So I just graduated from college and my new employer is paying 42k+12k in quarterly “incentive bonus”. The job comes with car, gas, parking, and phone paid for.
My boss seems to be hinting that he increased the base salary for an entry level because he wants me to live in my territory (Manhattan).
How do I tell him that Manhattan on what I am going to make is rather impossible. I do not think my morale would be too high if I am spending a majority of my income on renting a depressing studio in Harlem
I think I need to convince him, without making him mad, that Queens, Brooklyn, etc might be a good idea for me to live (because rent is cheaper for larger spaces). I am just afraid that since I am starting very soon he will be evaluating me.
See what the prices of available apartments are (haha?) and make a simple budget, see if it would illustrate to him that you’d have nothing to live on. Or maybe you will find you could live in Manhattan (probably not.)
Make sure to get data from different neighborhoods; find out why he wants you to live in Manhattan and get a counterproposal. If you say “I can’t live in Manhattan!” that, although true, is not helpful and is likely to get the boss on the defensive; if you say “living in Brooklyn, close to the bridge, would make me able to reach Downtown clients in XYZ time, Midtown ones in SDF time; I’d be able to get double the space for half the money than in Harlem, from where the times would be ASC and UHY respectively,” you’re not pointing out a problem, you’re proposing a solution.
At some level, I’m not sure that your boss is going to care what your living conditions are. So you boss may not care that living in Manhattan requires you to live in a shoe box. Or a closet, and eat ramen noodles for meals.
On the other hand, your boss wants you to be satisfied enough that you stay in the job long enough to make training you worth the time and effort.
So try Nava’s suggestion, but be prepared for your boss feeling that with all the perks you are getting, living in Manhattan is non-negotiable.
Yeah, I was thinking I might just be honest and tell him that I understand that a large portion of my income is going to go into rent but it would be great if that yielded a bigger place in Queens. I would wake up earlier than usual just to counter the difference in commute…etc
Wow, you just graduated from college and you will be making 98K a year + expenses?
Can you please share what your degree is and what work you’ll be doing?
The way I figure it, you get 3K a month on top of salary, that should be plenty to find a modest apartment somewhere in Manhattan. Is the bonus pretty much guaranteed?
towaga84 - I read it as ArtandScience did, that you would get $12K/qtr (or $48K/yr) bonus, not $3k/qtr.
I’d say that if they didn’t make the stipulation that you must live within your territory before they made the offer, they can’t expect you to move at their request.
And he’s subsidizing a lot to compensate for a requirement to live in Manhattan.
I think there may be some unrealistic expectations here. Sometimes you have to suck it up and live someone smaller until things go well, you get a raise, etc. My brother makes well over $100K and still lives in a studio, and it’s perfectly adequate for him. Going up against the boss right away after he’s been pretty clear may not be the best move. But I am the cautious sort.
You could always try the gradual strategy. I think you mentioned that you would be staying with a relative in Queens when you first move to NY. That gives you a good set-up to explain to the boss that you are apartment hunting, but based on the high cost of housing in the area, you want to do a very thorough and diligent search before signing a lease.
It really can take quite some time, like several months, to find a good place that meets all your requirements.
While your six-month apartment search is underway, you will be getting to know your boss a lot more, and then you will know exactly what it is that makes him want you to live in Manhattan, and you can collect specific data like Nava suggests to demonstrate that an apartment in Brooklyn or Queens could address a particular issue just as well as an apartment in Manhattan. Or, I guess you might find out that your boss’s issues aren’t addressed anywhere other than Manhattan, but at least then you would know that for yourself.
You could also ease into things with a sublet, if you aren’t able to stay with your relative (sister? cousin? sorry, I forgot) for very long. It is fairly normal in Manhattan to get a short-term sublet (three or six months) while you are doing an apartment search, so the location of your sublet shouldn’t be of too much anguish to the boss, especially if you present it as “I have a sublet in Brooklyn for three months WHILE I FIND an apartment in Manhattan.”
And frankly, I think you’ve got pretty good odds that if you sublet in Brooklyn for six months and it didn’t cause any Brooklyn-related problems, your boss might forget about the whole thing. It’s possible that he has had previous employees who did the whole whining thing about being late because they take in the train in from Brooklyn … so you’ve got to make sure your temporary location is a non-issue as far as your job performance goes.
This situation makes me uncomfortable because you might have to sign a lease for a year (or six months, min.?), while your boss can presumably dismiss you at any time… and then you’d be in a jam, stuck for a high rent and/or trying to [illegally] sublet your place, while you try to find another job and another place to live.
What’s the turnover rate, from all causes, for your entry-level position at this company? What do the financials look like… especially if there’s a serious stock market downturn, if your industry goes into a slump, etc.?
Maybe you can strike a compromise whereby you agree to commit to a Manhattan apt. when you pass your probationary period and have some minimal assurance of job security.
