Two Offers..Hard DecisionI'm a junior civil engineer with 1 year experience and a masters degree. I received two job offers, both pretty decent. The jobs are the same. Firm A - Ranked #1 in their field. Offer $1000 less than the Firm B. Good commute. Head boss was a bit intimidating. Department is very small (2ppl). Will be the only one in group with Masters degree. Other employees have many years of experience. Good benefits Firm B - Within rank #10 -25 in their field. Offer $1000 more than A. Long communte. Head guy was very friendly, seemed good to work with although not an engineer. Dept has 5 ppl. Lots of experience and not too many post graduate degrees. Good benefits- has personal days unlike A and unlimited sick days. In all the attributed pretty much equal out each company. If I were to take A should I mention the offer from B since it is higher? Or should I take what I am offered since it was within my range and failry decent? I'd be inclined to accept the offer from B - the money's a little better and the benefits sound slightly better, too. Who has degrees and who doesn't matter a whit, nor does where the companies are ranked in their fields. The only difference seems to be the length of the commute and what you mean by "long." I absolutely would NOT mention either offer to the other prospective employer. Since both jobs sound like their closer to the bottom of the organization than to the top, I don't think you want to run the rusk that either of them will withdraw their offers based on the perception that you're trying to play one off against the other. It's conceivable that you could end of with no offers at all. Actually, both jobs sound pretty much alike, but if I had to pick, I'd go with B - based on what your wrote. Hope this helps. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert
Sounds like a wash in terms of salary/benefits, etc. And, since bothoffers are in the almost identical range, I would take that as a prettygood indication that this is your current "market worth and worth toemployer." If it's already within the range you had in mind, Ipersonally would take one or the other as is. Certainly don't play oneoffer against the other--you could lose both! In this case, I'd say "go with your gut." Where do you sense the best fit is? Aside from the longer commute (and how long is "long"?), to me the 2ndopportunity seems better--more people to collaborate with and learnfrom, a boss that's more approachable. It can be very hard being in avery small department if you don't have the same amount of experienceas the others. And because a company is #1 in its field, doesn't meanit's the best place to work. You have to decide for yourself, ofcourse, but just the flexibility in paid time off would make a hugedifference to me! Not that you would, or should, use all of it, butthis may be a hint into the corporate cultures of these organizations.(And what kind of #1 company has ZERO personal days? That sounds prettyunreasonable. Most places give you at least two per year.) Don't discount the importance of a good work environment! Good luck! A long commute as in 1 hr to 1.5 hrs to another relatively close state. I've done a similar commute in my last job and I'm not too thrilled about doing it again. The offer from B seemed like the best way to go before I got A's. Both bosses are licensed engineers as A, where as B's boss is not. That is somewhat of a necessity in engineering these days. But you're right the benefits are much better at B. I was even given a full booklet of detailed benefits whereas A gave me a summary on an 8.5 x 11. Thanks for advising not to negotiate. Like I said the salaries are pretty decent. However, I must ask this. So far both firms want verbal acceptances (both gave adequate # of days to think over) before mailing over the official offer. Do you know why this is the case? You're right, the environment does play a big part. Although I must say that I feel companies will tell you whatever they want during interviews just to get you in. The small dept issue is a bit worrisome. However at each company, our dept serve much larger depts. Having 2 coworkers vs 5 coworkers is not much of a difference right? I know both jobs means long hard hours, since both expressed lots of incoming projects and little ppl to get the work done. Like you said they're very similar. It will boil down to a commute as the deciding factor. Is it possible to contact a HR rep prior to making your final decision? That's just the way they've chosen to do it. Why bother sending you the written acceptance stuff if you're not going to give them a verbal acceptance? I really don't think asking you to respond to their offer verbally before sending you the packet of written material is a bid deal at all. Honest. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert I think you need to confine your conversation to whomever you've been talking with thus far. I would not, in other words, go around the person with whom you've been talking to speak with an HR Rep without the other person's knowledge. Probably wouldn't look good... Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert
Thanks alot to both your replies !!
You're right--the commute is long.... If you take that offer and it works out well for you, is there a possibility you could/would move closer? Do you have obligations that make moving impossible? If not, you could move just a half hour or 3/4 of an hour closer, and make the commute quite manageable. It's not quite like the job is 3 or 4 hours away, and you would have to move a long way away. I, better perhaps than most, understand how difficult a commute of that length is over time, and if you have, say, a family, it can wreak havoc on them. What we found worked for us when my husband commuted that amount of time, was to have the flexibility for him to stay overnight near his job periodically (anywhere from two nights a week to 1 night every several weeks) to keep the driving burnout to a minimum. Is that possible for you? Other than that, as Paul says, that company seems overall to offer a better total package. Let us know how it works out! yes, the more i think about it, the company thats further away has much better benefits. I'm not an expert at 401ks but company A seems to lack what most companies in my line of work offer. Its decent but not as good as Bs. It will be a hard decision, I'm trying my best to maximize my decision period and possibly extend it to another week. Here's a question one of you may know the answer to: If I were to refuse both medical and dental benefits due to the fact that I already have good benefits thru my husband, what is usually the outcome? Is it true that you may get extra compensation? | |
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