Offered great work opportunity... but I just interviewed with another company

[JKL]

I've had a great job with a really good company for almost 5 years now, but I decided I was ready to move on and find work in a better market for my interests/better pay/better location etc. I talked to my boss about some of my concerns, as we have a really good working relationship, because there was a small exodus of staff around the same time that was really hard on the department and I didn't want my departure to be as out of the blue. I was also hoping to keep good ties to the company for references and connections and such things.

 

His response has been to offer me better, more challenging work, which I really appreciate, but it's kind of past that point for me. I miss my family back West and while the extra projects have made my work more challenging, it's still not aligned with my long term goals, and the pay is still about half of industry standard for my position (which is common in my company).

 

So I started applying for other jobs and for months I was coming up empty handed. I finally got an interview with a great company in my idea location. They ended up having another opening for an even better position and asked me to apply for that one. I'm supposed to hear by the end of this week about their decision.

 

Well, my boss called me into his office today to let me know he got permission to send me to an outstanding training program for two weeks on the other side of the country. It's an incredible opportunity, but they need to know by Wednesday if I will do it. If I don't, they're going to send someone else instead.

 

I feel so torn. I don't want to say yes, then get this other job and leave before the program starts, or to do the program and then leave right after. They're sending me to prep me for a higher role in the company that I don't see myself being around long enough to do, but it would be incredibly useful for my future career endeavors. I also know I can't turn it down without giving a reason why, and I don't want to tell them I'm definitely leaving until I have a date I intend to be out by.

 

At the same time, if this other job doesn't make me an offer I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and lose ground where I am now.

 

I have no idea what to do. It feels unethical to say yes and foolish to say no. I also have no idea if this other company, if they offer me a job, will even do it on the timeline they gave, because that rarely happens. This is also the first interview I've gotten in months of job applications, so who knows how long it will even be until I get hired anywhere if this doesn't pan out.

[BigKK]

Congrats on the opportunity, and fingers crossed with the new company...welcome to the forum.

 

 

This is a tough one...in this case you want to have your cake and eat it too.

 

 

1. If you don't take it, and you're not offered a job, you're screwed.

 

 

2. If you do take it, and you're offered the job, you screw over job #1, who is underpaying you anyway.

 

 

I take option 2 personally! Do what's best for you, just the same way both companies will do whats best for them.

[Furbys]

I would go to the training even if I ended up getting a job offer. At the end of the day it is about you and your future so you do not want to screw that up just because you would feel 'bad' for the company. Do not think about how it will affect the company you are currently with, people always come and go from jobs.

 

If you go to the training and get offered a job then great you can accept it and move onto better endeavors. You could go to the training and not be offered a job then you still have a job and have received extra training which will help in the future.

[Natasha24]

This is a tricky one. You have a good heart for even considering all this.

 

I would accept the training offer.

 

If you have to leave before it starts (or right after) - play dumb. Tell your boss you applied to this other job MONTHS ago, before you even talked to him about all this, and they offered you the job out of the blue. Maybe you applied for this other job because of all the people leaving your company, and you were scared because you didn't know what was going on and if you were going to be let go? Just don't let him know that you knew about the interview and potential offer all along. A good boss, and a good person, will understand. He sounds like a nice guy, I think you'll be okay.

[donpeel83]

Hi,

 

As others have said go for the training programme. At the end of the day, that opportunity has been placed on the table for you and its a concrete offer where as the other role is still not known yet. There would be nothing worse than turning down the programme to then miss out on the new job too!! So, if I was in your shoes I would take the training programme and put my interests first, be a bit selfish as it were. End of the day if you do take the programme and then get offered a better job you have nothing to feel bad about. I had a similar thing happen to me last year where I was working at a great company but I was offered a great role else where on a much higher salary and I had no hesitation taking because at the end of the day I knew I was more important and my happiness and long term goals were more important than my loyalty to the company. Put yourself first mate

[ParisPaulette]

Well, I think you need to realize that apparently you are highly valuable given that both your current company is trying its best to hold on to you AND you have another company offering you an attractive position. The thing to keep in mind about all of this is you do need to put yourself first. I know you feel loyalty towards your current company and that's good, but keep in mind they are paying you half the industry standards. And unless they've offered you more pay the brutal fact is they are not as loyal back, because they likely realize they holding on to someone who's value far exceeds what they're paying you.

 

But right now the other company hasn't made a final offer yet, so I would go ahead and go to the training. You do not have that in the bag until they say, "We're hiring you, here's the contract, and we're paying you to come." You do not want to throw away steady work right now for a maybe. But if this other company does make good on its offer then at that point you can turn in your resignation to your current company saying you're sorry, but you just got a better offer closer to home and you are going to take it. And be honest and firm that the new job offers far more benefits if they try to convince you to stay or worse, try to guilt you into staying or delaying going to the new company. People get what they pay for and your company needs to learn this sooner or later too. They won't hold on to really great people if they don't pay them what they're worth, so realize you have value and act like it instead of being so eager to please a job that frankly has probably taken a bit of financial advantage of you. Go do the training, but be prepared to leave if the other offer comes through and it's a better deal. Always put yourself first rather than a company, because frankly most will not do the same for you at all as you've already seen with the lower pay.

 

This is not to say your current job is a bad one, just that you need to be looking out for you first instead of listening to that little voice in the back of your head telling you to be nice and please others. That's not always a voice that holds your best interests, just one that unfortunately too many of us are programmed in childhood to listen to when we shouldn't. Particularly when work and getting a better paying, better position for ourselves comes into play.

 

I do think it's interesting your job is currently sending you on this training and it's my guess they've gotten at least a hint that you're getting ready to bail on them. Keep that noted to yourself and even if the other offer falls through if you find yourself being given the same pay rate as before you took the training it wouldn't hurt to perhaps negotiate for more pay if they want to keep you. My guess is if you're valuable enough to send to training and your boss is scrambling to try and make you feel better about your work AND you have a job offer with another company that there will be others out there who will want you too. So do what's best for you, not necessarily what's the nicest or going to create the least waves.

[JKL]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and the great advice! I realized I have been thinking of the company in terms of the people I work with and not viewing it as the business organization that it is. That really helps put it in perceptive, and I'm glad the initial reaction to this wasn't that I was thinking of doing something inherently wrong.

 

Thank you all again, I'm really glad to see that this seems like a much more thoughtful forum than some others I've been part of in the past!

[blueidealist24]

Yeah, I agree with everyone else. If your company went bottoms up and needed to lay you off, they might feel bad for you but would do it anyway, so even though you might feel a bit guilty about going on this program and (maybe) accepting another job shortly after, do it anyway.

[catfeeder]

If you accept the program and receive a good offer, you can offer your resignation, and then it's up to them to either reschedule the program for someone else or attempt to make you a better offer.

 

They may not 'like' that outcome, but it's all part of doing business. They've sheltered themselves from that kind of reality for too long, so consider any outcome to be of service to them--an any expense they incur comes out of their pot of savings from underpaying their staff.

 

Head high, and my fingers are crossed for you.