A great but at the same time horrible position...

[thepeoplespal]

I know two friends who have been given shares in their respective small companies, and the way things are, they will be majority owners before too long, as both owners are looking to retire. While they could try and sell up to a venture capitalist, everything relies on them staying for a good few years, so why sell up in the first place?

If you haven't shares now, it didn't happen and will not happens, if you have strayed, logic says you go through with the move.

[Royce44]

Timely reply lol

Well I started last week and to be honest it's been a mistake so far. I've done nothing but sit in the office waiting for work.

I spoke of my concerns and they said they'll put me out with another guy till my own work picks up but yet here I am in the office again. I have offered to help the sales team and generally get stuck in learning procedures so I'm prepared but nothing.

They Ly know I'm bored as I'm currently writing this next to my boss lol. Not exactly the situation I envisaged from the interview.

I did contact my old boss about a return which he welcomed but immediately had doubts so I'm going to stick it a bit more as they apparently have a big job coming up in November time.

On paper this job is the one, reality is different for now.

Royce

[thepeoplespal]

Royce44 said:

Timely reply lol

Well I started last week and to be honest it's been a mistake so far. I've done nothing but sit in the office waiting for work.

I spoke of my concerns and they said they'll put me out with another guy till my own work picks up but yet here I am in the office again. I have offered to help the sales team and generally get stuck in learning procedures so I'm prepared but nothing.

They Ly know I'm bored as I'm currently writing this next to my boss lol. Not exactly the situation I envisaged from the interview.

I did contact my old boss about a return which he welcomed but immediately had doubts so I'm going to stick it a bit more as they apparently have a big job coming up in November time.

On paper this job is the one, reality is different for now.

Royce

If they are prepared to mark time with you twiddling your thumbs enjoy it while you can, but get yourself shadowing colleagues for a few hours a day in an effort to get to know them and understand how they tick. Write them an induction package even.

[Foliage]

Royce44 said:

foliage- not entirely sure I follow you,

A, will promise but give you nothing in writing, B, have to give you it in writing before you accept the position.

Im saying A, will promise you the money but will weasel out of it.

[shtu]

Royce44 said:

told me from day one that when he sells the company I would get a good percentage as I was the second to join the firm. although this isn't in writing, I 100% trust him to fulfil that if I stay.

If it's not in your contract, it doesn't exist. That is 100% the concept of "jam tomorrow". Think about it,

-Has always made vague promises of future riches, without actually specifying what that means.
-Only offered you a raise when you made it known you were going to leave.
-Only matched the counteroffer.
-Only increased it when you actually went through with handing in notice.

That is not the MO of a company that is going to shower you with riches when they sell up. Their version of generous might be a £50 Argos gift voucher.

Move.

If you're in that much demand, you can always move back in a year or two.


edit - missed the update. Still the right choice, though.

[Royce44]

Well, as promised, I said I'm would update my situation after the 3 months.

Nothing's changed really, I'm still unhappy here. I actually went to an interview mid-December but turned down the offer due to the long hours meaning I wouldnt see my boy all week.

I don't want to list all of the reasons as I'd be here all night and you'd get bored.

They are by far the laziest, most disorganised, bhy firm I've ever worked for. No procedures, no real direction with the branch, the engineers have got a "I'll do the bare minimum to get paid" attitude which is killing me.

We currently have no work so I'm sitting in the office twiddling my thumbs waiting for the sales guy opposite me to bring the work in. I mentioned to my manager I need a piece of test equipment to which he said he will process it with our head branch, I offered to chase this for him and he flipped out accusing me of undermining him, then a junior engineer started mouthing off to me and my manager just sat their and let him rant on.

The 2 main engineers are the managers sons so I can't really talk to him on their enthusiasm. The manager himself is clearly not good at his job but his boss, who owns the firm way up in manchester doesn't see the day to day events.

Whilst the extra money is good, I definitely regret leaving my old job.

Think I may well go on the hunt.

Royce

[fido]

Royce44 said:

Whilst the extra money is good, I definitely regret leaving my old job.

All sounds quite familiar to me. I guess you never know how green the other side is until you get there. Interesting how everyone was saying don't take the counter-offer from A - to be fair was 50:50 myself. I guess it depends on why you left in the first place - if it was only about £s then not always a good reason. If it was for new opportunities - then it's a gamble between a job you know and one you don't.

[Royce44]

Well thats that.

Handed my notice in today. The final nail in the coffin was the fact the entire team of engineers was sat around a ps4 on monday as we had no work. Im truly baffled as to how this company make money!

The new job is the same industry but rather than working on the service side. I will be working for a manufacturer instead. Essentially its technical support majority of the time but i will be regularly required to give training on our equipment around the UK and even worldwide too. Such a different role to what ive done for 11 years so hopes are high.

[bearman68]

Interesting thread this.

[Royce44]

Not sure if sarcasm......


Either way im only updating this as it may help people decide if jumping ship is necessarily the right thing. In my case it wasnt worth it.

[blearyeyedboy]

^ I have been in situation both as an employee and as someone doing the recruiting for a large organisation.

In my experience, anyone who accepts extra pay to stay after thinking of leaving will leave anyway in the next year. Money is rarely the thing that makes people stay or go in the end.

[NDA]

Royce44 said:

Not sure if sarcasm......


Either way im only updating this as it may help people decide if jumping ship is necessarily the right thing. In my case it wasnt worth it.

You made the right decision to leave.... offering employees more money when they threaten to leave is pretty low grade. Plus, as mentioned by Ray, it will have created animosity - they know you want to go at some point.

[MartynVRS]

blearyeyedboy said:

^ I have been in situation both as an employee and as someone doing the recruiting for a large organisation.

In my experience, anyone who accepts extra pay to stay after thinking of leaving will leave anyway in the next year. Money is rarely the thing that makes people stay or go in the end.

Agreed. Money is a temporary motivator.

Useful thread for lots of people. We all get to that point where we wonder if the grass is greener and sometimes it's even when we are comfortable in the current role. I've seen first hand people threaten to leave/say they've had offer elsewhere, the company oblige with a counter offer which they take and they are happy for a bit but you see them getting more resentful and senior people treat them noticeably different. The woman in question found a job elsewhere, bragged it up something awful and completely burned her bridges when she left. Her role was quite high up but once she left there was no noticeable dip in site performance. Last I heard the super amazing job she ended up failing probation and she ended up bouncing from job to job quite a bit and had to go quite a way back down the ladder. Sometimes you have to if you want to progress. The key is figuring out when to move but also like the OP, realising it's not right and moving on. But it's also important what you are good at and not to over-inflate how good you are.

[bearman68]

No, not sarcasm. It's interesting.

[Eddh]

Interesting read this... I recently had to choose between a very well paying job and an extreme contracting rate (100k pay rise) working for a team I used to work for which I left to come back to the team I currently and had previously worked for.

I was in a fortunate position that I knew both sides of the fence and just how green the grass was, ultimately I stayed because we are very close to a critical project delivery and to leave now could jeopardise that as finding a replacement for me would be difficult and take a long time (recruitment politics) and because I much preferred the working environment in the team where I currently work, we work hard and they are a fantastic bunch of people, to move I would have been joining a dying team with low worth ethic and low moral in general.

Reading this has reaffirmed my decision to stay, although I do sometimes browse the classifieds and think 'what if...'

[bad company]

I worked in the recruitment business for 23 years. Most people who succumbed to a counter offer from their current firms were back on our books within a year or so. The original reason for leaving rarely goes away.