know if it's a bad idea to go too far down this road. I'm en route to being promoted into management so obviously it's quite scary to think about a move backwards when I'm not even sure now what I want.
Can you give me some advice?

The obvious question here is ‘where did you see yourself?’.

You will probably reply, ‘not sure – just not here’. Most people are more aware of what they don’t want career-wise, so that’s quite a normal position. Ask yourself what you really like in your role – what has made you happy? Where have you enjoyed doing your work, found the time has flown, etc? Then try to dissect this and look at what are the common threads.

Maybe it’s something around commercialism that you like – you must have some interest in sales and sales management, otherwise you’d not have done so well and be rising in the company. However, maybe it’s a smaller company you’re after – maybe one where you feel you can be more at the sharp end, where the outputs are more yours for the making and the taking.

You are well regarded in the company, so it’s likely that if you go out in the job market, other organisations will take the same view. Perhaps just try to apply into smaller or medium –sized companies, preferably in the same or a similar sector, so that you can transfer as much of your experiential value into any new role. That will also translate into not losing too much of your salary value on transfer.

Salaries have dropped around 15% though over the last 3 years, so a drop may be on the cards, but you should be able to hold it to around 5 or 10% if you select well on what to apply for, and do well at interview.

Think about getting some 1-1 career consultancy support too – this will really help you clarify direction and perform your best at interview.

Good luck