Change job or not? Advice needed

[Jonathan27]

If I were you I would stay. In fact when I had a very similar situation last year I decided to stay. My work load is similar to yours, I'm about the same age and I was offered a role with higher pay (>£60k more that I currently make). But I felt that a) the risk associated with a move and b) then lifestyle that I have in this role, couldn't be justified by the pay uplift.

This is of course dependent upon what the extra money would mean to you. I make more than enough and didn't feel that extra stress and effort was worth making more as it wouldn't really make a major financial difference to my life.

You don't want to be sat in the office at 10pm stressed about deadlines and pressure, wishing you were having a beer with your old boss or playing crazy golf.

[worsy]

Goldman Sachs said:

worsy said:

Age and plans for retirement?

If I was 55 and thinking 5 more years I'd stick, if I was 35 and looking to grow my career, I'd move.

I'm 40.

No plans for retirement yet. Pension is just what I've built up over the years from working so far and isnt bad as I've always had reasonable to good pension schemes. It's nothing mind blowing though.

We live in a really nice 4 bed house and our mortgage is almost paid off. Probably be mortgage free in a couple of years as we are chucking money at it. This is mostly due to us making some smart property moves over the years, and doing a couple of big renovation projects ourselves to move up the ladder faster for less money.

Wife earns £54k.

This is partly why I'm not immediately jumping at the new job and more money. After tax our household income is around £8200 a month which feels a lot to us, and we generally have a couple of thousand, or more, spare each month, and save it all up then put into high interest accounts and/or throw it at the mortgage.

But, I do want to progress and more money is usually better.

I didn't offer an opinion on what you should so but I see that many have since done so. For what it's worth, I would place more value on the flexibility and slower pace of life. As you get close to that 100k the barrier of losing your PA causes many people to squirrel money into pensions and such like.

I think you would be mad to move but then I'm toward the age of retirement, albeit with 10 years or so to go until I would like to consider retirement.

[Monkeylegend]

Depends how hung up you are on a job title it seems to me.

[varsas]

I would usually advise you to stay but when I was ina similar position to you and got the chance to move up I did. A few months later my boss left to form his own company and the department got split up and it's all changed. My point is, even if you stay where you are will the job/boss and structures remain the same? Especially if you don't have children (I do, which made the decision to stay in my safe/happy job even more biased towards staying) I would say go. Take the new job, put the money towards retiering earlier.

[Pit Pony]

Gary29 said:

If it were me, I'd stick with what you've already got, sounds like you're on to a good thing.

It's a big roll of the dice to upset the apple cart for an extra £15K.

Unless your goal is to climb the corporate ladder as high as you can.

I have zero ambition and money is no longer important. More would be nice, but not at the price of extra stress.

So let's examine the reward.

For an extra £15k minus tax and National Insurance.

So, an extra £30 per day after tax.......

<£4 an hour

I'd be talking to my old boss about my pay packet.

[ukwill]

okgo said:

Not even close to enough money to change the status quo.

100% this.

Not a chance would I change for 15k to a role where you've already said they want their pound of flesh. You evidently have a good thing going and maybe you're a bit bored. But that alone isn't a reason to leave - and neither is a job title.

Edited by ukwill on Wednesday 10th April 12:43

[AllyM]

I’d stick.

[loskie]

Do you do any voluntary work?

Maybe keep your current job but add to your stimulation and feeling of worth by using your skills volunteering for stuff (Mentoring?). You may even find your current employer gives paid time off for this as it's good for the company too.

[borcy]

Sounds you fancy a move but I don't think this one is right one.

I don't understand the thing about your job title? Is this some weird industry specific thing?

[Goldman Sachs]

loskie said:

Do you do any voluntary work?

Maybe keep your current job but add to your stimulation and feeling of worth by using your skills volunteering for stuff (Mentoring?). You may even find your current employer gives paid time off for this as it's good for the company too.

Nope, don't do any voluntary work. I have a young child that keeps me busy! ha ha!

I do quite a bit of mentoring at work, which I have really enjoyed.

borcy said:

Sounds you fancy a move but I don't think this one is right one.

I don't understand the thing about your job title? Is this some weird industry specific thing?

The job title was just made up as they couldn't think of anything else to call the position. When they hired me, they made the role up specially for me as the new AD (my boss) wanted an assistant that knew more about the sector than he did, so I could advise him and help improve the business.

I was already known to the business as I had worked with them whilst on a project at my last employer. They approached me and made me an offer.

The weird job title and slightly hard to define role is what worries me and what made me apply for something else just to test the water. If I had a recognised position like AD, then things would be clearer to others.

I feel a bit like George Clooney's character in Michael Clayton where no one really knows what he does, and the only way of describing him is as 'a fixer' where he just goes round the business getting deals done and helping with stuff.

Edited by Goldman Sachs on Wednesday 10th April 13:00

[lizardbrain]

I've never regretted getting a new job. (that you stick with)

[Goldman Sachs]

lizardbrain said:

I've never regretted getting a new job. (that you stick with)

Neither have I.

But there is a first time for everything I suppose.

varsas said:

I would usually advise you to stay but when I was ina similar position to you and got the chance to move up I did. A few months later my boss left to form his own company and the department got split up and it's all changed. My point is, even if you stay where you are will the job/boss and structures remain the same? Especially if you don't have children (I do, which made the decision to stay in my safe/happy job even more biased towards staying) I would say go. Take the new job, put the money towards retiering earlier.

This is a really good point about my boss leaving or structures changing. He sometimes has a moan about the pressure put on him as an AD to please the MD and the Board etc. He feels some of the heat due to being in the position he is in. So do I in my position, but not as much as him. I've head him complain a couple of times about wanting to leave when the going gets tough, but we've always come through it, improved, changed, moved on.

So yes, he may well leave at some point. The company may also decide to change or restructure. It is all possible.

[Goldman Sachs]

Big thank you to everyone who replied. You have all given me so much to think about.

Stay:

Pros:
I enjoy my job and know what is expected of me.
I enjoy the flexibility
Get on well with those above me.

Cons:
Potentially stuck on the same salary apart from yearly CPI type rises.
Potentially stuck on the same job title.
Boss might leave, or department gets restructured - then it would be all change.
Might get bored.


Change:

Pros:
More money
New challenge
Better title (with a slightly bigger and more respected organisation)

Cons:
Probably less flexibility
Higher workload and demands

[Pit Pony]

Cons: Not much more money.

[Pistom]

Seems to me that deep down you want to stay.

Is there no option to negotiate a rise and change job title?

It's not the title or the money that would make me move - it's the fact that you're not actually doing anything worthwhile other than filling your day and taking the pay.

If you're happy with that then stay but personally, I don't think either of the 2 jobs are what I'd want to be spending my days doing.

I think the decision is so hard for you as inside, you know you're wasting your life away with either option.

I'd be looking for a 3rd option and carry on treading water whilst doing so.

[Goldman Sachs]

Pistom said:

Seems to me that deep down you want to stay.

Is there no option to negotiate a rise and change job title?

It's not the title or the money that would make me move - it's the fact that you're not actually doing anything worthwhile other than filling your day and taking the pay.

If you're happy with that then stay but personally, I don't think either of the 2 jobs are what I'd want to be spending my days doing.

I think the decision is so hard for you as inside, you know you're wasting your life away with either option.

I'd be looking for a 3rd option and carry on treading water whilst doing so.

Yes, possibly could negotiate a rise, but the business has tried to cut back on various things over the last 12 months due to increased costs and so on. This leads me to believe I may get knocked back. I can only try.

On the point about wasting my life away, I think you have kind of hit the nail on the head. I know deep down this current role is just temporary, and will probably only last as long as my boss stays in place and keeps needing me to assist him. After that, I suspect it's all over as there isn't that many other positions in the business I fancy, or if they fancy me for them.

I also know this next role is probably just temporary or stepping stone to something else. It feels like that already, even though I haven't accepted it.

I don't feel any kind of permanent attraction to either role, and just keep wondering where things will finally end up in my career.

I suppose 'wasting your life' is quite a strong phase to use. I mean, I enjoy my job and I think I'm fairly well paid compared to the vast majority of people out there. I just did an online calculator and our after-tax household income puts us in the top 5% of the UK population which is a hugely sobering thought, and not something I had thought about. Try to be grateful I guess.

But yeah wasting my life on jobs I have no idea where they might go is an interesting thought.

[borcy]

Goldman Sachs said:

The job title was just made up as they couldn't think of anything else to call the position. When they hired me, they made the role up specially for me as the new AD (my boss) wanted an assistant that knew more about the sector than he did, so I could advise him and help improve the business.

I was already known to the business as I had worked with them whilst on a project at my last employer. They approached me and made me an offer.

The weird job title and slightly hard to define role is what worries me and what made me apply for something else just to test the water. If I had a recognised position like AD, then things would be clearer to others.

I feel a bit like George Clooney's character in Michael Clayton where no one really knows what he does, and the only way of describing him is as 'a fixer' where he just goes round the business getting deals done and helping with stuff.

Edited by Goldman Sachs on Wednesday 10th April 13:00

I think you're overthinking the job title thing I'm not sure that many people will care. Lots of industries and companies have weird/unclear job titles.

[shtu]

Goldman Sachs said:

So yes, he may well leave at some point. The company may also decide to change or restructure. It is all possible.

But until it does you know what you've got, and can always move on if things change.

Move, and you don't know that until a few months in.


Also, you've already spotted the additional duties, workload, stricter targets, etc., and this is at the stage the other outfit are trying to sell the role to you. The reality will be worse, because it always is.

Me? Get chatting with the boss, and at about the third pint in have a natter about what you could be doing in a year or two.

I'd be less concerned about the job title. When looking at a CV, I want to know what you DID. In specifics. Besides, it's not hard to have a "CV title" and an "internal role\grade title", should anyone ever bother to check it. You're an assistant director on CV, and what you DO tallies with that. Not. A. Problem.

[Tom8]

What does the money look like net per month? What are the other benefits? Don't forget you have a length of service so redundancy is favourable where you are. If you move and don't hack it you have nothing and I doubt your current role will be available after you leave.

If it were me at my age, 50 I would stay. At 40 I am not sure that would be different based on your current arrangements. A lot more to enjoying a role than a few quid extra especially if you don't need it.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Goldman Sachs said:

But yeah wasting my life on jobs I have no idea where they might go is an interesting thought.

I would echo the recommendations to stay, for all the reasons outlined but primarily because that's a risky jump for a modest pay rise.

To the line I've quoted, many would feel that working your nuts off at work comes much closer to 'wasting your life' than adding value in a post you enjoy with people you like does.