/r/personalfinance has always been one of my favorite subs, and, since advice here is usually great, I figured I would post this here. This is a combination of two posts that I made yesterday and today in /r/jobs and /r/careerguidance. ORIGINAL UPDATE
For some background, I'm 27, have an MPA, and currently click through menus in a law firm for about $35K/year. Unless I have a "real" job related to my degrees in the next month or so--not likely--I'm planning on pursuing a second master's degree.
The job I was offered is with a large financial institution. I would be doing somewhat similar work. The pay is roughly $38K/year, which comes out to an 8.55% increase. They have a similar flexi-time policy as my current employer. The new job offers ten days of vacation and twelve of sick leave, while my current employer will give me twenty days of PTO overall to use however I want come January; I haven't been sick in six years, and I don't have kids or anything. My commute would be longer (I'm going to calculate how much longer, both in terms of distance and time, later tonight). I wouldn't be able to start until the new year, and, since I've already told my current employer I'm taking off the entire week of Christmas, and won't be back until January 2, they will probably walk me out as soon as I tell them; I will not be able to start this new job until January, so I will miss out on two weeks of pay.
Additionally, as I am going back to school, I do not plan to keep either of these jobs, regardless of which one I have, beyond July 19, 2019.
I'm really not entirely certain what I want to do. I'm not particularly fond of my current job--I can certainly tolerate it--but I'm not entirely certain that this new one would be better. Additionally, between the loss of two weeks pay (roughly $1K) this month, the increased gas usage/wear and tear on my car, and (less quantifiable) the increased time spent commuting and less vacation time, and I'm not entirely sure that this is really much of a pay increase.
...
So, I declined the offer at $38K/year, which would have been an 8.55% pay increase. Considering the fact that the commute would be 33% longer both in terms of time and distance (along with the cost of gas, wear and tear on my car, etc), as well as the fact that this is still not what I want to do and that I plan on leaving in July to go back to school, it would be closer to an actual $1K increase in my total disposable income. Add this to the far less quantifiable aspects of lost time, as well as the fact that I'd get two fewer weeks of vacation time (my current employer gives us a four week chunk of PTO to use however we want, while the new one would give two weeks of vacation and twelve days of sick time), and it just wasn't really worth it.
I just got a call from the recruiter about an hour ago, and she offered $40K, which is a 14.26% increase. Holding everything else constant, that comes out to roughly $1.5K in extra disposable income in 2019--still not a lot, but it's an amount that's harder to say no to. The loss of vacation time and increased commute time is still a factor, however.
If I weren't planning on going back to school, I'd be inclined to say yes. However, I'm hesitant to move into a role that's somewhat similar to my current one, spend 3 months training, then only 3-4 months actually working before I bail. I don't like my current job, but I don't really know that this one would be any better in terms of fulfillment. The sole difference would be that extra ~$1.5K in 2019, less vacation time, and a longer commute.
I'd appreciate any thoughts that anyone may have on this counteroffer.
Submitted December 13, 2018 at 06:00PM by whodidikillinapastli https://ift.tt/2rB7DRW
