I have a job, but got offered another.

Feelings of survivors guilt in this economy notwithstanding…

I have a decent job right now. It’s a small business with a tech-startup feel. Security is ok; it depends on the tides of business. I work about 50-55 hours a week, have a lot of freedom, work with good people and I like my bosses. Commute is great. I’m at the low end of the pay scale according to monster, though - well below the 25th percentile for my job title and description.

I had an opportunity come up through a connection from a previous job. It’s at a startup that just got funding; it should have a good 18 months of runway. I would be working about as much, with similar responsibilities. Commute would be an extra hour per day. Compensation hasn’t been discussed yet.

Underneath the surface:

I feel a great deal of loyalty to my current workplace. They took me in at a time I needed it, with as much trust as if I were an old friend. They’ve been forgiving of my mistakes. They need me right now, and I’d feel ashamed leaving at this moment - especially if the startup goes bottom-up; I’ve been burned by startups before.

At the same time, my current job isn’t very fulfilling, and I feel my core skills fading. If I’m still here in 5 years, it would be for the note-worthiness of my projects and because the money got better - not so much because I find it worthwhile.

I’m conflicted, but I think I’ll simply get more information about this new opportunity, and if it’s objectively better, come to my current boss with an explanation and a transition plan.

What would you do?

A job offer without pay being discussed? That is not very common from what I know. Did they at least give a range?

If the responsibilities are similar why should the new job be more fulfilling?

There’s not much to think about if they haven’t given you a ballpark number for your salary yet. Also, an extra hour a day of commuting time isn’t completely trivial. Getting more information is exactly the right thing to do; without a more precise idea of what the new job would be, you can’t make an informed comparison.
/edit: Oops, hit submit too soon.

Sorry, that was a poor choice of words; it’s not an offer, but a very sure opportunity. My connection hired me previously, so he knows what I go for and what I’ll take - he wouldn’t waste my time with an opportunity that paid less, and he has said as much.

(I know - nothing is for sure yet - but this is all in preparation anyway.)

It’s the same work, but a different domain - one that I feel is less fleeting and has more of an impact on people’s lives. It’s as if I build chairs for a living, and this new customer appreciate and use my chairs daily, whereas the current customer routinely chops them up for firewood.

(My job is clearly not to write analogies. :D)

Just remember that you’ll need a substantial pay rise just to stay even. Commuting is expensive. An hour’s extra commute is what, 40-60 miles, each way? Call it 3 gallons of petrol per day, 18 per week for a 6 day week, 900 gallons per year. Paid for out of net income. Plus the wear and tear on your car.

In addition, that hour a day extra on the commute translates to about 10 days of your life that you’re giving up, per year, to commuting. Can’t get those back at the end.

If it were me, I would use most of this information as an informal discussion with your boss or the owner or whomever it makes sense, at least once the other begins to become more concrete. Explain to him the pros and cons. Maybe they’ll offer you more money, or more responsibility, or some new challenges that make your job more fulfilling. Just make sure you’re clear what your priorities are going in.

Never feel loyalty to any company. They’d fire you in a second, if they had to or found someone cheaper.

Explore this new opportunity, then when you get an offer in writing, if you want, go to your current boss and give him the chance to match it.

You said you were being underpaid. How fair are these people being to you? Not very fair at all. They’re taking advantage of a bad economy to get you to work for less than your worth.

So you owe it to yourself to get a job that’ll pay you what you’re worth.

I’m largely in agreement with Markxxx, but commute is a deal-killer for me. I refuse to spend more than about fifteen minutes on a commute. I’ve moved or refused offers above that, and it’s well below the average for my area(very sprawled Dallas). Overall happiness is loosely tied to income, but more tightly tied to commutes and stresses.

If you have a good relationship with your current employer, and they’re doing ok, then bring up a raise with them. Say you’ve looked at the salary surveys, and that you like their company and would like to stay with them, but not at the bottom of the salary ladder. Don’t bring in the nukes of another offer in the first discussion, but it’s there if you need it. If you address it as a matter of fairness and getting fair value for your work you may get more traction with less long term friction. If your bosses are any good at all then they know what positions like yours are generally worth and know you’re currently at the lower end. If you leave they’ll either have to hire someone else at more than your rate(and train them), or do without those services.

That having been said, there’s a lot to be said for stretching your legs and challenging yourself with a new position. About two years ago I left the company I had worked for since I graduated from college. I had been there eight years and had seniority, a strong reputation, good pay, good benefits, a commute of about five minutes, and job security, even though the company was shrinking. My bosses(supervisor, manager, and director) asked me not to leave and promised me raises(raises had been frozen company wide, but exceptions could be made with director approval) or my choice of positions within the department, including a couple positions they’d create for me if I agreed to stay.

Weighing against this was the fact that I hadn’t stretched myself or tested myself against the market in a while. I also felt my core skills atrophying, and my pigeonhole chafing. I was on the fast track at a Fortune 100 company, but I was feeling like a slot car instead of an all terrain vehicle. So I bailed and now I have a new position, similar to the old one, but with more autonomy, challenges, and a pond I think I can grow in.

A year after I left I went out with my wife for our anniversary and happened across a group of my former co-workers. About half of them had been laid off within that year. Several of them had worked for the company for over a decade. We chatted for a while and I mentioned one of the reasons I had left was because while my experience and time at the company was valuable to my career, the longer I spent there, doing that job, the more I became valuable ONLY to that company in that position. I would lose out on working with technologies the company didn’t use, or methodologies, communication techniques, etc. It’s comfortable to work with the same people, things, and methods day in and day out. In fact, it was comfort which made me uncomfortable. Only someone who is well and truly settled can have the rug pulled out from underneath them. Several of my longer-time co-workers were very bitter about having been laid off because their experience wasn’t as valuable in other companies and they were having trouble finding work.

So, having been in your position, I’d do the following things.

Ask yourself if your current company could stimulate your core skills and challenge you again.

Ask yourself if the commute and or risk from a startup of the new position are dealbreakers.

If you decide you could find the kind of growth and fulfillment you need at your current job, go to your boss with two requests. One for challenges, and one for money. You need both.

If you decide to go to the other company, keep the personal life and work balance in mind.

Enjoy,
Steven