£15,000 to 0

Silver_Queen

Thank you both, I really am so very pleased! It's been a long time coming - we've been together almost four years now and have never lived together as a couple. He was of course going to move in to my new place with me, but I was questioning how feasible that would be, as it would be a total of 4 - 4 1/2 hours commuting every day. Now we don't have to worry about that

I just have to focus on this job interview next week! Fingers and toes crossed.

Silver_Queen

Still nothing from my solicitor....have sent over a chase email because I'm getting so antsy!

Waiting for mortgage offer too...

So nervous about the job interview!

DrSpendLittle

Silver_Queen wrote: »

Still nothing from my solicitor....have sent over a chase email because I'm getting so antsy!

This is my life at the moment

I feel like I'm actually going to miss my solicitor and estate agent when we finally move as I speak to at least one of them most days and have seemingly formed a bond with them :rotfl:

You should head over to the House Buying, Selling and Renting board and in particular, the Waiting to Exchange thread - it's full of useful information and peoples' experiences. Oh, and story after story about uncommunicative solicitors :rotfl:

Good luck!

Silver_Queen

DrSpendLittle wrote: »

This is my life at the moment

I feel like I'm actually going to miss my solicitor and estate agent when we finally move as I speak to at least one of them most days and have seemingly formed a bond with them :rotfl:

You should head over to the House Buying, Selling and Renting board and in particular, the Waiting to Exchange thread - it's full of useful information and peoples' experiences. Oh, and story after story about uncommunicative solicitors :rotfl:

Good luck!

I try to be mindful of the fact that conveyancing is high volume low pay, but four weeks without a peep is a bit too far in my books. Kind of wish I'd done it my bloody self, would have saved me almost £1.5k but I want to have someone I can blame if it goes wrong :rotfl:

On the bright side, at least you get to talk to your solicitor, mine does not deem me worthy enough to grace me with her communications

On the bright side, I was finally blessed with an email from my solicitor this week, and have a proposed completion date...the last day before payday in September!

I've decided to make a market value election on stamp duty, so now I have to somehow find another £2k, which I hadn't accounted for before. Been selling EVERYTHING :rotfl:

Silver_Queen

In a surprising turn of events (given that I thought the interview went pretty badly), I've been offered the job that I interviewed for!

I have a lot of emotional turmoil about this, because a) I didn't think I would get the job and b) I didn't think a decision would be made so quickly.

I promised my current firm that I would stay until next year at least. This was agreed before they offered me a training contract and was heavily implied that it was a prerequisite to me getting the TC.

As regular readers might know, my job is a bit cruddy and sometimes people try to talk to me into doing things I don't want to do. Maybe I'm a stickler for the rules, but I know that this firm will not be my forever firm.

However, I don't know if I'm ready to move just yet. I still have some loyalty, perhaps misplaced.

But the job offer is extremely good, with excellent benefits. I would be earning £8k more from the get-go and another £6k more within 2 years, with amazing chances of progression.

Lots to think about over the weekend.

ChasingSunshine

Congratulations on the job offer. Good luck with your decision. When do the new firm want a decision and how long a period would they give you before any start date?
I'm afraid I don't have much help to offer but think back on how your firm have treated you (and colleagues when at similar stage) in the past as well as anything you may know about the new one. How does the new job impact the rest of your life - commute, extra hours / weekends, more work pressure etc? How frequently do jobs in your area come up? Will you have options if you wait and look in the new year or is this a rare opportunity you should not miss?

redofromstart

Congrats on the offer.

Consider how much loyalty they would have the other way round. None whatsoever I suspect. Loyalty is giving reasonable notice and leaving your work load in a reasonable state.

enthusiasticsaver

Congratulations on the job offer and lots to think about. Big increase in pay though and if good prospects and benefits so much the better. So long as you give your required notice to your current firm and ease the handover they cannot really ask too much more from you. Few firms reward loyalty these days so ultimately you have to do what is right for you. I can understand your hesitation though if you feel obligated due to the TC. However if the job is not right for you and presumably it isn't or you would not have applied elsewhere then you should not feel guilty about doing what is right for you.

Silver_Queen

ChasingSunshine wrote: »

Congratulations on the job offer. Good luck with your decision. When do the new firm want a decision and how long a period would they give you before any start date?
I'm afraid I don't have much help to offer but think back on how your firm have treated you (and colleagues when at similar stage) in the past as well as anything you may know about the new one. How does the new job impact the rest of your life - commute, extra hours / weekends, more work pressure etc? How frequently do jobs in your area come up? Will you have options if you wait and look in the new year or is this a rare opportunity you should not miss?

redofromstart wrote: »

Congrats on the offer.

Consider how much loyalty they would have the other way round. None whatsoever I suspect. Loyalty is giving reasonable notice and leaving your work load in a reasonable state.

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Congratulations on the job offer and lots to think about. Big increase in pay though and if good prospects and benefits so much the better. So long as you give your required notice to your current firm and ease the handover they cannot really ask too much more from you. Few firms reward loyalty these days so ultimately you have to do what is right for you. I can understand your hesitation though if you feel obligated due to the TC. However if the job is not right for you and presumably it isn't or you would not have applied elsewhere then you should not feel guilty about doing what is right for you.

Hi all.

Thanks for all the food for thought. My head tells me to just take the job. My heart tells me that it would be incredibly harsh for me to just abandon ship. I'll list out some pros, cons, and other points to note, which will probably help me anyway.

Pros of taking new job

• Money! I'd get a £8k pay increase immediately and another £6k after 1 year of service.
• Currently I pay 5% into my pension with a 3% match. The new job is a 5% pension with a 20% employer match..
• The chances of progression are good - I will be paid at the bottom of my salary band going in, but this will steadily increase through the years. I'm not sure what the top of the band is though.
• They offer flexible working if I want it, although I'm not planning on taking it.
• They offer 2 months' fully paid sick leave.
• They offer 26 weeks fully paid maternity.
• I can opt into an additional training period which lasts for a few years, which I would like to do.
• The work-life balance will be significantly better. At my current role, I can't take off more than three or four days at a time. If I try to take off a longer period, I'm met with "subtle" hints and guilt-tripping. Even when I'm away, I'm expected to be available 24/7 on my mobile phone and replying to work emails. I've had deadlines missed in the past because the person I handed work over to (and gave VERY clear instructions to) thought I would deal with everything anyway, despite being away on holiday.
• The ultimate pro and ultimately the reason why I initially started looking for a new job: I will not be forced in this current role to take on things I'm not confident with. It is a huge team of lawyers (we're talking in the thousands) and I will always have someone to ask, rather than be expected to muddle through and spend my own time learning how to do things, stressing and worrying about it constantly.
• Fantastic job security at the new role.

Cons of taking the new job

• THE GUILT, as discussed in full above. To flesh it out, if they hadn't offered me the initial job, I may have never been able to qualify at all, given my extremely poor grades. However, I have worked incredibly hard to make up for this, and I feel they have gotten good value for money from me so far.
• The new job moves into an area that is adjacent to my current area of practise. My current employer knows everyone in my current area and is extremely well respected. If I ever want to move back into my current area, I may have trouble, he will inevitably make it difficult; everyone talks to everyone and nobody wants an employee who will jump ship after a few years.
• It will be much more of a corporate environment, not nearly as relaxed (can also be a pro!). At the moment, it doesn't matter if I show up a couple of minutes late, or if I spend 15 minutes catching up on the internet before I start, as long as my work gets done. I can just go and speak to the big boss and ask for a pay rise. At the new job, time sheets are scrupulously kept, promotions must be formally applied for and there are set salaries for each promotion.
• The big boss at my current firm wants to retire in the next 5-10 years and has made noises about grooming me for partner (not to be 100% trusted)
• My current direct line manager earns significantly more than the new job would be likely to pay me in the next 5 years or so. If I stay, there is a chance that I would be promoted to her role in the next 5-10 years, but this is certainly not a guarantee.
• More re: the guilt, in a roundabout way, the company have screwed themselves over because they have forced me to learn how to do certain things in my own time, so I am now the only person who knows how to do them. There is nobody for me to train to replace me. When I leave, they will be completely screwed over in these niches. This makes me feel bad, even though I know I shouldn't.
• The new job has a 10 month probation period. In the unlikely event that I'm let go, I may be out in the cold given the above. My field is not hiring at the moment and the only jobs going are the ones that are extremely low paid in firms that notoriously overwork you.

Things to note/neutral

• Both jobs located in same area, so no difference to commute.
• I need to discuss conflict of interest because I'm technically working for a direct competitor and know a lot of sensitive information.
• my current area of practise is not doing well at the moment. Practitioners across the board are having a hard time. Many smaller firms have gone under. There's not really major signs of trouble at my current firm but I have to consider job security.

Homegrown0

My tuppence worth - your current employers sound horrid, and I think the new job (despite the more structured/ formal approach) sounds like it ticks a lot of boxes.

Don't stay in a job because of guilt or promises of promotion in the future. My experience is that they never materialise.

Plus, that 20% pension contribution is