What to do about a job offer - opinions please!
Discussion
I'm a lawyer in private practice in the City and boy or boy does my firm get its pound of flesh out of me. Out of the blue I get a call from a large international company - they want to talk to me about being their International Legal Counsel. I oblige and after a flight to Canada and back, they offer me the job. So far so good. Package looks very inviting too (increase in basic of £30k) plus potentially bigger bonus than I currently receive. Trouble is, I'm having second thoughts about a move out of private practice. Whilst my job is hard work, long hours etc etc, it is also very interesting - the sort of thing I could do (assuming I don't die at my desk) until retirement. The new job, by comparison, doesn't seem to have the same level of interest - sure it's got its challenges but I'm not going to be preparing for trial from one week to the next (well let's hope not or something's gone seriously wrong!). However, one part of the new co's 'sell' to me was that I will not be working anything like the hours I currently work - just ask the current holder of the post they said - so I did and yep, he's out of the office 6:30/7pm most nights, whereas I'm still there 'til at least 9pm. I have a young family ( 2 children aged 5 and 2) so feel like a bit of a weekend Dad at the moment with little chance to see them during the week - new job could fix that.
Compromises, compromises. Big chat with new co MD tomorrow to thrash out a few things and decide whether I want the job. I've gone round in circles on this one so thought I'd throw it open to you for your opinions.
Cheers.
Compromises, compromises. Big chat with new co MD tomorrow to thrash out a few things and decide whether I want the job. I've gone round in circles on this one so thought I'd throw it open to you for your opinions.
Cheers.
Working in another professional services sector, there are some analogies & things that, in your position, I would consider:
* Are you on the partner track at your practice? If so, that is likely to be more lucrative in the long run than all but the best GC roles
* Hard to go back into practice after too log client-side
* More vunerable to redundancy/dismissal client-side
* Check out the statutory obligations of your role carefully
* Consider the pro's/con's of moving a young family to Canada
* What will your current practice do to keep you if you raise the issue in a mature & constructive manner?
* Are you on the partner track at your practice? If so, that is likely to be more lucrative in the long run than all but the best GC roles
* Hard to go back into practice after too log client-side
* More vunerable to redundancy/dismissal client-side
* Check out the statutory obligations of your role carefully
* Consider the pro's/con's of moving a young family to Canada
* What will your current practice do to keep you if you raise the issue in a mature & constructive manner?
job is based in the City not Canada...and yes, my current firm has discussed putting me up for partnership in the next couple of years. Not wishing to be cynical but I suspect that carrot is dangled around a lot. My firm's philosophy (a bit Darwinian) is move up the ladder or they move you out. Pretty ruthless but that's the nature of the job these days so not sure about job security being better in the private sector.
Only you can really know what you want out of life. FWIW my philosophy on work is this: I quite enjoy my job, enough that I don't hate having to go to work, so that's good enough for me. I don't expect my job to be something I want to do with my time though, and I can think of almost no job I would continue to do if I won the lottery. I work for one reason - to earn enough money to enjoy my free time. I like having a nice house, nice cars, bikes, etc. so I work to pay for it all, end of story. Therefore, if I'm offered a job with better money, that I wouldn't hate doing, then I'd take it. I do have other considerations myself, such as a good final salary pension scheme and a very secure job, but those aside I'd go for the money every time. So, if I were in your position (and if I'm reading your post right in thinking you've been offered and extra £30K, rather than a £30K total) it would be a very easy decision for me to make. Especially factoring in less hours etc. Status and job enjoyment means nothing to me, money and hours means almost everything. Others will think differently. But as I say, only you can really know what you want.
fimbo said:
Package looks very inviting too (increase in basic of £30k) plus potentially bigger bonus than I currently receive.
he's out of the office 6:30/7pm most nights, whereas I'm still there 'til at least 9pm. I have a young family ( 2 children aged 5 and 2) so feel like a bit of a weekend Dad at the moment with little chance to see them during the week - new job could fix that.
.
he's out of the office 6:30/7pm most nights, whereas I'm still there 'til at least 9pm. I have a young family ( 2 children aged 5 and 2) so feel like a bit of a weekend Dad at the moment with little chance to see them during the week - new job could fix that.
.
I'd be really
ed off if I never left the office til 6.30 most nights. Mind you I have to leave home by 6.45am to get to work on time and try to get home by 6pm so I can have tea at the table with my kids. Mind you Your increase in basic is what most ENGINEERS with Honours degrees would dream of, so They'll want a pound of flesh. 2 well planned days with your kids is better than 7 badly managed days with them.
£30K could pay for some seriously cool weekends.
Right I'm going to ask you to do Value added non value added analysis on your current job.
In the Value added side I want you to put the things that ONLY YOU or someone qualifified and experienced to your level could do. and in the nonE vALUE ADDED IS SOMETHING AN assistant OR lesser mortal could do. The Routine and the mundane perhaps ?
My negotiation would be along the lines of this : In my current job I spend 3 hours a day on something an assistant could do, If I had 2 assistants instead of one, I could free up 3 hours and use 2 more productively for the company. The other hour I could leave at 5.30.
Instead of paying me the extra £30K (I went into the wrong job clearly), pay me an extra £15K and use the rest for an additional assistant.
The more time away from the office, the more productive you are.
Such a huge increase in salary has got to be a no-brainer for me. I agree with the concensus, work to live, don't live to work. I recently had a (modest) £5k increase in salary by moving jobs, and the new job is not nearly as interesting as the old one. But as mentioned before, i enjoy the fact that the extra £400 a month has gotten me on the track of saving for a nice car instead of my Diesel Wagon! I will always go where the money is in my life i think...
Goochie said:
As a mechanical engineer, I'm totally baffled as to why someone is having difficulties deciding what to do with a job offer that provides a salary increase that is more that my entire salary!
Because He's on so much more than he really needs anyway and who needs one more ivory back scratcher anyway ? Please take my humour in the well meaning way it was meant.
Last Year I was doing a Job that paid £29K. I got a promotion to a job I hate earning £32K. I'd happily go back to the old job, and wish I'd not followed the extra cash, luckily I've had this discussion with the bosses and I'm moving sideways in april (basically doing my old job TBH), but I suspect my salary rise will be RING FENCED for a while.
The thing is anyone can call themselves an engineer, but not everyone could call themselves a Lawyer or accountant. We've got people as Manufacturing Engineers with an ONC and NOTHING else but years of experience.
you leave at 9 and that's hard... good thing you never became a b(w)anker 
Take it, I moved from a partnership to client side, best thing I ever did. Work-life doesn't exist in my job but the money is better and big Co's treat people like people (they have to, HR make them, it's brilliant) unlike partnerships where your role in life is to fund the partner's next Zonda. Also, big Co's are more secure (IMO) if you are good and you get more freedom to manage your own career. Get out of the partner route whilst you still can!
Zigs
Take it, I moved from a partnership to client side, best thing I ever did. Work-life doesn't exist in my job but the money is better and big Co's treat people like people (they have to, HR make them, it's brilliant) unlike partnerships where your role in life is to fund the partner's next Zonda. Also, big Co's are more secure (IMO) if you are good and you get more freedom to manage your own career. Get out of the partner route whilst you still can!
Zigs
Thank you all for your comments. I decided not to take the job. I don't think I'm ready for it at the moment. I've spent the last 6 years working my way up to take a shot at Partnership so I'd rather have a go and fail than not try at all. All done very amicably and they hope that in the future our paths cross again, so you never know if circumstances change...
you have to bear in mind that they gave you such a measly payrise to do a job that you hate that you would hardly notice the extra money anyway. Had it been £500 a month, in your pocket, then it may have made a difference but 3K a year, gross, is harder to live with whilst in a sh1t job.
Funny, though, when I get promoted (I say when, more like IF) I will get a pathetic payrise but it'll be stepped up 7 bands, plus annual 1st of April stuff...
Last Year I was doing a Job that paid £29K. I got a promotion to a job I hate earning £32K. I'd happily go back to the old job, and wish I'd not followed the extra cash, luckily I've had this discussion with the bosses and I'm moving sideways in april (basically doing my old job TBH), but I suspect my salary rise will be RING FENCED for a while.
Funny, though, when I get promoted (I say when, more like IF) I will get a pathetic payrise but it'll be stepped up 7 bands, plus annual 1st of April stuff...
Last Year I was doing a Job that paid £29K. I got a promotion to a job I hate earning £32K. I'd happily go back to the old job, and wish I'd not followed the extra cash, luckily I've had this discussion with the bosses and I'm moving sideways in april (basically doing my old job TBH), but I suspect my salary rise will be RING FENCED for a while.
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff