In your career, if you’re not moving up, it can feel like you’re not moving at all.

And because of that misconception, lateral moves don’t always seem like a great idea. You’ll have a comparable title, make a similar paycheck, and essentially be on the same level as you were in your previous role—but in most cases, further from a promotion than if you’d stayed put.

So if you have the opportunity to make a lateral move into another department or functional role at your company, a few key worries may keep you from pulling the trigger.

At first glance, a lateral move may not seem to push you up the career ladder. If you’re moving from a sales associate role, for example, to a marketing associate, you’re basically starting from scratch in your new department—you probably would have been closer to a promotion if you’d stayed in sales.

But that doesn’t mean you career isn’t going to move forward. A lateral move can actually give you more marketability in the long run. By understanding more aspects of the company as a whole and how different departments fit together, you’ll likely be better suited for management or executive positions down the road.

And, your experience in your prior role can help move you forward, too. When I moved from a technical support position into marketing, I was already intimately familiar with the company’s products and customers—which helped me jump in and contribute meaningfully to my new department from the start.

source:themuse