Possible new Job advice

Hey all, quick history then on to my question

My last job was with a small consulting company,I learned a lot and traveled to all different client locations in the tri-state area.

My current job - is more traditional, I have one job/role (Network Admin with some database work). It's convenient as it's so close to my home, and the work days are short (hardly any over time).

Potential new job: with what seems like another consulting firm but they actually have their own NOC. The position itself is not within the NOC, but traveling to client locations, providing support and consultation. This is the place: Another 9 Colocation, Offsite Backup, Online Data Replication, Disaster Recovery services for the tri-state area including Westchester, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

The salary will not be much higher than what I'm making (53k vs. 60k) especially considering longer commutes and hours, but will the experience be worth it? How does the company come across to you guys?

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Comments

sambuca69

What's your ultimate career goal? Sysadmin, DBA, Storage, all-around consultant, etc?

homerj742

My ultimate goal, to become an independent consultant (all-around). haha, wow!

skrpune

okay, this first part is off topic..but I love how homerj742 is answered by someone with a Homer avatar!

Ahem, okay, back to the topic at hand. I say do the math and see how it fits into your overall career plan. If the commute is going to cost you extra and the additional hours are going to eat into too much of your personal time, then you'll have to do the personal analysis to see if this is going to be worth the sacrifice to get you to your end goal. Will this experience add value and skills to your resume for the future? Do you feel like you would be able to stick it out for a while doing longer hours and longer commutes? Also, is that $60K firm and can you negotiate for some other non-salary compensation (i.e. tuition or certification reimbursement)?

homerj742

I'm unsure about bonuses and tuition/cert reimbursement. The salary negotiations are not set in stone, however the recruiter informed me in that in these tough times he cannot get me more than 60k (1.5 years ago I could've hit the 70k mark).These are good questions to ask if I'm chosen for an interview.

Another question is, do I wait until next year to look, in hopes that the conomy is getting better?

skrpune

I guess that depends on you & how happy you are with where you are now. The economy does look like it's picking up a bit, but that might not translate into higher salaries right away. People are going to be more cautious, which is great overall, but not so great for someone who's looking to move up on the career & salary ladder.

If you do wait to get a new job, then I say use the extra time you're not using for a longer commute or extra hours & put it towards your cert studies. You've got a nice list of certs now, but you can add some more value to the package you offer potential employers if you expand that list a bit.

homerj742

That seems like some sound advice, thank you very much. I will have to do some thinking on my own and discuss the pros and cons with my wife...

CompuTron99

skrpune wrote: »

If you do wait to get a new job, then I say use the extra time you're not using for a longer commute or extra hours & put it towards your cert studies. You've got a nice list of certs now, but you can add some more value to the package you offer potential employers if you expand that list a bit.

I agree. I'm in a situation that is similar to that, and I am trying to take advantage of the study time while I have it.

homerj742

I also agree with the above statement, as long as I have the time, try to get as many initials after my name as possible!

homerj742

2 Weeks ago, the recruiter stated that the company liked my resume and would like to interview me. I was asked to provide dates/times that I'd be available (for last week). I told them anytime W-F just let me know ahead of time. I conveyed this information in a voice mail and via email. Again this was for last week.

Last week has come and gone and haven't heard anything. Would be appropriate to follow up with the company directly?

It makes me sad that recruiters fail to establish good business relationships. A simple email stating the status of things would be nice. Ie (Hello, I haven't heard from the company yet, but I will let you know as soon as I hear something!)

joey74055

homerj742 wrote: »

2 Weeks ago, the recruiter stated that the company liked my resume and would like to interview me. I was asked to provide dates/times that I'd be available (for last week). I told them anytime W-F just let me know ahead of time. I conveyed this information in a voice mail and via email. Again this was for last week.

Last week has come and gone and haven't heard anything. Would be appropriate to follow up with the company directly?

It makes me sad that recruiters fail to establish good business relationships. A simple email stating the status of things would be nice. Ie (Hello, I haven't heard from the company yet, but I will let you know as soon as I hear something!)

I feel your pain. I have had several instances in my career where this has happened to me when dealing with recruiters. I was once even told by the recruiter after my interview with a comapny that they liked me, wanted and would hire me BUT to show some intuitive the comapny would like for me to quickly get a couple certs under my belt. So I go headfirst day and night studying, stressing myself out, etc. and stopped hearing fromthe guy. So I started contacting him and he seemed aloof. So I started drilling him about the job again and I found out that the job had already been filled but that the commpany was going to hire again and I would be the prime canidate. He was just stringing me along, giving me false hop, thats all. So once I found out I was SO mad, I put chilled out on the studying and stopped being so stressed since that job wasn't even there anymore, which I would have found none of this out had I not drilled him about it.

joey74055

I can't speak for others but I have never gotten anything out of a staffing agency. I have never been placed for a job. I have been lied to about salaries and job types after I had went in to interviews with the actual companies to find out that the staffing agency had lied to me. I can't tell you how many times a recruiter has said "I have some opps for you, blah, blah, balh" only never to hear from them again or to find out about there opps! Great business model, huh.

homerj742

We've all been through it before.

I remember getting a job at IBM through a recruiter. I waited for a start date, after 2 weeks I finally called and the guy said "uh...hold on...uh...it seems the project was dropped'.

I had stopped my job search for those 2 weeks! lol

But is it ok to contact a company directly? Or will it reflect poorly on me?

joey74055

you will just burn a bridge with that particular agency. Doesn't sound like that would matter to much in your case. Unless, you signed some sort of agreement stating that you wouldn't do such a thing.

blargoe

joey74055 wrote: »

you will just burn a bridge with that particular agency. Doesn't sound like that would matter to much in your case. Unless, you signed some sort of agreement stating that you wouldn't do such a thing.

I'd imagine the agency would make the company sign an agreement not to do that, that's where the potential transaction would take place

blargoe

homerj742 wrote: »

The salary will not be much higher than what I'm making (53k vs. 60k) especially considering longer commutes and hours, but will the experience be worth it? How does the company come across to you guys?

Well 53K to 60K is a 13% bump to base salary, not too bad considering this is the type of work you prefer doing. You have to look at other things like... are you driving your own car and are they reimbursing you for your expenses... paid training... paid time off... etc and compare the compensation with those aspects included. The 60K job might cost you more in time and vehicle maintenance, or it might not. You have to look at what you might be giving up to increase your base salary, and what you could stand to gain from taking the job aside from an increase in base salary.

Good luck what ever you decide.

homerj742

homerj742 wrote: »

We've all been through it before.

I remember getting a job at IBM through a recruiter. I waited for a start date, after 2 weeks I finally called and the guy said "uh...hold on...uh...it seems the project was dropped'.

I had stopped my job search for those 2 weeks! lol

But is it ok to contact a company directly? Or will it reflect poorly on me?

The recruiter called me back, after a solid two weeks. He apologized "I'm sorry it took so long, they want to interview you next M W or F"?

I'm on vacation next week, I simply told him that I would be unavailable and will have to call him when I return on 8/3/2009.

He said the job might be filled by then.

I told him all I can really do at this point is call him on 8/3/2009 and arrange an interview for that week.

I'm thinking in my head, "I haven't heard from you in two weeks, not even a follow up, they can't be in that much of a rush!".