. I had a 2-hour interview this morning and had an offer in hand this afternoon. After dickering back and forth about the rate of pay, we came to a tentative agreement.
What was the sticking point? When my friend the recruiter told me about the job, he said the pay was $35/hr. Then when the offer was made to me, it had dropped to $33/hr, and he didn’t really explain why. I kept asking why, who lowered the pay rate, was it his firm or the employer? He indicated it was the employer and said he’d try to push for partial work at home to compensate for that, but he wanted me to accept the job first, so that means no leverage if you don’t talk about work at home til afterwards.
I finally got him to agree to $34/hr. I mean, it would have been a $4100 drop in pay before even starting. The employer had said they’d been looking to fill the opening for a long time, so now that they found the right person, how could they justify lowering the pay? Almost like a bait and switch, if you ask me.
Still not sure if my friend the recruiter was being straight with me on all of that. It could have easily been his firm that figured most employees would agree becus they need the work. I am happy with the pay (it comes out to $70,000 a year, but with no benefits, no paid holidays, etc) although I have a LOT of concerns about the commute.
My friend the recruiter kept saying yeah, but you can always negotiate a higher salary when you get a perm job offer, but what the heck? If they’ve got an employee working on a freelance basis, why would they spend oodles of extra money on benefits when they really don’t have to? Unless the job market suddenly improved in a big way and they were afraid I’d jump ship for something better, I don’t think a perm job with benefits is in any way guaranteed. Hence my reluctance to cave too quickly on the rate of pay question.
As for the commute. I took the easiest way in there this am in terms of not wanting to get lost, and it was bumper to bumper on I95. You’d be traveling at highway speed and then all of a sudden traffic comes to a complete halt. Very stressful. Very long 1.25 hours. I really worry that I won’t be able to do that twice a day. Seriously.
I will try other ways to go next time. They want me to start day after Memorial Day. Once I get the offer in writing and paperwork signed, which won’t happen til Monday at earliest, I will give notice at p/t job and can give them a max of 1 week notice. What I’m really hoping is that since this is their slow time I can just leave. I need that time to buy a new car and buy new clothes. Luckily, it is casual dress, but still need a better wardrobe. I’ve been working in my jammies for a long time.
My 2 cats are in for a shock. I feel sad for them becus they are so used to me being here and as it is, they get so bored. That’s why Luther picks on Waldo and bites him too hard. He’s bored silly.
So, as maybe you can tell, I have mixed feelings about all of this becus of the commute, but feel I just have to take the job becus after 3.5 long, dry years, my unemployment benefits run out like, um, next week. I couldn’t have called it any closer!
All this time while I job searched, I never even considered jobs in Stamford becus of the long commute. I know a lot of people do long distance commutes, but I’ve always hated it. It sucks up too much of my personal time and exhausts me and all around lowers my quality of life.
So the plan would be to just suck it up and start the job, try to catch on as quickly as I can and maybe in 6 months, when I feel I’ve demonstrated my value and expertise, approach them about working at home 1 or 2 days a week. Preferably 2.
If they don’t go for that, my days there would probably be numbered. I’d try to stick it out for 1 or 2 years but I hate the whole lifestyle. Couldn’t go much longer. (I’m honestly not even sure I can do their style of writing. It’s much more abbreviated than what I’ve done.) Pithy product descriptions instead of magazine articles or sales brochures. Very different. And the quality of their writing there is already very good, so I’d have to work even harder to add value.
In the meantime, I already scheduled a test drive at local Ford dealer to drive a Ford Fiesta Saturday. May also test drive Hyundai Elantra and Honda Civic. Will probably go new again. I think I’m entitled since the car I drive now is 14 years old. I will sell a bunch of mutual funds tonight and the money will be in my checking account in 3 or 4 days. After I decide from the test drives which model I want, I’ll call all local dealers and ask for their very best price. I want to avoid haggling and will just go with the lowest bid.
My head is spinning. My lifestyle is really going to change drastically. I hope it’s worth it. Terrible to say that after 3 years and 8 months of p/t or underemployment and drastically scaling back my lifestyle, but I don’t know. Don’t know if anyone else goes through this kind of angst in this kind of situation.
My life has just changed dramatically; did I make the right decision?
May 16th, 2013 at 10:36 pm
May 16th, 2013 at 10:56 pm 1368744997
I understand your hesitancy about the commute, as I wouldn't like it either. I wonder if it would be worth maybe staying at a hotel two or three nights a week, or perhaps a very small studio apartment to cut down the commute time? Not ideal of course, but maybe workable for the short term til you have negotiating power for more at home days. (Maybe a room to rent in a house nearby the job location?)
May 16th, 2013 at 11:14 pm 1368746046
I think you made the right decision. The only risk you are taking is with your pt job, which you don't like anyway. The kitties will adjust.
I have never owned a Ford or a Hyundai so have no opinion; but I have owned 2 Hondas (first an Odyssey, then an Accord) and I love them. My Accord is coming up on 8 years of almost trouble-free driving.
If the job works out really well, perhaps you could make it a goal to move closer (since you are semi thinking of selling your house).
May 16th, 2013 at 11:31 pm 1368747073
May 16th, 2013 at 11:39 pm 1368747579
May 17th, 2013 at 12:01 am 1368748916
I drive a 2012 Honda Civic (and have had other Honda's in the past) and I love my car. Check out Costco for your car purchase.
Good luck!
May 17th, 2013 at 12:03 am 1368749013
I don't think cost-wise it would make sense to rent even a room. It would cut into my earnings too much, and it would destroy my quality of life.
I want to eventually move, but I'd be moving east into cheaper New Haven County or stay in the same area I'm in now, northern Fairfield County. But most of Fairfield County is just way too expensive. It's where the rich people live, and buying down there would be counter to everything I've done in terms of living modestly and below my means.
The good news that since i paid off my mortgage, I should be able to really accelerate my savings rate. I won't have the benefit of a tax-deferred 401k since i'm a contract employee; maybe there's something i could do with the recruiter. I'll add that to my list of questions for when I see recruiter Monday night. I plan to switch to their health insurance plan if it's cheaper than the state plan which now costs $589/month. (I'm paying $562 on COBRA, but that ends June 30.)
May 17th, 2013 at 12:26 am 1368750380
May 17th, 2013 at 01:22 am 1368753720
My commute is VERY long (3 1/2 hours a day) but I really don't mind it that much. It's just part of my day, and part of the bargain I made to get what I really want.
And by the way, congratulations!!!!
May 17th, 2013 at 01:35 am 1368754545
I'd always choose the smaller commute. The thing is the gas and wear and tear (& stress) can get really expensive. If I were you, I'd check out the job, see how it goes, etc. But for the long run a "rent a room" option might save you a lot of stress and be rather breakeven financially. (I say this having lived in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. A small room rental situation with private entrance can sometimes be found for $300-ish per month. IT doesn't have to be a lot for just a place to sleep and avoid commuting). There's certainly got to be some better options - maybe renting an apartment in the interim until you retire and are selling your house anyway - something like that. But, I think all this stuff can wait until you see how it goes. If the job works out there has to be some options out there. Public transport is not a bad idea either (at least you can read and relax - I think for me it's the traffic more than anything else that bothers me about a commute like that). & maybe "work from home" is the best compromise for you, so maybe that will work out. Good Luck!!
May 17th, 2013 at 01:53 am 1368755630
May 17th, 2013 at 04:05 am 1368763555
May 17th, 2013 at 07:09 am 1368774586
May 17th, 2013 at 12:50 pm 1368795002
Suzanne
May 18th, 2013 at 04:17 am 1368850625
May 18th, 2013 at 11:24 pm 1368919482
Do you have any flexibility in your work hours? If so, would starting early or on the weekends cut down on commute time? When I have the choice (with my job sometimes I do and sometimes I don't) I choose the early shift or weekends and can shave 15 min off my commute time each way.
Are 4 x 10-hour days an option?
As others have suggested, look for ways to make the commute more pleasant. I get audiobooks from the library and listen to them or NPR during my long commutes.
May 19th, 2013 at 04:00 pm 1368979225
I think you have a solid plan of trying this out for awhile - Sock money away and see what happens.
May 20th, 2013 at 07:22 pm 1369077726
Summer vacation is just about here, ask a high school or middle school kid to babysit (your place or theirs) for a couple hours on some days. Pay something like $5 a day or perhaps a couple dollars an hour.
There are also pet day care places, but I bet they are more expensive.
Happy to hear of the job, being in So California, the drive does not sound horrible to me!! Time in the car to 'read' listen to audio books, news, etc!
May 21st, 2013 at 06:05 pm 1369159542