What company would you "jump ship" for?

Are there any companies out there that you'd "jump ship" for if they offered you a job today?

This question is more for those that aren't actively seeking employment, i.e. you already have a job that you're at least satisfied with, and you haven't been looking around for a new one.

Let's say the offer is between a 0% to 20% increase over what you currently make for this hypothetical situation. Main motivator here is, for whatever reason, you've desired a position with a specific company that is now head hunting you. Maybe you've interviewed with them before and didn't get the job for whatever reason, but now months or years later they are after you. Maybe you've never even applied, but always secretly wanted to work there.

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

jamesp1983

instant000 wrote: »

To my knowledge, Microsoft does that. I don't know of any other companies that do. (At least, that was the case this past spring. Not sure what's changed since that time.)

They still do it. My friend just got a job with them doing presales work.

Everyone

instant000 wrote: »

To my knowledge, Microsoft does that. I don't know of any other companies that do. (At least, that was the case this past spring. Not sure what's changed since that time.)

They still do, it was part of what they told me yesterday over the phone.

jmritenour wrote:

That said, I'd love to work for Google. MS to a lesser degree, or IBM.

Yeah I could see IBM to a lesser degree. If they came after me for something local, I'd at least consider it. IBM has actually been after me for the last couple months, but everything they've come after me for requires moving to Columbus MO, and offers no remote work option, so no thanks.

Turgon

I think a lot of you replying are in junior roles. Im in a senior role. Some of you are, some of you will be in time, some of you never will be.

In senior roles you need to stay put for 2 -3 years. It takes that long to accomplish something significant at that level such as transformation of a national infrastructure. If you try to leave before hand you have two problems:

1. You did not see things through. See it through. That way if the next gig doesn't work out you at least have a track record in your history of delivering something significant somewhere else.
2. If you leave before something major is delivered, you deny yourself the experience of learning what it *actually* takes to deliver things of consequence. No certs or education will teach you this. You will find yourself in a decision making position without the tools to make the right decision and will take the organisation in the wrong direction. Eventually. you will be fired, but without prior 'form' of successful delivery elsewhere, you will not be able to put the experience down to *wrong company* and fall back on accomplishments in the past and get re-hired elsewhere at this level. You were never anywhere long enough to really have any. Remember, agents love to fasttrack people with *promise* to get commission, they take it, and then most of them fail and end up working at McD's.

I get headhunted regularly for jobs that offer more money. My answer is always the same. I have a job to do and Im seeing it through.

One final point, at a senior level it takes 18 months to learn the company, the process, the people, the politics and build the relationships you need to be successful. That is stressful. Once you have that, things you need, you should leverage them to get results, not jump ship to go through the process and the stress again.

Forsaken_GA

SteveLord wrote: »

Blizzard Entertainment

I used to think the same thing, and then Activision merged with them.

Then I thought 'hey, Bioware would be cool', and then EA acquired them.

So now I'll just have to find something that makes a ton of money so I can afford to play their games

demonfurbie

google, microsoft, redhat, apple

Psoasman

It would take a lot for me to leave my current employer. I've been able to do my AAS degree and take 11 cert exams in the last 4 years. That said, I would like to get into a hospital at some point, as I've been interested in IT healthcare for some time now. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google would also be good choices for me, as long as the pay was better and had good benefits.

Everyone

Turgon wrote: »

I get headhunted regularly for jobs that offer more money. My answer is always the same. I have a job to do and Im seeing it through.

Good points, but the question is, is there any company out there that you'd go against this on for?

To date the shortest period I've stayed with any company has been 2 years and 6 months. While I am regularly headhunted, I've never left anywhere because of it. I usually respond with a "Thank you for your interest. I am not seeking new opportunities at this time.". Actually, when I have made decisions to move on, I've never even gone back to anyone who had tried to headhunt me in the past either.

Priston

jmritenour wrote: »

On the awesome but impractical side, Bethesda Softworks is hiring for a network administrator position. I entertained the thought of applying, but it's just a little *too* far out of my commute range, and I think it would actually be a downward move from where I currently am.

After reading this I googled there location and just realized I've done work in the building diagonal from them and never even noticed them.

Turgon

Everyone wrote: »

Good points, but the question is, is there any company out there that you'd go against this on for?

To date the shortest period I've stayed with any company has been 2 years and 6 months. While I am regularly headhunted, I've never left anywhere because of it. I usually respond with a "Thank you for your interest. I am not seeking new opportunities at this time.". Actually, when I have made decisions to move on, I've never even gone back to anyone who had tried to headhunt me in the past either.

No there isn't.

Tackle

TLeTourneau wrote: »

I can't think of anyplace I'd jump ship for. I've been in healthcare IT for a long time and currently work for one of the best healthcare organizations and employers in the world (not just my opinion). I don't see myself going anywhere.

That's pretty ironic. Check out my post (#3).

TLeTourneau

LucasMN wrote: »

That's pretty ironic. Check out my post (#3).

. I don't know what system is in your area but I heard that we may have some positions opening up soon.

dave330i

Another "company" I would jump for would be Top Gear (U.K.). I'm sure their IT needs are pretty basic, but to be around all those cars....

Xcluziv

Turgon wrote: »

I think a lot of you replying are in junior roles. Im in a senior role. Some of you are, some of you will be in time, some of you never will be.

In senior roles you need to stay put for 2 -3 years. It takes that long to accomplish something significant at that level such as transformation of a national infrastructure. If you try to leave before hand you have two problems:

1. You did not see things through. See it through. That way if the next gig doesn't work out you at least have a track record in your history of delivering something significant somewhere else.
2. If you leave before something major is delivered, you deny yourself the experience of learning what it *actually* takes to deliver things of consequence. No certs or education will teach you this. You will find yourself in a decision making position without the tools to make the right decision and will take the organisation in the wrong direction. Eventually. you will be fired, but without prior 'form' of successful delivery elsewhere, you will not be able to put the experience down to *wrong company* and fall back on accomplishments in the past and get re-hired elsewhere at this level. You were never anywhere long enough to really have any. Remember, agents love to fasttrack people with *promise* to get commission, they take it, and then most of them fail and end up working at McD's.

I get headhunted regularly for jobs that offer more money. My answer is always the same. I have a job to do and Im seeing it through.

One final point, at a senior level it takes 18 months to learn the company, the process, the people, the politics and build the relationships you need to be successful. That is stressful. Once you have that, things you need, you should leverage them to get results, not jump ship to go through the process and the stress again.

+1. Those are same very valid points Turgon. When you said "See It Through" you made me remember that poem by Edgar A. Guest. Pretty powerful poem when you read an analyze it. I see your viewpoint, I know currently I am in a more junior role I would say but will have alot of responsibility now after being there over a year and being asked to take on a couple projects. One thing that separates individuals on jobs is not only knowing how to do their job but the effective intangibles which I hold high. Communication and relationships are things I build on a daily basis and is the only reason I have matriculated thus far in my short career.

MentholMoose

If you asked me this question a year ago, I'd provide a list. Since then, I've received and subsequently turned down an offer with the company that would've been at the top of that list. At this point, the employer is only one of the factors I consider when evaluating a job offer. I'll give some extra points to an offer with a fantastic, prestigious company, but job responsibilities, location, salary, benefits, and other factors are still important and can make or break the deal. I currently work at another company that would be on that list, though.

Everyone

MentholMoose wrote: »

If you asked me this question a year ago, I'd provide a list. Since then, I've received and subsequently turned down an offer with the company that would've been at the top of that list. At this point, the employer is only one of the factors I consider when evaluating a job offer. I'll give some extra points to an offer with a fantastic, prestigious company, but job responsibilities, location, salary, benefits, and other factors are still important and can make or break the deal. I currently work at another company that would be on that list, though.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would jump ship for a job at a company on their dream list just to work for that company. Obviously it would have to be an increase in pay/benefits/title/responsibilities/etc. too.

I'd never take a step backwards in my career for any company, no matter how much I wanted to work there. At the same time, I wouldn't jump ship for just anyone who offered better pay/benefits/title/responsibilities/etc. either.

PCHoldmann

I actually had an experience like that earlier in the year. I knew a couple people at a major partner, one of them told me there was an opening for a Cisco voice delivery engineer, and asked if I was interested. Since the company had been pretty much top of the list for me for a while, I jumped on in, got the job, and love it.

Lesson from this: Human networking matters.

I second dave330i, I would have to consider Top Gear.

Chivalry1

Apple.... Actually turned down a position with them about 7 years ago. If I have the opportunity again I won't make the same mistake twice.

sieff

Google, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, NYSE, Forbes, Bloomberg, The White House, United Nations ... and IBM Global Services.

Bacsilove

Google (of course haha), Apple, Cisco, IBM

ptilsen

A game company, of course
Microsoft, Google
Thomson Reuters, simply because they are the only large employer within ten minutes of me
Most healthcare or financial organizations, for the right position
General Mills, which is headquartered not far from me and has a reputation as an amazing company to work for.
Any defense contract or three-letter agency

MAC_Addy

dave330i wrote: »

Another "company" I would jump for would be Top Gear (U.K.). I'm sure their IT needs are pretty basic, but to be around all those cars....

That would be BBC...

Bl8ckr0uter

My own company if I had the funds and client base. Cisco, Palo Alto, SourceFire, Google, RH or even some cloud based storage company like dropbox. There is a local healthcare provider that I have been trying to get on as well as a local AFB that I have been applying to on and off for 7 years.

Blackout

Bioware or the NSA. Kidding but seriously.....

In all honesty I don't like the idea of doing IT in the big corporate world. Not because it wouldn't be interesting but I tend to think you get lost in the sea of IT's. I could be wrong about this since I have never worked in IT before. I want some low key company on the rise, vice a huge enterprise.

dustinmurphy

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I used to think the same thing, and then Activision merged with them.

Then I thought 'hey, Bioware would be cool', and then EA acquired them.

So now I'll just have to find something that makes a ton of money so I can afford to play their games

I actually work for a small game company. We have a lot of different people from Bioware, EA, Nintendo, etc. They're not in IT, but many of them didn't really like it. Supporting the game servers is hard work... and I only support a dev and a beta set of servers (2 Oracle DB servers and 3 world servers... so far) it takes a very wide range of knowledge, however with the bigger companies, they probably have more than 1 person to tackle network, Linux / Oracle servers, Windows Servers, etc. It is pretty cool that they have an Xbox 360 and a PS3 in the lobby for us to play... and everyday at lunch time, there's a Battlefield game going. (I think we even hosted our own server or something...)

I would say Google would be my #1. They have some cool stuff. I used to work for Insight... it's a big corporation, and they have some cool stuff there, too... I was always getting free stuff... not just the swag, but food, drinks, equipment, etc.

Priston

Blackout wrote: »

In all honesty I don't like the idea of doing IT in the big corporate world. Not because it wouldn't be interesting but I tend to think you get lost in the sea of IT's. I could be wrong about this since I have never worked in IT before. I want some low key company on the rise, vice a huge enterprise.

Yea, the thought of actually working for a small company and being part of a team that takes that company to the next level would be really fun.

fly2dw

Definately a games company; in particular Nintendo!!

I have always thought working for one of the Formula1 teams would be cool.

ubermich

Xcluziv wrote: »

Any game company.....Ubisoft, Bungee, etc....Google, Facebook...........can't leave out the Car companies....BMW, Rolls Royce....maybe they may give me a car as a gift...lol

You've never worked for a car company before, have you?

sthomas

Everyone wrote: »

FBI... meh... I've been contacted by them, and I know 2 people who work for them, didn't sound as cool as you might think after talking to them.

Game industry company like Blizzard does sound cool. I'll admit, I'm a WoW player, been a fan of their games since the original Warcraft back in the 90's. I have wondered what a high level Systems Administrator type position would be like with them (that's what my career path has been).

Main thing that keeps me away from those game companies is most of them are in CA. I was stationed in CA for a couple years when I was in the Air Force. I really don't have a desire to live there again. Actually I just don't have a desire to relocate again anytime soon period.

+1 for Microsoft and Blizzard

Though I know someone who used to work for Microsoft and he said they expect a lot out of their employees. Not that it would be a bad thing but this person said it could be stressful at times.

N2IT

Manufacturing would be cool. I really like IT around supply chain and manufacturing.

Not the most exciting but I like to see tangible assets, not services.

Tackle

TLeTourneau wrote: »

. I don't know what system is in your area but I heard that we may have some positions opening up soon.

It's called the CentraCare Health System.
I'd be open for the Mayo Clinic Health System as well, is that where you are?...that's even more prestigious than the one up here in St. Cloud.