Offer advise

[Tandoori]

Hi Guys

I work at a investment bank (top 5) in London in a techie role. I have 9 years of work ex ( 2 in India / rest abroad).

Given the current state of affairs, the bank is not doing too well and neither were the raises.

I have an offer from a small firm (about 200 people but stable) that are willing to increase my salary by about £10k. They approached me through a contact and I did not apply there for a job or anything. It will be a manager role but the role will not be very demanding and hours are a lot less.

Though my current job is quite secure, one cannot say about the future esp. if there is a recession. It is quite challanging and though I dont enjoy every moment but the grind is adding value.

Would help if you guru's helped me out on this.

[JaiSriRam]

Do you really believe anyone else can better advise you except yourself in this matter; especially in an anonymous forum

[MadMax]

I would take it. It is not like you are wedded to the company. You are going up the food chain and there is higher potential for growth in a smaller company and a higher salary to boot. So, why not?

[ILuvHyd]

For 10K pounds increase in salary and a manager position, I think you should take the job. It's a good step-up.

[b2b]

what's important is what % hike are you getting....e.g. 10K is not much on a base of 100K, where as it is good on a base of 60K or below....

when you change job you move out of your comfy zone and that needs to be compensated well....

also look for any loss of perks / benefits that come undemanded in large organisation, look for number of leaves, trend for bonus, location and travel related expenses and make suitable adjustments if you havent done that already...

similarly they may designate you as 'manager' in the smaller firm but how far is it a scale up from your current role.....sometimes you may be doing smaller role with higher designation....

IMO the best way to deal with this is list all your important parameters for a job - e.g remuneration, growth, stability, location, brand etc.

assign each a criticality value and weighing factor...

then rank both options - current job and new offer......

do this in an excel sheet....find weighted average.....this will give you some objective though process for decision making....discuss with your family...

after all this listen to your heart.....good luck....

[ILuvHyd]

what's important is what % hike are you getting....e.g. 10K is not much on a base of 100K, where as it is good on a base of 60K or below....

when you change job you move out of your comfy zone and that needs to be compensated well....

also look for any loss of perks / benefits that come undemanded in large organisation, look for number of leaves, trend for bonus, location and travel related expenses and make suitable adjustments if you havent done that already...

similarly they may designate you as 'manager' in the smaller firm but how far is it a scale up from your current role.....sometimes you may be doing smaller role with higher designation....

IMO the best way to deal with this is list all your important parameters for a job - e.g remuneration, growth, stability, location, brand etc.

assign each a criticality value and weighing factor...

then rank both options - current job and new offer......

do this in an excel sheet....find weighted average.....this will give you some objective though process for decision making....discuss with your family...

after all this listen to your heart.....good luck....[/quote]
b2b, Great post and sorry for my hasty reply and I should have elaborated. I assumed that 10K pounds would be atleast 15% hike for your position. Also these days the average salary raise in US is only 2-3% in IT technical and lower management levels and keep that in mind if you continue in your current job. Nothing more to add after b2b's thorough and thoughtful reply.

[Tandoori]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I just had my raise, it was 3% and that was after working quite hard, so £10K raise is actually quite big.

I am getting better benefits right now, my employer is putting in about 10% of my salary into tax free retirement funds and the new one would do 5%, apart from that there is not much difference.

Yes, there is a lot of difference in terms of quality of work. I currently do have a lot of responsibilities and have 5 onsite resources and an offshore team in Bangalore reporting to me. The systems I work on and quality of people I work with is outstanding. My team in the small firm would be smaller than that. Work there is a lot less and hours would be lesser.

I am unable to rate the brand, current employer is a big Wall street firm and the new one is a small publishing house. I am not sure how money scores over brand name. Of course the current employer does not hesitate in laying off employees if the need arises.

[yugpurush]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I just had my raise, it was 3% and that was after working quite hard, so £10K raise is actually quite big.

I am getting better benefits right now, my employer is putting in about 10% of my salary into tax free retirement funds and the new one would do 5%, apart from that there is not much difference.

Yes, there is a lot of difference in terms of quality of work. I currently do have a lot of responsibilities and have 5 onsite resources and an offshore team in Bangalore reporting to me. The systems I work on and quality of people I work with is outstanding. My team in the small firm would be smaller than that. Work there is a lot less and hours would be lesser.

I am unable to rate the brand, current employer is a big Wall street firm and the new one is a small publishing house. I am not sure how money scores over brand name. Of course the current employer does not hesitate in laying off employees if the need arises.[/quote]

It sounds like you are having lot of responsibility in current job (assuming that all important to the company), then from job security point of view, it seems like you don't have to worry.

I am sensing that your main worry is job security, which might be unwarranted (again based on what you mentioned regarding work). If you were guaranteed your job by current employer, would you take new offer?

[Going_nowhere]

I am unable to rate the brand, current employer is a big Wall street firm and the new one is a small publishing house. I am not sure how money scores over brand name. Of course the current employer does not hesitate in laying off employees if the need arises.[/quote]

You're moving from a Wall st firm to a publishing house ??? Considering other things about your job that you have posted, I won't do it even if I get a 50% raise in compensation. What does a publishing house have to offer (other than free subscriptions) ? When you get bored in the publishing house and want to move back into the finance industry, your move will be questioned. You'll have a lot of questions to answer. Your resume might not even get thru the door then.

If I were you, I'd say "No, Thanks".

[taan ta taan]

Tandoori,
I have gone through similar situation like you. I have worked in Banking and Insurance industry. I am a technical guy.

The publishing company offers limited exposure to growth as far as IT is concerned. If you really want a change look something similar to what you are doing atleast in similar industry or look for a better position. But going to a publishing company is not good in my opinion.

I didn't enjoy working for publishing company...Thank god I am back to Finance background!!!
Good luck.