OK, so I am now in the rather unusual position of having two job offers to consider!
One – where I work now. Offered to me as part of a restructure. Is not ideally what I want to do, but is a step up in responsibility, and a chance to develop a new skill set. However, they will not give me a pay rise, nor will they put in writing the verbally agreed pay review after 3 months in the job, nor will they specify what any pay rise might amount to if I was awarded one.
Money isn’t everything though and I do like the people here (bar the odd tw@ but you get those everywhere) and in general, I don’t hate coming to work. They are pretty flexible and I can work from home if I need to, so long as it’s not too often/not taking the p. Useful if you’re a cyclists who has accidents and needs physio, I live about 15 miles away so it means that if I have an appointment to go to I don’t have to worry about rushing back in rush hour traffic.
Other job offer – different company, closer to home, and a much safer bike commute – roads with cycle/bus lanes all the way and a good public transport link, so I wouldn’t need to use the car. With my partner soon to be out of work, it would be handy if he had the option to drive available since we don’t know where he’ll end up getting a new job. It is a step up in responsibility, a small pay rise, but not much (but at least I actually know what they’re offering) and the pension is better.
However, I don’t know the people – they seemed nice, but then everyone seems nice at an interview as they’re trying to give a good impression! The role is new, and it does sound pretty demanding, there’s management responsibility which I’ve not had much of before. I am interested in taking on a new challenge though – there have been things going on at my current workplace which I’ve not been very happy with during the restructure and I’m not quite sure what my career prospects will be here given the massive cuts they have made to the workforce.
Just wondered what the good folk at STW value in a job/workplace – how do you decide between two offers that have both good and bad things about them? No workplace is perfect….