Being Recruited - Job Interviews and Offers - Do I tell Wife?

UnBetaMe

So, big day today.
Opportunity #1 called me back and said they didn't like me as a fit for the role I interviewed for, but want to talk to me about creating a more suitable role for me as they thought my interview was great and that I would have a lot to offer.
This might be better. I speak to the VP on Wednesday and maybe I can get some input on what the role would look like???

Opportunity #2 got back to me today as well.  Looks like I did really well at the initial marathon interview and it is down to me and one other candidate.  They want to fly me half way across the country to meet with the company President and CEO within the next couple of weeks.

Looks like I will have to bring wife in on it now.  I'll end up being gone overnight and I will need her support on this.

Thanks for your help, all.  Please wish me luck!

Tennee

Awesome Bro.  Nice to have jobs seeking you isn't it?  Especially when you have the luxury of saying "No Thanks".

UnBetaMe

Tennee said:

Awesome Bro.  Nice to have jobs seeking you isn't it?  Especially when you have the luxury of saying "No Thanks".

True.  This is very important.  This scenario doesn't happen often. So, when it does, one needs to really make the most of it.
The only time an employee really has any leverage is when a company wants to hire you, but you don't work there yet.  I can't stress how important that concept it.

Tennee

@UnBetaMe said:

True.  This is very important.  This scenario doesn't happen often. So, when it does, one needs to really make the most of it.
The only time an employee really has any leverage is when a company wants to hire you, but you don't work there yet.  I can't stress how important that concept it.

Absolutely.  My current gig found me.  The offer was great, but didn't come with a robust package and I told them 'thanks for the interview trip, but I'm happy here, remember? good luck'.  The phone rang again 2 hours later...

People need to not be afraid to use that leverage for all its worth...

UnBetaMe

Spoke with the VP of opportunity #1 today. They want to meet with me again to discuss how the can align their needs with my strengths to bring me into the organization. I told them I would meet with them. I will see what they have to say and see if I can make it into something valuable to me.

I'm flying out next Wednesday for opportunity #2. I meet with the CEO and President on Friday (which is also my birthday)  
It is a city that I have not been to before so I asked if I could come out a day early and pick up the extra night hotel cost to be a tourist for a day and they agreed.

Now I have a week to learn everything I can about the people I'm meeting and the company. 

Remus

Back to the original focus of the topic, your wife.

Methinks you are too worried about what she thinks.

You should feel awesome you are being recruited and people respect you for your job skills.  If you want to share that with your wife, go ahead.  You don't need her approval though.  If she tried to bring you down or doesn't give you the respect you think you deserve, go on being awesome.  Its not your problem she's too narcisitic to appreciate your success.

UnBetaMe

Trip was excellent and the hockey game was a blast!  The interview went OK, I think.
It was a long day, but the executive team that I met with (all one on one) were very nice and very intelligent people.  It wold be a great career opportunity to learn from these folks.
The HR people said that I would hear back by Friday.  The recruiter said the initial feedback on my visit was great and that it would be tough decision for them between me and the other candidate.

I got an e-mail from Opportunity #2 while I was gone asking that I call them back at my earliest opportunity when I returned. I'll give them a call on Monday sometime to see what they came up with for options for me.

In other news, I've been asked for the second time in two months to speak to a group of my peers regarding my performance at a conference for my existing job.

UnBetaMe

Ok.
So I got offers from both opportunities.

ETA: Both job locations are in my current city... however only one of the opportunities has their head office here)

Funny thing is that both offers are for positions that were not the same as what I interviewed for...

Opportunity #1 is the best fit for me and offers the highest potential upside (both compensation and potential position level) However, they want me to start in October and low-balled the compensation offer vs. what the recruiter outlined for the original position.
They said they only planned on hiring one person this year and that was the position that I was originally recruited for, but that they saw the need to hire me for a different (yet similar) role when i went out there. So, they have a budget problem causing them to only be able to offer me a start date of October and a somewhat lower salary.

I countered with a higher base salary and a start Date of August, and offered to reduce the variable incentive pay accordingly such that they could afford to have me start earlier.  I think this is a win/win.  They get me for two more months for about the same cost. I get two more months of experience with them at a higher base salary than I have now. And, I get extra time to move through the learning curve in 2015, to be more productive in 2016... thus, earning them more more revenue and increasing my variable pay for 2016.

Opportunity #2 is an OK fit and demands less travel (virtually none)  Not nearly as much upside in compensation, but the head office is in this city, so the potential to be the CEO is there (I'd never do it though).  They gave me an offer that was way too low.  Lower than what was discussed in the interview process, and they knew it when I called the hiring manager on it.
By the end of the conversation, they told me to think about it over the weekend and come back to them with a number on Monday and they will see what they can do. This position would be to start ASAP.

There is really no way that this opportunity can compete with opportunity #1 if Opportunity #1 comes back and agrees with my earlier start date. The base salary is lower and the variable compensation more stable, but on average lower than opportunity #1

Any thoughts on this?

BTW: I would resign my current position in June and take the month of July off with my family (Wife is a teacher and is off work as well) if Opportunity #1 comes through. So, another +1 for that option.

HildaCorners

Congratulations on the offers!

It sounds like you've analyzed the jobs pretty thoroughly. Now you have to analyze the new city, and how you can make it a good move for your entire family.

Will your wife be able to get a new job that is fulfilling? Are there good schools for the kids in a good neighborhood you can afford? Are there equivalent activities/doctors/churches/ whatever is important to your family? Can you afford an equal or better house?

Since everyone is affected by a move, you have to take everyone's needs and desires into account. [I just watched Athol's Captain & FO video, and he discussed exactly this.]

If you can direct the conversation, you may want to ask your wife for input now. Not veto power, just information that will allow you to make the best decision for the entire family. But if she'll go control freak on you, make the best decision you can without her, present it as a done deal, and face her freak out only once.

UnBetaMe

Neither job requires moving to a new city. Just a little bit more travel.

My apologies if I did not make this clear.

Tennee

Make #2 fucking WORK for it.  You're the prize...

UnBetaMe

Tennee said:

Make #2 fucking WORK for it.  You're the prize...

I hear you... but, from what I know about the organization and the compensation structure, there is no way they can compete.  I'd have to be making more money than the person hiring me.
Doesn't hurt to ask, I guess.

UnBetaMe

By the way... I brought the wife in on all the options in order to make an informed decision.  She doesn't like it when I negotiate back (so she says) , she sees it as me being disrespectful. I see it as part of the process.  I told her it was disrespectful to me to low ball me the way they did. 

She isn't a business person, but I think it's a DHV now that I have actual offers to consider.

Tennee

Inform her that negotiations are SOP.  Because that is in fact SOP.  

Tiger

My daughter is at school in the mid west, she talks about that same unwillingness to negotiate is a cultural thing there. She has friends who are not willing to wait list a class. Did your wife grow up near the mid west US?

UnBetaMe

Tiger said:

My daughter is at school in the mid west, she talks about that same unwillingness to negotiate is a cultural thing there. She has friends who are not willing to wait list a class. Did your wife grow up near the mid west US?

Both myself and my wife are from the mid-west.  I negotiate quite a bit as part of my work, so it's pretty natural for me now. Wasn't always that way though.

ETA: She takes it personally when people negotiate. Although, she has been practicing by selling things on Craigs List and is getting better at it.  Granted, it's different when you're talking about a $30 microwave  

UnBetaMe

generalzod said:

Any interest/plan for an option 3 counter with your current employer?

@generalzod - The beauty about these other opportunities is that my current employer can't really compete with these options. They could, but it would involve me moving and that isn't a possibility right now.
I like where I work and this is the reason why the other opportunities are appealing. I wouldn't leave the organization I am at if these opportunities existed there without having to move.

UnBetaMe

I ended up negotiating with opportunity #2 for a  role on the opposite side of the business (my job will literally be to add alpha now... how appropriate  
) so that I can start in September and have the summer off with my family. 
I will resign from my current job for the end of June and take July and most of August off.
(I highly recommend everyone to have zero debt and a large cash savings in order to make this a real possibility when the opportunity presents itself)

Tiger

I still have fond memories of taking 12 weeks of vacation one summer, including 6 weeks without pay to take our children to the "mom and dad school of american history" we drove across the US and were able to show them parts of this country that the would not have seen otherwise.

Enjoy your time, make an adventure out of it, it will be something your family will always remember.

John3

@UnBetaMe don't go without medical.  You can usually buy something from your employer's provider if you ask before you leave.  It's not cheap, but summertime is the season of ER visits.  It just takes one of those to wish you have coverage.

This is the time to go do something...grandcanyon, Yosemite, something