One thing that we all can agree on is that cost of living is nothing like it used to be. Ten years ago you could live decently off of a $35,000 salary in New York City if you budgeted your money. Since then however rent prices have sky-rocketed at alarming rates, mortgages are appearing to become less and less affordable, and property taxes are on the rise. Let’s not get into the cost of food which has nearly doubled over the last decade. Unfortunately our salaries are not increasing as fast as the cost of living is increasing. With all of these factors in place, how can salary not be one of the first things that you consider before you accept a new job offer?
You might think that I’m crazy after you read this next part but keep reading until the end and I promise that it will all make sense. I hate to burst your bubble but salary should not be one of the top 3 things that you evaluate a company on at the time that they offer you the job.
For starters, if you make it all the way to the point of accepting a job offer without negotiating or even discussing your salary or pay rate then you have done yourself a serious disservice! Nothing sucks more than receiving a job offer, getting super excited, and then finding out that the pay rate is ridiculously too low for you.
Salaries are always short term solutions to our problems because we have no control over changes to the cost of living. You may assume that $70,000will help you live comfortably for the next 10 years but what happens when your property taxes double, or your rent increases for the next 3 years in a row? Or when you discover that your job does not give raises often, or places a freeze on issuing raises for a few years? Even worse, what happens when you are forced to either accept a pay cut or resign? If money was your sole motivating factor for taking the job, any of the aforementioned events will instantly cause you to hate your job.
The days of remaining loyal to a company if the pay is “decent enough” and the benefits are awesome are over (especially for millennials). Millennials are presently ruling the workforce and their energy is contagious. Millennials are nothing like their parents, who sought stability. My first group of millennial clients gave me such a culture shock because I couldn’t wrap my finger around how they were willing to walk away from jobs that paid them 6 figures all in the name of “happiness”, and because they did not feel “fulfilled”. On one hand I loved the fact they they were willing to shake up the status quo. On the other hand I was baffled. I have always been the type to walk away from a job that interferes with my happiness, health, or ability to support myself however I always sought more money with the next job. I have never left a higher paying job for a lower paying job nor was I willing to walk away without having something else lined up. My group of millennials taught me that they were not willing to sacrifice any aspect of themselves for a horrible work environment that brought them no sense of purpose or fulfillment regardless of the pay rate.
With that being said, here at The Career Conqueror we thrive on the idea that work-life balance is just as important as salary. What is the point of making good money if you can’t use it to live a life that you like? Everyone’s definition of what brings them a sense of satisfaction differs however people typically become frustrated or burned out over a few common issues. We created a list of 3 very common factors that negatively affect our outlooks on our jobs over time. You should evaluate your potential new job on these factors before you sign on the dotted line.
1.Does the company’s culture align with who you are or what you believe in?
Although I ruled out salary as the sole motivating factor earlier in this post, let’s not completely count it out. A company’s culture is not just limited to how they operate on a day to day basis. You want to look into whether or not your potential new company is “cheap” with their employees. Are they willing to invest in your future, give regular pay raises, contribute a significant amount of money into employee benefits? When you evaluate a company’s culture you should also examine
• How they treat their employees (I.e. is there room for growth, do they support educational pursuits, is management verbally abusive or condescending, is your value determined by quantity [your numbers/sales] or is it based on the quality of your work)?
• Is there a high turnover rate? Turnover rates tell you a lot about a company because 9 times out of 10 all of the employees leave because of the same issues.
• Is there a Union presence? Unions reshape the culture within a company because they bring in a new set of rules that the company must abide by when it comes to how employees should be treated (and guess what this includes…compensation 😁). Not all unions are effective however knowing if your potential new job has a union presence will help you gain insight into the potential for growth, and how employees are treated. I worked in two union environments that made it hard to advance because I wouldn’t even be considered for a higher position if someone with much less experience but much more seniority also applied. In the same token people with seniority got first dibs on vacations and could bump others for overtime shifts (thankfully I rarely had an interest in overtime).
2. What is your work schedule going to look like?
If I started telling you stories about employees who were willing to swear on their lives during my job interview with them that working weekends, holidays, and evenings was absolutely okay only to try to fight it after they were hired then this post would turn into a textbook. Don’t just accept a job for the sake of getting your job search over with. If you are told that weekends, holidays, and late shifts may be required you should know that you won’t be able to get out of that commitment down the line. Take time to process your potential work schedule. Ask yourself if this schedule will interfere with your ability to get to class on time, pick up and drop off your children to school, attend family functions, catch the last bus or train heading home or the first train heading to work. Find out if overtime is mandatory or if you can’t clock out until the next shift relieves you.
3. What will your commute look like?
Companies relocate. The office that you are assigned to work in may change. The bus may be permanently rerouted. Your commute always has the potential to change. But this does not mean that you should not evaluate your commute. A 2 1/2 hour commute on one train may not be as strenuous as a 2 1/2 hour commute that involves 3 busses and 1 train. It may or may not take a toll on you either way. When you evaluate your commute don’t just look at what you can currently tolerate. You should also think about what you will be able to tolerate if traffic increases, or train/ bus routes get eliminated, or if a new construction project begins.
When I attended Grad school in New Jersey, I lived in New York. I saw this amazing job in New Jersey that paid $40,000 more than the minimum salary that I was looking for at the time. I was so excited about the salary that I probably would have accepted a job offer without a second thought. I’m so glad that I didn’t take that job. My commute at the time would have been a little over an hour on a good day but over the last few years the commute time has doubled. If I took that job I’d be one miserable soul right now.
I hope that you are now able to see why I said that salary should not be the only factor that helps you decide if you should accept a job offer. If the company’s culture sucks, and the 3 hour commute is a killer, you may wind up passing up in the job regardless of how much it pays.