Everyone says this is a good problem to have, and I know it is, but it's KILLING ME!

June 9, 2007 1:39 PM

Help me choose between two totally different jobs, my brain is going to explode! Even worse, perhans I'm an odd person, but I'm going to feel terrible telling either of these companies "No" and it's stressing me out a lot. I hate disappointing people. This emotional aspect is making it really hard for me to just quit stressing and think clearly about which makes more sense.

I have until Monday to make a decision between two jobs. I've laid out all of the pros and cons. The problem I'm having I don't necessarily understand the gravity of each pro/con so I'm still totally lost.

[sorry this is going to be so long...]

Background: I've been in the same role for 3 years and have a very good reputation at my current company. However, my current job doesn't allow for any upward mobility due to the totem-pole structure of the team. While there are other factors too (office politics, etc) that contribute in part to my decision to find a new job, it's simply time to move on from a career perspective.

What do I want long-term: The problem is, I don't know! I want to go home at the end of the day feeling good, but at the age of 29 years old I still don't know "what I want to be when I grow up." All I know is I want to someday never have to work again.

The commute for both jobs is roughly the same, but both are better commutes than my current job.

Job #1 is with my current employer, a huge international financial institution.

Job #2 is with a web content management consulting firm that has about 35 employees.


The Jobs:
#1 - Senior Analyst with my current employer, a very large financial institution. Basically I'd be doing analysis on how we distribute our marketing leads and how they get worked, trying to figure out how to boost productivity out of marketing leads that come through our eCommerce channel.

Pros:
- I already have a very strong reputation at this company, and know a lot of the people I'd be working with
- I also know a lot about the business, the company, etc, and can definitely "hit the ground running" so to speak
- While our downtown office (I live in the city, Chicago) is eventually being moved very far away in 2008 (1.5 hour commute each way), they are planning to support working from home betwen 1 and 3 days per week for employees who make a reasonable case
- From what I know of the people on this team, which is different from my current team, they seem like good intelligent people
- 401k matching up to 4%, which is not available in the other job
- Larger bonus plan (10-20% bonus)
- The "Group Director" of that team (a bigwig of the department) is a guy who I play poker with somewhat regularly, and we have a good rapport, etc, so I think upward mobility is pretty realistic.
- Tons of vacation - I have 23 all-purpose (vacation, sick, etc) days per year right now.

Cons:
- Somewhat lower base salary by $6k, though this difference is made up for and then some in the bonus, I have to wait for it instead of getting it every paycheck
- There's a lot of politics at a huge company, which certainly also exists at a smaller
- A "Senior Analyst" is basically a number monkey. Yes, I'll get to make business decisions and impact hopefully, but I feel like I'm ready to feel some bigger sense of responsibility than that.
- Getting things done in a big company takes forever, so even if I come up with a great idea, it could be a year before it sees fruition, and another 6 months before any sort of halfway decent analysis has been done that confirms whether or not it had positive impact.
- While it's a minor con and I shouldn't think too much about it as far as the long term is concerned: Taking the internal opportunity means a month-long transition plan of documenting a bunch of stuff for my former team, and probably another month of still answering tons of questions about my old job. There will be a huge knowledge-sink when I leave my role.


Job #2 is entitled "Maintenance Director / Project Manager" for a hip and smallish but quickly growing web consulting company.

Pros:
- This job gives me some real authority and big responsibility. They interviewed me for just "Project Manager", and decided afterward that they felt it'd make more sense if I did some project management, but also took a look at improving their processes for maintaining current client relationships as well as even having input into where we need to expand the team, do new hiring, etc.
- I certainly welcome the idea of change - meeting some totally new people and trying something different
- I do have past and present experience with the web industry, so while there will certainly be a learning curve, it won't be totally new to me
- Way more laid back culture from my current company: Foosball and Ping Pong in the breakroom, etc
- Job will stay permanently downtown, no commuting out to practically wisconsin when my other company moves.
- Between Memorial/Labor day, the entire company works at home on Fridays!
- Higher base salary by $6k, although that increase is somewhat dwarfed if you take into account the up to 20% bonus from the other company.
- While it should be taken with a grain of salt, the CEO ensures me there's serious growth potential in the role, and that they want me very badly, he went so far as to say "I guarantee if you give us a chance, we will make it worth your while to work here."
- While I don't want to be overconfident, I believe I have a good enough reputation at my former company that if wanted to, I could probably go back after a year or two stint over at the smaller one.

Cons:
- Much smaller and not even formal bonus plan. Typically it has been 3%, though the CEO tells me he's targeting 10% this year.
- They have 401k, but do not do any matching
- Since it's a smaller company, there's probably less room for role-changing in the next 2-3 years.
- Less vacation, only 15 all-purpose days off. However, they've said that they can be flexibile on this, just not "formally" because they don't want to be unfair to other employees held to 15 days.
- Typical smaller-company cons: workload may be higher, etc etc...


I'm having a really hard time deciding. These roles are worlds apart and I don't feel like I can compare them as apples to apples.

What I'm really hoping for, I guess, is for thoughts on how some of these pros and cons may weigh more or less than I think they should in the long term for my career. Is 401k matching that huge of a deal at my age when I don't have boatloads of money in my 401k yet?

Should I take any CEO seriously who says "we've typically given 3-4% bonuses, but I'm really hoping to target 10% this year"? He seems genuine, but I don't know.

posted by twiggy to work & money (8 comments total)

well, what would you rather do all day long? you sound more positive about #2, and if you really enjoy your job, you won't really miss the perks. (job #2 still offers a lot of perks btw).

i would go with the change. if it doesn't work out, at least it'll be a good experience, and the variety of experiences will open more doors for you in the future if/when you move on.
posted by thinkingwoman at 1:48 PM on June 9, 2007

CEO ensures me..."I guarantee if you give us a chance, we will make it worth your while to work here."

This is sales talk, pure and simple. Such offers must be quantified, otherwise it is meaningless.

Sounds like neither job is particularly appealing. Foosball? Working at home?

In terms of career strategy, you would be better off staying with your current company (a bonus, by the way, is never guaranteed) and scouting for a position that gives you what you want. Because, where are you going to go after the smaller company?
posted by KokuRyu at 1:50 PM on June 9, 2007

You sound more excited about the second job; it seems like what you like most about the first job is that it offers more security and less risk. I guess you'd have to think about whether you're comfortable with more risk in exchange for more challenge and potential growth.

On preview: as KokuRyu says, it's easy enough for an employer to make promises to a potential employee. They might come through for you after all, but be aware those things (bonuses, extra vacation days) may not materialize and you have to be OK with that.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:59 PM on June 9, 2007

If you don't know what you want to do eventually, maybe it's better to go for the big change to find out if the project manager role is something you *do* want to do. And you'll be new there so prior expectations as to your talents/abilities/interests won't be weighing on you. Taking the current company job will provide security but won't give you much chance to answer that question will it? I mean if you can't take a risk at 29 because you need to put more in a 401K, it's not going to be easier at 39 is it?
posted by citron at 2:00 PM on June 9, 2007

I think if your ultimate goal is to not work you have more potential for upward movement at job 2. It sounds more laid back and you will be a greater asset to the smaller company.
posted by crewshell at 2:07 PM on June 9, 2007

I had to decide between two jobs yesterday and I faced a somewhat similar situation - job 1 was with my current employer (a large B2B publisher), paying an OK salary (not awesome) and job 2 was with a smaller publishing house, but very respected in that particular market segment, paying quite a bit more.

I ended up choosing job 1, even though the money isn't that great, because of all the challenges and the opportunities involved. I will be based in a different country and a totally different team, so I won't have much of the security of remaining in the same company, but just a remote familiarity with the corporate 'culture'. So, no security involved, whatsoever. But I've gone for the change, now will see what happens! *Taking a deep breath*

From what you've described in your pros and cons, the positive aspects of your job all rely on the fact that you have been working there for a while, knows the business and so on. But the cons really sound like the reasons why you decided to go for another job in the first place, right? Feeling like a "number monkey", having a lot of bureaucracy on the way to presenting ideas...even the fact of having to deal with stuff from your previous role seems to be a major hurdle.

At the risk of sounding unrealistic, is this all about money or personal/professional fulfillment? If you applied for the Maintenance Director / Project Manager role, you automatically assume that there will be more responsibility and workload involved. But as it is a smaller company, your ideas are likely to see fruition in a shorter space of time and that should be positive!

They say there is growth potential, although you reckon that there is no room for role changing in the next few years. At the same time, you say that you don't know "what you want to be when you grow up." I would suggest you go and see what's out there and do your very best. In a smaller work environment, your positive and negative points in your leadership position will come to light not only for your boss & colleagues, but for yourself. You will find out if its for you or not. If it all goes wrong or if you hate it, you can always go back to the security of your previous employer, can't you?

I wish you the best of luck in your decision!
posted by heartofglass at 2:33 PM on June 9, 2007

I vote for job #2. Among other things, breaking out of traditional corporate culture will give you a greater breadth of experience, and that's rarely bad. Senior Analysts are always in demand and you can always get a similar position as #1 further down the road if so inclined.

It's worth trying to negotiate either one more week of unpaid leave prorated across all your pay checks, or a scaling up your vacation over a few years, though.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:40 PM on June 9, 2007

It sounds like you want job #2, or at least you don't want job #1 where you'd just be a "number monkey" when you're ready for more responsibility, the inertia of the corporate culture holds you back, even the thought of the transition tires you.

So why not try #2? What you wrote makes me think you're worried about the unknown, and you have this guardian part of you that likes safety. (??) So, what do you tell that side, so that you can give in to the part of you that wants excitement? First of all, it sounds like Job #1 could itself go away in a year or two if you can't handle the commute (my mom got promised the working from home and then they changed their minds on that). The bonus from Job 1 is not guaranteed and could go away at any time. Even subtracting the lost 401K match, Job 2 is still 2% higher base salary. Getting the higher amount regularly makes it easier to budget and save consistently. At Job #1 you look forward to the possibility of more responsibility, but Job #2 is offering that to you now. Your leadership experience from Job #2 will probably mean that your next career move will keep you at a high-level position. And if you want to retire early, getting into a higher growth situation (could there be stock options and a public offering?) would be good. To me, it sounds like "nothing ventured, nothing gained," plus the fact that you don't have a whole lot to lose. Worst case, you could always try to get hired back. (And could you negotiate with them for a slightly higher salary based on the loss of 401K match or bonus?)

Another alternative to job #2 would be to use it as leverage to get your curent employer to offer you an even better, more interesting position.
posted by salvia at 8:11 PM on June 9, 2007