Two Job Offers - Unsure

FuzzyDF

I'm just looking for some advice.

I recently left my job in a large organisation as they were to put it politely shocking to work for.

I have been very lucky to have been offered two jobs but there are pro's and cons and I'm finding it difficult to decide on which one would be best.

Job 1 (Salary £35K) - Large organisation in Central London.
Pro's - Pension, season ticket loan, private health insurance, career progression.
Cons - Long hours, monthly commute would cost £400 a month, no life/work balance.

Job 2 (Salary £30K) - Small organisation a ten minute walk away.
Pro's - No commute, life/work balance
Cons - Small companies can go bust, no perks or bonuses.

I'm a bit stuck and have 48 hours to make up my mind.....

InsideInsurance

Have you ever worked for a small organisation? I did once, still was a fair sized company just much smaller than all the multinationals I've previously worked with, and it was a very different environment to work in. That isnt to say automatically good or bad but lack of process/ governance, a lot more personalities of senior management etc

pmlindyloo

FuzzyDF wrote: »

I'm just looking for some advice.

I recently left my job in a large organisation as they were to put it politely shocking to work for.

I have been very lucky to have been offered two jobs but there are pro's and cons and I'm finding it difficult to decide on which one would be best.

Job 1 (Salary £35K) - Large organisation in Central London.
Pro's - Pension, season ticket loan, private health insurance, career progression.
Cons - Long hours, monthly commute would cost £400 a month, no life/work balance.

Job 2 (Salary £30K) - Small organisation a ten minute walk away.
Pro's - No commute, life/work balance
Cons - Small companies can go bust, no perks or bonuses.

I'm a bit stuck and have 48 hours to make up my mind.....

It is difficult to give answers to questions like this without knowing a bit more about your life.

How do you see your future? Do you want to succeed in your career and progress up the career ladder?

Is health insurance important to you?

Have you any dependants?

It would be a different answer depending on your family commitments/stage of life.

For what it's worth taking into account the commuting costs the difference in salary is minimal so that really shouldn't be the basis for your decision.

Did you look round the company and get a 'feel' for how the day to day stuff works?

Do you feel that if you were unhappy you could leave and find another job quickly?

Have you googled the smaller company to see if there is any information about how they are doing?

The salary is good for both so, on balance, taking everything I have mentioned into consideration and if there is no stark reason not to, then I always think life and work should be a balance so I would personally take the job with the smaller organisation.

Don't expect I have been much help really but perhaps I have given you a few things to mull over.

vegasvisitor

Option 1 is a better career move. Will look better on your CV and may open more opportunities even internally.

Option 2 is good if you don't care about where it might lead next. Or are there opportunities for progression within.

Depends if you care more about career than work/life balance really.

FuzzyDF

Really appreciate all of your points.

I've worked for both small and large organisations in the past. If I'm honest I prefer smaller places.

I 'think' I've reached a stage in my life where the 2 hour commute saps me of energy and for the sake of a few £K more I'm not sure if it's 'worth it'.

Think I'll go for the smaller place and if things don't work out there's nothing stopping me from going back into the west end.

I'd better type the acceptance email.

Thank you once again

pjread

bear in mind 400/m commute = 4800ish a year out of post-tax income, so at basic rate tax is effectively 6k off the base salary. So there is no more cash in the 'London/ job. Plus the commuting time needs factoring in somehow.

Essentially it's progression opportunity vs lost time on commuting. I'd edge towards option 2 but then I've been commuting to London ~2.5hrs each way for almost a decade, so the advice is a bit hypocritical

TELLIT01

Big companies go bust too. Remember Northern Rock. RBS also in all but name. For me it would always have been a no-brainer. I work to live, not the other way round. I was actually head-hunted for a job and turned it down without further discussion when I was told it was in the centre of London.

1940sGal

The first choice may be £5k more a year but you're spending £400/month on travel which comes to £4800/year so you're not actually gaining much wage wise.

There's nothing to say the small firm will go bust, just like there's nothing to say the big firm won't.

If you're getting a better work/life balance from the 2nd choice, doesn't that outweigh the perks of the 1st?

It's a no brainer for me. 2nd choice easy.

pjread

1940sGal wrote: »

The first choice may be £5k more a year but you're spending £400/month on travel which comes to £4800/year so you're not actually gaining much wage wise.

5k more pre-tax for an outlay of 4800 post-tax; unless you've got some legitimate method for getting tax relief on commuting for an employee, I make that at least a £2k lower income on the 'higher paid' job. (commute cost as a reduction to gross salary -> 4.8k / 0.68 = £7058 for basic rate taxpayer, 4.8k / 0.58 = £8275 for a higher rate taxpayer)