High Salary + Wrong Job = Failed Offer

Truly, that’s one mathematical equation which never fails. It’s stood the test of time and has come out winning each time.

Often I get questions around whether one should take an offer which they aren’t convinced is good enough for them on the work front. But the compensation was so high that they were forced (by their own mind) to reconsider the offer. Only to realize that six months later, they’re stuck with a job which they were better off not taking up. What went wrong?

Should you even worry if you got paid an exorbitant amount of salary that was way above others in the market?

Well, anything in the extreme spectrum (too good or too bad) is often unbalanced. Maybe, just maybe, there a good chance that you were the best there is for the role. Really. It’s possible. However, an employer might tend to pay high since they couldn’t find anyone to join them for a particular role. They then met a person (you) who came closest to matching their requirements. They went all out to get you onboard. The high price definitely had its own pull.

Either that happened, or the role might not have enough meat in it to attract top-notch talent. And keep them motivated.

This might sound fascinating or even confusing for people reading this, how could one not be happy in a job that pays so well? To be honest, that’s really the short-term plan kicking-in. Ever wondered what would happen if you were to look for another job? First, your current compensation will be way above what other employers can pay for a similar skill. You could really just scare them away! Second, your resume will have a quick job change listed on it, possibly weakening it a bit.

So, what should one do if confronted with this situation?

You could ask to tweak the compensation structure, if possible/allowed. The structure could help you keep the salary just about competitive enough to beat the market. While the remaining part of the compensation can be used for other benefits, such as, bonuses, stock options, travel/book/car/fuel allowance or work from home benefits with necessary equipment for the home-office.

Finally, if salary is the ONLY deciding factor in an offer, you may want to think again. Keep your options open and you could get a well-balanced offer in your hands. Most importantly, you’ll need an offer that wouldn't jeopardize your long-term plans.

Good luck!

Should I ask for a better pay package?

From a reader:

I recently stumbled upon your blog. You have an interesting and informative blog. Keep up the good work!

I want your opinion on a situation that my friend is currently in.

My friend has about 7 years of IT experience and has worked with the same services based MNC companies for this entire period. He is hard working and very good at his work. He has always been a good performer and has always got a great rating in his appraisals. The delayed hike has finally come through this month and his salary has undergone a change too.

He has recently cleared technical interviews in another services based MNC company, and during salary negotiation in the HR round, he quoted a percentage hike when asked for his comp expectations. The HR said it was too high for what he was already currently getting. They asked him what was it that would get him to join them. He quoted a percentage lesser than the initial comp expectation. They again asked him if he would not be ready to take up an offer lesser than this and he said no. They said if he was ready for an offer lesser than the already reduced expectation, they would call him on the phone and discuss the offer before issuing the offer letter. They also asked him if he had any other offers etc, and kind of kept on giving him the feeling that he was expecting too much.

Now, what should he do in a position like this? We feel that his expectations were only reasonable, while taking into account his years experience, as we know that the industry standards are clearly above this.

I work for a product company and clearly the salary levels in our company are way above.

So what are we missing here? Why do companies, try to close the deal because they get them cheap? Why is there no policy to bring them up to the industry standard band? Or is there one?

Please provide you inputs. Your time is much appreciated.

Interesting question! This question comes up ever so frequently in my interactions with friends. Here’s my take on this one.

First, compensation planning works almost similar to the market. Really. Hear me out on this one. In any industry/domain, there will be a significant set of players (Read: Employers) who will dictate the compensation guidelines, so as to not create an indifference in parity in the talent pool (and make it harder for themselves) nor make it an uneven playing field. That’s typically one of the reasons to conduct annual salary surveys among competitors. Now, those are guidelines and not necessary written in stone. Some companies choose to follow them and some just plain don’t. So, typically the industry standard is a variable. It’s becomes even more skewed when you have data from only a few people (or friends) with varied backgrounds. To maintain sanity, there's also the salary survey that maps competitors on an annual basis.

Second, it works differently at a product based company and for a services based firm. In a product based set-up, it’s a lot easier to link one’s skill-set, technology, experience, performance, etc. and their impact on a product that’s getting built and it’s earning potential in the market. This in turn helps companies to give a higher incentive to the best performing individual. Although, the top performer could have the same skill-set and years of experience, competency levels are a big differentiator.

This works almost the same in the services based firm. The only change is the fact that the services companies are dependent on the money they make from servicing their client’s needs. So, effectively they would pay for skills, based on the billable amount with the client and the availability of that skill in the talent pool. Net-net, their salary bands are effectively then dictated by the amount of money they make from their clients. So, if ‘Company A’ & ‘Company B’ are catering to the same client, it boils down to which company is ready to let go of their profit margins to hire talent. And then again, there are guidelines, so the difference in pay between them wouldn’t be drastically different. You get it?

Now, let’s get to your friend’s situation.

Though the company is unwilling to give him a hike that he’s asking, are there other benefits that could make up for low comp? Other benefits could be either onsite/client visits opportunities, flexible salary structure, benefits & perks, work from home options, etc. Understandably compensation does play a significant role; but it shouldn’t necessarily become the single-most important factor to determine a job offer.

Finally, when it comes to salary/comp, there are 2 types of companies: one that chooses to give a hike based on the current salary/compensation and the second type that chooses to give a compensation package based purely on competency and the way it fits within the existing group/organization. It’s ok to ask them for their stand. And obviously, your best bet would be to go with the second type.

As for the industry standard, I’m not really sure if this helps, but you can try this website to get a better understanding of the industry standards in salary. Hope it’s helpful. (Note: I’m not getting paid to promote the website. Though I wish I would get paid!)

Good luck to your friend!

Prospective employer taking time to roll out job offer

From a reader:

I was interviewed for a middle management role with an MNC. Two rounds of management interviews went relatively fast, but the HR response came a bit slow. After couple of weeks, a junior HR rep called me with some queries and later asked me to fill up my details in an Employment Form. It’s been two weeks now and I have no confirmation/rejection reply from the company. I have been following up with the company and the responses are:

"It’s in the process of approval and is going positively"
"Our Head of Staffing will set up a call with you and then roll out the offer etc"

From your experience with HR, does it take so much of time (3 weeks) after I fill up the employment form before I get an offer or is something wrong here? I have couple of other offers but this is the most tempting one. So I was just wondering what to do as I am not getting any solid information from this company.

Thanks.

Well, I would relate back to my previous post for a couple of things.

First, there really isn’t a fixed time frame for a company to revert with an offer. Or even for that matter, to finish the interview process. It depends on the system that works best for them. I’ve known people who have got offers after four months of attending interviews! Really. It’s worked for them, since they weren’t really interested in a job change and had time on their hands. But, it doesn’t seem to be the same in your case, since you mention about a couple of other offers in your hands. About the time frame, yes, typically three weeks is considered a lot of time to make a decision. More so, if the role is of high criticality to their projects.

Another possibility could be that they are meeting other candidates before taking a final decision. Maybe the hiring manager wants to meet a few more candidates, before deciding on your candidature. Most hiring managers depend on data that indicates comparative degrees of competencies among candidates, to make a final decision.

About the responses, they could even be telling you the truth. Really. Most companies do have an approval process that involves people across various departments (business, HR, finance, etc.,) and geographies. This could be causing an unnecessary delay. But, their second response doesn’t seem right. If they indeed have the approvals and want to roll out the offer, they have a head of staffing who is really lazy and hasn’t sensed the urgency of the situation. It’s possible.

Here are a couple of things you could try now, to get more information:

1: You could check with the hiring manager directly. Most often, communication takes time to flow in the organization. The best way to get info is to go to the source of the information. Write him a mail asking for an update and also keep him informed about the discussion you’ve had with HR.

2: Did you get the other offers while you were interviewing with this MNC? If yes, have you told them that you already hold an offer? Not for anything, but to tell them you are really keen to work for them. In my experience, most companies expedite the offer process the moment they figure out the selected candidate has another offer. On the contrary, they’ll at least let you know that they need time. You can then make your decision.

Finally, I like to believe that you took up the other interviews since something about both those companies (role/compensation/benefits/perks/culture, etc.) interested you. Now, you need to answer for yourself, what is it about the MNC that makes the offer tempting? If there’s not much of a difference between them and the others, I would suggest you take up an offer in hand, rather than wait for an offer that might or might not happen.

Good luck!

Started at the first job. Got a better second offer. What now?

From a reader:

I came across your blog while doing some research on Google.

I have a big dilemma and I wanted to hear what you would like to say.So I interviewed with a couple of companies around the same time for entry level positions. I got an offer from one and I accepted it. It is employment at will and the compensation package is decent. I tried negotiating the salary with the HR rep before accepting the offer, but it seemed like she wasn't willing to budge. I even questioned whether the package was competitive enough, but she insisted that it was and since I had no other outstanding offers, I decided to just accept the offer. I have begun work, but it’s only been about three days at the new position when another company calls me and gives me an offer.

Now, this new offer is MUCH more attractive, and MUCH more competitive. It is literally paying 50% MORE than the current position that I am in.

Now my question is: is it okay for me to call the HR from the first company that I am now working for, and quit since its employment at will? 2 weeks notice is unnecessary because I just started and it will just drag time, and waste man power. My opinion is that a 2 week notice will be detrimental to both me and the company since the company will have to waste 2 weeks of training me(since I am still at that 'training' stage), and I would basically be learning the functions of the team and the position for no reason. So that's my mentality of quitting without a 2 week notice. I know, I may be burning bridges here, but I know it is a dog eat dog world out there and my friends tell me, its all about survival of the fittest, and which position is clearly better for my career.

It is mostly about the money, because if I continue working at this company and reject the new offer, I would feel unmotivated and know that I am worth more than what I am currently being paid. I would not feel happy doing my job because I know I can do better for myself. Another thing is, I have been neglected at this new position for the most part. My team has been too busy to bother getting me acclimated and started at my post. I didn't like the culture since day 1, but I needed a job. Another thing I am complaining about is my desk space and my comfort level. The area that I am in is very uncomfortable, and I really don’t like my space, but I can’t do anything about that. But, if I decide to quit and go to the new job, I face a lot of 'what if" scenarios. Like what if, I don’t like it at all? What if I have no social life? But I can also answer it myself, and say that I am young and I have time to explore. I really want to quit and go to the new company to venture out and live without regrets. Because if I don’t go for it, another what if scenario is: what if I DID go for it? What could have become of it?

There is also a question of ethics, but I feel like I should push that aside, and be shallow for myself because it’s very important to me where I begin my career. I am almost certain that I want to quit and go to the new company, but I would like to know from your perspective, what is the best/most professional way to go about doing it, without causing too much damage to the original company? Can you describe it from both sides of HR? (first company and the second company).

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks a lot!

Well, to start with, you’ve captured most of the situations that could crop up from this move. I’ll just go with a candid outlook of the way that it would look from either side.

Thoughts from the first company:

Yes, you got it right. It would burn bridges. Period. It would seem unethical to back out from a job you started just three days back. If your area of work is niche, there’s a good chance that people from the first company could end up working with you or even end up as hiring managers at a firm you might apply later on. Then there’s the bit about networking. People network. When they network, they share information and they aren’t going to say good things about your move.

Assuming you took the second offer, it would be a breach of commitment with the first company. Based on your commitment managers would have spent a lot of time and effort to plan things for your role. Again, the past three days might not be sufficient time to assume otherwise. Now, you would be gone just when they were about to settle down. They’ll need to invest the same amount of time and effort to find another candidate for the job. Most of whom, would have a got a ‘rejection’ email by now, based on you accepting the role. Also, to be honest, three days is an extremely short duration of time to judge the work culture of a company.

Here’s the deal, you might not be allotted work during the two weeks of notice. But generally HR would ask you to serve out the two weeks, with fear of setting a precedent among people in a similar role. You really can’t walk-in and walk-out of a job that easily. By not serving the two weeks notice, you run the chance of getting yourself on the wrong list. HR wouldn’t necessarily be giving you the best reference. Stick to the exit process and leave after completing the formalities. There’s a high possibility that they are ready to relieve you faster.

Would the HR go out of their way in tracking your next move? Not really. Unless the second employer comes asking for some background. Unlikely.

Thoughts from the second company:

Their reaction depends on the couple of things. First, if you choose to not tell them about the previous job. Nothing changes. They’ll go about the normal offer process and on-boarding activity. Second, if you choose to tell them about the previous job, then their reaction might vary. It would be along the lines of, “Great! We’ve got him with us. For now.” You’re wondering why just for now? They’ll watch your every move. Really. If it was mostly about the money that got you in, then it takes only that much more from a competitor to get you out of there. The move can be justified only if the second company is offering you a role that you were searching. HR’s feedback to the manager would be to treat you as a high risk employee. It’s a feeling that won’t go away quickly.

Would they do a background check? Yes, they would do it for information that you’ve provided on your resume or ‘candidate application form’. Is there a chance that they might stumble upon your first job? Maybe, yes.

What can you do now?

Well, I would start with talking to the current manager. Explain the situation and let him/her know that you weren’t expecting the second offer to come your way. That the offer is good and you would like to take it up. Follow the exit process and offer your help to find a replacement (with references) during the two weeks notice period. It’s not an obligation, but it does leave a good impression. Nobody wants to be left high and dry.

Apart from the money, I hope you’ve evaluated other factors of the second offer. If you don’t like the role, the money will soon cease to be of great interest. You wouldn’t want too many job changes early on in your career.

Good luck with your new job!