Better to take a 20% pay rise for a new job at same level, or stay and try for promotion

rliu

Hi I'm agonising over this decision at the moment, although the financial benefit of changing jobs would make this a no-brainer in the eyes of many. Essentially I was actively contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn, went through two interviews for a job at the same level and same title as what I do now, and been offered the job that I was getting ready to turn down until I saw the full offer details and the financials. I'm deliberating now as I've been at my current job just over a year and other people in my department have got promotions, add a 'senior' into their job title, after 18 months - 2 years. I also really like the people I work with, and am also slightly nervous about changing jobs during COVID when everybody is working from home, so I'd have to try and settle into a new role via video calls only. Any views or thoughts welcome.

squiggles

This section of the forum will be more suitable to get replies https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/employment-jobseeking-training

AW618

What does the promotion offer apart from getting a "senior" in your job title?

jonnygee2

Personally always follow the money. Jobs, situations, workplaces change.
If you turn it down now, it's likely to burn any bridges with that company and it doesn't seem sensible for a promotion that 'might' happen.

theoretica

There must have been something about the job which attracted you enough to go through two interviews before you knew about the salary.  Why did you do this?

rliu

theoretica said:

There must have been something about the job which attracted you enough to go through two interviews before you knew about the salary.  Why did you do this?

The main attraction was always the increase in pay for doing largely the same job, and having spoken to both the line manager and the recruiter more it seems like it's because the company has had this vacancy since January and would have hired someone earlier if not for COVID, so are now desperate to get someone in and happy to pay above the going market rate. The offer they gave me was another 5% above what the recruiter said would be the upper bound of the salary range, which was the really unexpected part, as I'm used to being offered 5-10% below what the upper bound of the salary range is.
I think I'm probably just getting cold feet due to having worked from home for so long and got into a comfort zone of working with my current department and manager, a kind of Stockholm Syndrome if you will, whereas in a normal situation I probably would not think twice about the pay rise from this new job.

rliu

AW618 said:

What does the promotion offer apart from getting a "senior" in your job title?

There is always a decent pay rise with each job grade uplift in my sector, so I would expect something close to a 20% pay rise with a promotion.

jane477

rliu said:

Hi I'm agonising over this decision at the moment, although the financial benefit of changing jobs would make this a no-brainer in the eyes of many. Essentially I was actively contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn, went through two interviews for a job at the same level and same title as what I do now, and been offered the job that I was getting ready to turn down until I saw the full offer details and the financials. I'm deliberating now as I've been at my current job just over a year and other people in my department have got promotions, add a 'senior' into their job title, after 18 months - 2 years. I also really like the people I work with, and am also slightly nervous about changing jobs during COVID when everybody is working from home, so I'd have to try and settle into a new role via video calls only. Any views or thoughts welcome.

In my opinion, you should stick to your old job. The times are bad and if the company that offered you more money isn’t a big one and you are not 100% sure it will survive the coming crisis I think that it is better for you to stay one more year where you are. 

bamgbost

under normal circumstances i would say leave. But with a lot of job uncertainty. Is better the devil you know. (IMO)

JReacher1

If you resign your current employer may offer you the promotion to get you to stay. If not then take the 20% pay rise. Even if you got promoted I think you would be lucky to get a 20% rise at your current place as that’s quite a generous pay rise. So for me the question is how much is having the word “senior” in front of your title worth?

personally I’ve always thought titles mean nothing and it’s only really the money that matters. 

rliu

JReacher1 said:

If you resign your current employer may offer you the promotion to get you to stay. If not then take the 20% pay rise. Even if you got promoted I think you would be lucky to get a 20% rise at your current place as that’s quite a generous pay rise. So for me the question is how much is having the word “senior” in front of your title worth?

personally I’ve always thought titles mean nothing and it’s only really the money that matters. 

Thanks to everyone so far, I have verbally accepted the offer and now waiting on the contract.
In answer to how much a promotion and the senior analyst title is worth in my field, it will probably also be roughly 10-15% pay rise at least. The same recruitment agent who represented me for this role I've been offered also ran a senior analyst role past me at around the same time, which offered another 5, 6% extra than this new job (so 25% more than my current one) as the upper bound of the salary bracket. However in my field there is always an increase in responsibility with promotions, rather than these being given out just for the sake of someone having been around long enough, so it's not a bad trade off to get a 20% pay rise for similar responsibilities/workload.