So, I’m a recent college graduate who has worked a full time (technically full time 30, so around 33 hours per week) assistant-level marketing job for the past four years while working my way through school. The job has been pretty great…flexible schedule, decent pay, and good people. It has allowed me to get through school and pay for my living expenses. The company I work for is huge on their “core values”, always talking about how they are important to them and inform their decision making.
At any rate, some recent changes in direction and leadership have made me question whether I should stay with the company after school or not. So, I decided to check out my options and start applying for outside positions. I had a couple of interviews which culminated in an eventual job offer. The offer was for a position with a better title and around $20k more pay per year.
At this point, I was a little conflicted because I still wanted to stay with my current company if I could, after all they had been really good to me thus far. So, I decided to go talk to my boss and tell her that I had another offer for more money, would like to stay with the company, but needed a significant raise and a title change in order to stay. The meeting went well; she seemed to understand the situation and agreed that in light of my recent graduation the title no longer fit. She also seemed to agree that a raise was in order. I asked if I could follow up the next week to see if the company had a more competitive offer for me.
So, the following week rolls around and my boss proceeds to avoid me, canceling our previously scheduled meeting and not rescheduling it. When I approached her, she was really vague on when we could meet to talk. Finally, a couple days later, I am finally able to get a meeting. She then informs me that the company is “not ready to make an offer” and that I am “free to pursue other opportunities”. She also tells me that she was “really taken by surprise” by me approaching her about pay and title and that she wishes “I would have come to her to talk about the situation before applying for other jobs”. She also tells me that the company doesn’t give raises or promotions outside of annual reviews which happen in the fall. (A lie…I got an email the next day announcing two promotions in different departments).
The whole interaction really took me by surprise because I have always been close to and friendly with my boss. We also have a very small department, so all of my responsibilities would fall on her if I left. I figured the company would at least make some kind of offer to try to keep me around. At any rate, the whole interaction really pissed me off, so I immediately accepted the other offer and set up a start date. When I went to inform my boss of my decision and give her my two weeks, she acted completely shocked that I was actually leaving. She started to freak out and lament the fact that she would have to start to learn all the things I had been doing over the past 4 years.
Moral of the story: don’t hesitate to shop around. You can make more money if you go work elsewhere. You’re just a number to most companies; don’t be loyal to them…they’re not loyal to you.
TLDR: Current company refused to give me a raise or a promotion. Got another job for $20k more per year. Boss freaks out and tells me I should have given them more time to respond.