Advice please - To blag a job offer or not

yop

Lads

A bit of advice please. I took a job 27 months ago as a developer. I have 9 years experience;
At the time I was working up North and sacificed a pay drop of 7k euro to move "home"

My starting salary was early thirties, after the first review last xmas I was moved to mid thirties, move up of 3k.

I along with another developer have put in big time to get a new system developed for them and it was released in November, we were asked not to take holiday from August to the end of Nov, which we did not and then I realised I have 5 days hols to take, I presumed no bother I will take the week off before xmas, but they said due to how critical I was to the project and that since the other lad was away training that I could not take hols.

They then said, by the way u are on call this xmas (developers don';t do on call in our place) as the other lad (a foreigner) is away, also the fact that they did not bother to train the 20 lads in support up on the system means that I will be the only one to know the system, which will be running on customer sites over the xmas!

I asked if I was getting paid for it, they said no, but if u get a call we will sort u out.

So I had my review there last week, I got a rise of 2k, which was 1k short of last year and still leaves me 2k short of what I was on 2 years ago.

To say I was disappointed was an understatement, after all the work and all this crap of how critical I was.

Now, I have been getting a good few calls about jobs in the area, well within a 1.5 hours drive of me, to be totally honest I don't want to leave, but am sick of been under valued and way under paid.

What I was thinking of doing was approaching my boss to tell him I had an offer on the table and that I was considering it but that I wanted to give them an oppurtunity to make a counter offer.

Now,

a) do u think I am mad making up story
b) mad and I should stop moaning
c) I am dead right but do blag the job offer and tell them I am not happy
d) Blag the job offer and chance it!!

Could all this backfire, they could turn around and tell me they did not care, so pee off!!!

Any one every been in a similar situation

chump

It would be ideal to actually have a job offer to confront them about.
They might be able to sniff out the BS and cut you loose.

First of all, maybe look at http://www.premiergroup.ie/PG_Salary_Guide_Web_05.pdf and see what you think you should be on.
Then why don't you arrange a meeting with your boss.
Tell him you believe you're underpaid for the amount and quality of work you're doing and that you are very unhappy about this.
Then ask him is there anything he can do about it. And leave the ball with him.
Then await a response, and if no joy, start shopping around!

Civilian_Target

I agree with chump. Write down your gripes and then, when you have what you want straight in your head, go to your boss, outline everything you've done for the company in the past year, explain that you were on more in Dublin, etc. and see what he's willing to do for you. If you're not happy, as chump says, start shopping round.

yop

So don't say that I have another offer on the table and put pressure on them?

If I did say that I had and they came back and said grand we are not offering anymore, would it look daft if I stayed!!!

0utshined

I don't see that they are in a strong position. You are the only one who can support a system over christmass. If they want you to be on call they need to pay an on call allowance or accomodate you in some other way.

I suggest you investigate the other jobs. Getting an offer does not mean you have to take it but knowing you have other options going into a meeting with your boss leaves you in a much stronger position. You should not mention you have another job offer unless you do, If they don't budge and you stay you will have ruined any credibility you had and you will be unlikely to treated any better. Perhaps even have the letter of resignation printed out before you enter the meeting and bring it with you to the talks?

aaf

Wow, I reckon you are being seriously underpaid from what you have said. My guestimate is that you should be on at least 20k more than you are now. Are you a Senior Developer? Well, you have 10 years exp. Start doing a bit of research and see how much you're worth and maybe do a few interviews. Then go back to your boss and say you're not happy with your salary and that you are strongly thinking of leaving and tell him how much you want. He knows how critical you are so my guess is he'll pay out whatever you ask for. If not, leave. Do all of this asap while you have him over a barrel in that you are the sole support for this project. I can't actually believe you only get paid that little with that much experience. Christ, some grads get paid that!! My mate has gone from 27k to 55k in 2 years in server/network admin which is not usually as well paid as a developers job! The ball is definitely on your side of the court. Good luck.

TempestSabre

Personally I wouldn't use a BS story. Just lay the cards on the table, and this is the absoute best time to do it, when they have said you are critical. At the same time I'd do some job hunting and see if you can get some interviews in the salary range your on or higher. That will demonstrate what the market is paying.

In fact I do the interviews first. Because you have no idea how the market values you until you do. Having a great CV is one thing but selling "you" is a bit harder.

BossArky

Don't lie. Get another job offer fine, but don't mess up this job... its the only one you have for the moment. You sound seriously underpaid.

yop

Thanks guys for all the advice.

Been down West has its advantages and disadvantages, one been that there are not as many jobs here, so the chances of me going back doing contract work are almost nil.

To be honest I have to strike while the iron is hot and that I why I thought of the speil "I have an offer on the table since last week and wanted to see what you would do in my review before I made any decisions. But to be honest I was disappointed with what I got, especially since I got a 3k rise last year and 2k this year, which still leaves me 2k short of what I was on 2 years ago in my other job."

So what do I say next do u think, tell that I thought it was only fair to allow them to make an offer, tell them some it else?

To be honest they are the sort of place that if I went to them without the blag of an offer that they might not give a toss, BUT I am badly afraid that they will not give me any improvement as I am married and just near the end of building our house so they use this.

Wrecking my head, but so are they!!!! On a day off today to work on our house.... got 4 phone calls from work about issues!!! fkn unreal!

fatboypee

yop wrote:

Thanks guys for all the advice.

Been down West has its advantages and disadvantages, one been that there are not as many jobs here, so the chances of me going back doing contract work are almost nil.

To be honest I have to strike while the iron is hot and that I why I thought of the speil "I have an offer on the table since last week and wanted to see what you would do in my review before I made any decisions. But to be honest I was disappointed with what I got, especially since I got a 3k rise last year and 2k this year, which still leaves me 2k short of what I was on 2 years ago in my other job."

So what do I say next do u think, tell that I thought it was only fair to allow them to make an offer, tell them some it else?

To be honest they are the sort of place that if I went to them without the blag of an offer that they might not give a toss, BUT I am badly afraid that they will not give me any improvement as I am married and just near the end of building our house so they use this.

Wrecking my head, but so are they!!!! On a day off today to work on our house.... got 4 phone calls from work about issues!!! fkn unreal!

I was in a very similar position as you. I was contracting and was "told" to come on home so took the best offer I could get at the time (Massive cut from contracting, but in real terms, to be close to home (45 minute drive each way) I estimated I was being underpaid by about 8k. They even pretended to struggle to make the required Minimum for me ! The job was good initially, promised the earth, lots of responsibility, management of my own 15 man team, design autonomy, the works....

I arrived and was told on the first day I was to be "Technical Lead" with no direct reports. That all design and developments needed to be "signed off, however small (verbatim)", that as technical lead I was not exempt from being on call (no mention of on call made at the interviews (of which there werre 3!!)), mileage was payable aT 43 CENTS per mile and you were expected to hand over your own mobile phone number and bill the company for any work calls made. If you got a call while on call but could not resolve the problem you were'nt paid.

The list is endless.....

I had lots of offers to go contracting again while I was there but all were out of my area and having been called home, was not allowed to go. The first serious offer I got closest to home (now ten minutes each way, own company laptop, no support, can work from home when I want) I took, even though I took another 3k drop (worth it for the lack of travelling) and we struggle financially (at the moment).

My advice here would be say nothing to the company, document nothing, give them nothing but your time 9-5 (or wotever) and then vote with your feet. By law they cannot give you a bad reference (which you will likely need) and you can leave with your head held high knowing they're the ones that have lost a good employee.

pushing the payrise etc ? Nah, if they don't value you now what makes you think they will in the future ? An extra few quid in yer pocket isn't worth working for a company that treats you like sh1te...

When I left my last company the stress relief was massive, shook the dust from my feet and didn't look back...

FBP.

Siogfinsceal

in a similar situation now myself. Im on good pay but the work situation is awful and im beginning to question if its worth my mental health to stay here so ive started lookign around and hope to do a night course to get more qualifications.
i think you can do as fatboypee says and work to rule to show how you feel.
The other option would be to sit down with them (or with HR) and tell them honestly how you feel and what is bothering you. I did this recently and I was surprised my boss did her best to help me out. sometimes if you dont say anything people wont know your p*ssed off and the work keeps coming. peopel though I was just in bad form until I explained what was bothering me

Santa Claus

I work in support and am covering over christmas.
I've seen how much they charge customers for christmas/new year support (about 5k each customer and there's 80 odd customers taking christmas support this year).

I went in to them last year as I was being depended on as the only person to support 1 particular product (including getting calls on my holidays) and told them that if they didn't stump up 6k I was off (remember they have contracts with the customers they want you to support, so if you refuse to do support, then the company is fcuked and could be sued by customers for breach of contract).

Anyway I chanced my arm and got what I felt I deserved.

Have a chat with some of the lads in support and find out what they get for being on call over the holidays and make sure at the very least you get that, but I'd be inclined to lay your cards on the table now as the holiday support they need you for is a valuable bargaining chip !!