Advice Sought

TJ Mackie

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice here. Sorry for the essay.

I work in finance, specifically the funds industry. I work in quite a niche department, i.e. not Accounting/Transfer Agency/Financial Reporting or any of the bigger teams. I have been in this department since I graduated and have a lot of experience, and people with good experience in this department are hard to find.

Ill try simplify what I do without giving too much away, as again because its such a niche department that I could be easily identified.

I worked for Company A in Department A for 3 years. Department A has a lot of analytical responsibilities as well as delivering results of those analytics to clients. I was quite good at this. As I progressed, I got very involved with the technical side of things, i.e. maintaining the systems we would use and improving them. An opportunity arose for me to join Department B in the same company on loan for a period. Department B used the same systems, and needed assistance from experienced users of those systems to manage a heavy workflow. The aim was that I would return with an increased knowledge of the systems (as Department B did a lot more background work on these systems that I wouldnt have had exposure to in Department A). That all went well, and I returned to Department A after my 6 month loan.

After a while back in Department A, I joined another company (Company . I spent a year there, implementing a new system (same one I had used in Company A) as well as more client facing work. After a year, Department B from my previous employer (the same team I had been on loan with) approached me and asked me to interview for a permanent role there. I did, and I got the job. Ive been back here for nearly 2 years now.

Department B has a very defined structure - there is a client service team, and there is a systems maintenance team. I am on systems team - we look after the system for the team in Dublin, but also several other teams in Europe, North America and Asia. Its a very unique system and very little experienced people out there for it, which is why I was recruited specifically. Theres only 2 of us on the systems team, but we coordinate and manage teams in the other locations also.

However, in the past year, there has been massive turnover on the client facing team. As a result, I have often been asked to cover client facing work as I would have a lot of experience in it (more than anyone else who is an actual dedicated client facing team member here). All of this is despite me making it very clear in my interview that I was interviewing for a role in the systems team only, and being assured that would be the case. Even my contract and job responsibilities doesnt contain any wording like ad-hoc cover or other responsibilities - its a very specific job spec for the systems team. I dont mind this too much, but I feel Ive been assigned a Plan B role for the client service team and am spending far too much time on it. Not just covering work, but helping the other client service team members too as they find it easier to turn to me than actual management here. Of my almost 2 years here, Ive spent 8-9 months doing client service work.

The client service team are all pretty new to the department and wouldnt have much experience. Some of them have come from senior roles elsewhere in the company, and as such would be on quite high salaries, more than me. Yet, without wanting to sound condescending or arrogant, my knowledge and abilities for the job would be way, way higher. One of the team recently left, and told me how much he/she was on. I know, take it with a pinch of salt, but it was a good 15k more than me, yet I was advising him/her on all their work and performing to a much higher standard (which would be expected given I had far more experience).

Am I out of line to be salty about this? Its just bugging me that people with far less experience, abilities and quality of work are on more than me. Should I consider asking for a pay increase? Or would I need to force their hand first by getting an offer from elsewhere (and being prepared to take it)? Other senior members of the systems team in the other locations have recently handed in their notice, which almost gives me a position of strength as Im confident they wouldnt want to lose me either, but I dont want to make it seem like Im taking advantage of that situation. Then again, I know no one will look out for my career only me.

Would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

LegacyUser

No your not out of line. You need to basically absolve yourself of all extra duties. Ask for a role profile and then tell them you are doing more then what was set out and that if they want you to continue you would need a rise/new title. If the company are all about saving as much money as they can they will say no and opt to up the staff training so they can do the job themselves and you can just do your own job and leave the rest of them to it. If they value your experience they will give you the rise.

I would say that if your somebody who likes to be in control and likes things done right you might find it hard to take a step back and let them get on with it. In which case if they dont offer you that rise, you might want to realistically consider applying for new jobs.

TJ Mackie wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice here. Sorry for the essay.

I work in finance, specifically the funds industry. I work in quite a niche department, i.e. not Accounting/Transfer Agency/Financial Reporting or any of the bigger teams. I have been in this department since I graduated and have a lot of experience, and people with good experience in this department are hard to find.

Ill try simplify what I do without giving too much away, as again because its such a niche department that I could be easily identified.

I worked for Company A in Department A for 3 years. Department A has a lot of analytical responsibilities as well as delivering results of those analytics to clients. I was quite good at this. As I progressed, I got very involved with the technical side of things, i.e. maintaining the systems we would use and improving them. An opportunity arose for me to join Department B in the same company on loan for a period. Department B used the same systems, and needed assistance from experienced users of those systems to manage a heavy workflow. The aim was that I would return with an increased knowledge of the systems (as Department B did a lot more background work on these systems that I wouldnt have had exposure to in Department A). That all went well, and I returned to Department A after my 6 month loan.

After a while back in Department A, I joined another company (Company . I spent a year there, implementing a new system (same one I had used in Company A) as well as more client facing work. After a year, Department B from my previous employer (the same team I had been on loan with) approached me and asked me to interview for a permanent role there. I did, and I got the job. Ive been back here for nearly 2 years now.

Department B has a very defined structure - there is a client service team, and there is a systems maintenance team. I am on systems team - we look after the system for the team in Dublin, but also several other teams in Europe, North America and Asia. Its a very unique system and very little experienced people out there for it, which is why I was recruited specifically. Theres only 2 of us on the systems team, but we coordinate and manage teams in the other locations also.

However, in the past year, there has been massive turnover on the client facing team. As a result, I have often been asked to cover client facing work as I would have a lot of experience in it (more than anyone else who is an actual dedicated client facing team member here). All of this is despite me making it very clear in my interview that I was interviewing for a role in the systems team only, and being assured that would be the case. Even my contract and job responsibilities doesnt contain any wording like ad-hoc cover or other responsibilities - its a very specific job spec for the systems team. I dont mind this too much, but I feel Ive been assigned a Plan B role for the client service team and am spending far too much time on it. Not just covering work, but helping the other client service team members too as they find it easier to turn to me than actual management here. Of my almost 2 years here, Ive spent 8-9 months doing client service work.

The client service team are all pretty new to the department and wouldnt have much experience. Some of them have come from senior roles elsewhere in the company, and as such would be on quite high salaries, more than me. Yet, without wanting to sound condescending or arrogant, my knowledge and abilities for the job would be way, way higher. One of the team recently left, and told me how much he/she was on. I know, take it with a pinch of salt, but it was a good 15k more than me, yet I was advising him/her on all their work and performing to a much higher standard (which would be expected given I had far more experience).

Am I out of line to be salty about this? Its just bugging me that people with far less experience, abilities and quality of work are on more than me. Should I consider asking for a pay increase? Or would I need to force their hand first by getting an offer from elsewhere (and being prepared to take it)? Other senior members of the systems team in the other locations have recently handed in their notice, which almost gives me a position of strength as Im confident they wouldnt want to lose me either, but I dont want to make it seem like Im taking advantage of that situation. Then again, I know no one will look out for my career only me.

Would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

Glass fused light

TJ Mackie wrote: »

 Its a very unique system and very little experienced people out there for it, which is why I was recruited specifically. Theres only 2 of us on the systems team, but we coordinate and manage teams in the other locations also.

The client service team are all pretty new to the department and wouldnt have much experience. Some of them have come from senior roles elsewhere in the company, and as such would be on quite high salaries, more than me. Yet, without wanting to sound condescending or arrogant, my knowledge and abilities for the job would be way, way higher. 

Am I out of line to be salty about this?

 Its just bugging me that people with far less experience, abilities and quality of work are on more than me. Should I consider asking for a pay increase? 

 Other senior members of the systems team in the other locations have recently handed in their notice, which almost gives me a position of strength as Im confident they wouldnt want to lose me either, but I dont want to make it seem like Im taking advantage of that situation. Then again, I know no one will look out for my career only me.

you are not doing your current role.

In the managements view the title you currently hold has a ceiling and you may need to figure out what this is.  Sometimes client facing roles are going to appear to management as more important than the " back office " day to day stuff eg the sales guy may be on big money for catching the sale but the invoice and credit control team make sure the sale is cash in the bank but guess who gets the most credit.


If I were in your position I would be looking at the value you add to the role.
But define the role first.
List what you do over and above your contract 
Covering your own work, note is it a 'full time' job if you spent 8/24 months off it or are you that good. (Or is the second staff member picking up your job/slack)
Training new and existing staff 
Problem solving for day to day processing
Client facing contact
Etc

So look and reclassify your actual duties in a new job spec and look for a new title and appropriate salary.  You would need to have a very quiet word with people to find out the salary range the other staff would be on.  See if you can find any job adverts on the intranet to match the HR definitions of the management level.

I would be looking for the new position called something like 'training and quality control manager of system' and price it accordingly. 

Now this may be that you need to skip up a grade to be level or above your current manager so you need to figure out your sales pitch and who it's best to pitch it too.  I think that if you do not value what you are contributing to the firm no one else will.

If you are pitching for 15k+ I would suggest that you think about getting help from a business coach. If you need a contact ask if your company gets external sales trainers in or look at any professional organisations who would arrange professional development seminars in your industry and see if you can get a speaker list. A couple of hunderd to get someone to critique and sharpen your pitch could be a good investment.