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New Year, New Career: The Time for Change

4 September 2026

New Year, New Career: The Time for Change

​​You may have been unhappy for a while in your role, well there’s never been a better time to change that. In the spirit of the “New Year, New Career” mentality we thought it best to help you know when enough is enough in your current role.

There are many signs that your current role is not serving you, we’ve collected a roundup of the most common, and usually ignored, reasons why your role is not right for you.


Work-worry

Do Sundays get you unusually down in the dumps? Does your alarm go off every morning to a groan? Then you’re in the wrong job. It’s always been widely accepted that people HATE Mondays, that’s just humans we love our short-lived yet important weekends, but you should not be dreading Tuesday through Friday either. It’s not all about hating your job, you might be underwhelmed at the project you’ve been given, or working alongside someone you don’t get on with. Hating going to work is the most valid reason not to work there anymore.


Over-qualified?

Often there are times when circumstance beats desire, you may have taken a job through urgency factors such as redundancy, coming back from a long break, that is below your skillset or you may have been stuck in a role for several years without much progression. Don’t waste time in a role that isn’t serving your brain, boredom is one of the biggest factors in unhappiness. You’ll find yourself procrastinating, dragging your heels, and feeling all around demotivated.

We recommend speaking with your employer first, as it may be that you have just been overlooked and they would be more than happy to give more responsibility to you, but if they aren’t, it’s time to look elsewhere.


Underpaid?

Have you been in your role a while without any signs of a conversation regarding your pay? Companies should be actively progressing not only your skills but as these develop, your salary. Historically the best way to access a higher pay level was to get a new job and this still may be true. It’s not all about money, but you deserve to be paid accordingly especially if you are a dedicated worker. Again, a conversation with your employer, if you want to stay at the company, is the way to approach this, but if being underpaid is just one in a long list of reasons why you want to move then it’s time to move on.


Culture change

If you have been in your role a while, you will have likely seen a lot of people come and go (depending on the type of work you are in) you may even have an entirely new team to work with or a new manager, it’s no secret that not everyone gets along, especially in a close-knit environment. If you find yourself increasingly unhappy due to the people surrounding you on your working day it’s time to move. We spend a 1/3 of our lives at work, we usually see the people we work with more than our own families/friends on a weekly basis so, although you will likely never love everyone you work with, it’s important that it doesn’t factor in your unhappiness.


You’re reading this.

This blog sparked interest somewhere in your brain for you to click and read this far. If any of these points ring too true in your mind then it’s time to consider a change, even if you just want to see what’s out there for you.

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THE ONE GROUP

Where we're from,
and how we got here

Twenty years of specialist recruitment in the East – and a lot of small decisions that added up.

TOG started in Peterborough in 2004 with a small team and a simple idea: that recruitment is a people business, done best by specialists who stay in their sector long enough to know it properly.

More than two decades on, we've grown into four offices across the East of England and Home Counties. We recruit for finance leaders, HR directors, engineering managers, tech founders, scientists, and the commercial teams that keep businesses running day to day. Between us, we've built up over 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of more than 150,000 candidates we've placed, coached, or come to know across two decades in the region.

The founding principle hasn't changed. Recruitment as it should be.

OUR STORY

Key events timeline

2004

Doors open in Peterborough.

Our first office launches with a team of six on Lynch Wood. Cambridge follows the same year, giving us two offices before our first anniversary.

2015

Northampton makes it three.

Our third office opens with a team of five, quickly growing to eleven consultants covering the wider Midlands region.

2017

Peterborough moves across the road.

The team has outgrown the founding office. We move into Arena House on Lynch Wood, big enough for a growing consultant base and the back-office team that supports the whole group.

2018

Cambridge moves too.

Our second office relocates to Cambourne Business Park, giving the growing Cambridge team the space it now needs.

2023

Four offices, three counties, one very good year.

The Hertfordshire & Essex office opens in Potters Bar, extending our footprint into the Home Counties.

In the same year, we're named Business of the Year in Northamptonshire, and Employer of the Year in both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire at the regional SME Business Awards. Three counties, three panels.

TODAY

Still growing.

Four offices, more than 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of over 150,000 candidates.

Same founding principle.

SPECIALISTS BY DESIGN

What we do

We're specialists, not generalists. Every consultant at TOG focuses on one sector and stays in it. Not because it's the only way to do recruitment, but because it's how you build the depth to spot the difference between a strong CV and a strong hire.

It's also why so many of our clients come back to us years, even decades, after a first placement.

01
Accountancy & Finance
→
 02
Human Resources
→
 03
Commercial Office
Administration, customer service, project management and more
→
 04
Technology
→
 05
Engineering & Manufacturing
→
 06
Scientific
→
 07
Sales, Marketing & Creative
→
 08
Executive Search
Across all of the above
→

Beyond the recruitment itself, we produce annual salary guides, regional market reports, and the practical resources our clients and candidates turn to when they want a clearer view of what's happening in their sector.

THE WAY WE WORK

How we work

Four principles show up in every conversation and every process.
01

Be curious.

We stay interested in the market we work in, and in the people who work in it.

02

Keep it human.

We remember your kids' names and know how you take your coffee. That's just how we work here.

03

Make a difference.

We're here to help people build careers they love and businesses they're proud of.

04

Enjoy the ride.

Recruitment is a career, but it should be fun too. If it isn't, we've done something wrong.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Recruitment
as it should be.

Hire with TOG → Looking for a role →
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