got a job offer today...
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- gentleman
shiiit
so i'm on < £30K
working as Head of Design / Lead Art Director at a top (according to Campaign/CR) digitial ad agency in town.
today an offer comes through that our rivals.. a certain "very-awarded-in-2008" ad agency wants to hire me as a senior designer for £60,000
now - the exposure to brands i have at the moment is insane - anything that comes through i can take and run with it. the budgets are getting bigger and bigger and we're only a handful of years old and the + i got ahand picked team of designers/art directors that i have assembled over the past years - doing some sick work.
the offer entails.. being a "designer" which is essentially working under a bunch of creatives - with me designers to other's art direction and having minimal involvement at a conceptual level.. but it is a lot moneyzz
so what to do?
BIG MONEYS + step down
or
long term game(???)
BIG STATUS & POTENTIAL + little money ?(oh and im under 25)
- _salisae_0
keep looking. it sounds like you have something to offer – get everything you want.
- raskolnikov0
You need to go where you can learn the most
- jimzy0
phew nice offer!
sounds like you know your shit & are good at your shit so don't jump in with two feet if you don't feel comfortable about it - but fuck yeah thats a lot of moneyz man. you could HAZ ALL DA BLINGZ!
- gentleman0
yeah thats the thing.
i've jumped fucking quick - thanks to a bunch of pitch wins, minor awards and general get up and go.
but i'm super young and heading a team of people - well a 'department' of 5.
it feels like i'm in this weird spot of leading/teaching people when i havent really been led/taught myself - just on the job smarts. :D
so i'm wondering wether suddenly jumping from a company of 40 to a company of 150+ will teach me lessons i actually want to learn? or wether i'll become a cog?
- jimzy0
yeah i can see what you're saying.
well im not one to advise you really gentleman, im the same age but a step behind!
hopefully rand will come here soon and fix your problem.
congrats either way mate!
- raskolnikov0
Are you sure about the 60k? Sounds like a lot for a designer
- very rare the pay more then 40k. british pounds.akrokdesign
- lol purty sure. i almost weptgentleman
- i based that on all emails i get from creativepool.co.uk. :-)akrokdesign
- it's like 98-99k in dollars.akrokdesign
- freaking good.akrokdesign
- recruiter friends is what you want. and a lot of friends in high places that you meet randomly over pints & parties :P :Pgentleman
- lol making me sound like a massive blagger :D :Dgentleman
- akrokdesign0
you're Head of Design / Lead Art Director, but makes less then the senior designer gig?
- Head of Design must be same thing as Creative Director.akrokdesign
- nah.. Partner > Creative Director > Department Head (me)gentleman
- although some senior creatives will out earn me on experience and age alone. not a position thing :)gentleman
- i see.akrokdesign
- also bigger agencies have more ££££ to throw aroundgentleman
- yeah. i know, i been at smaller agencies. most of the time. :-Pakrokdesign
- spendogg0
Keep doin what your doing. most times It takes a decade of hard work to get where you are at. Enjoy it. and when its time to move on you will be that much more valuable.
- vespa0
go and have an interview with them. see what the culture is like. ask questions about how much creative responsibility you'd have.
you'll be better equipped to make a decision after you've met the people and seen the place, than just from a salary figure. if you don't like the feel of the place you'll know immediately -- it's far better to know this and be happy with where you are, than it is to start pining for lost money in stressful deadline times, even if you enjoy the work.
also: it's very weird how little money actually stays in your pocket when you jump a salary bracket.
- you're last comment about salary brackets is painfully true.Tungsten
- Tungsten0
See if your current employer can match the offer or at least meet you half way. Having them know you're being scouted can only improve your bargaining power.
- hmmm i kinda know they can't. it's at a stage of distributing money over new hires & growth rather than blowing it on a few.gentleman
- ukit0
A couple years ago I made the jump from a 60k-ish (USD) job to a > 100k-ish job and while initially I was super excited, the actual dollar amount you get in a paycheck every two weeks doesn't change all that much. So unless you have kids to support and are saving every penny, I think the quality of work you are doing, things you are learning and the prestige of the job is more important than salary.
Having said that, I've always found it hard to turn down new opportunities;) So if there is a way you can make this one work for you - take it. Maybe if you take the initiative you can rise within that organization and take on greater responsibility over time. Tough call though.
- letters20
Stay with the small shop, sounds like you have a good setup for growth and opportunity. Use the offer to leverage a salary increase at your current job. Clearly you're doing something right for your current employer so likely they can't match the offer, but they'll have incentive to up your salary a bit – and you'll be a happy fellow.
- a_c0
I was recently in a similar position to you gentleman and I've chosen the smaller shop.
I'm learning shitloads with regards strategy, planning and management/business. Just as long as you can still push and develop yourself creatively and if your team is good (both techs and creative) you'll be fine.
Definitely go for more doh, awards, pitch wins and your offer should all lend to your argument. They're obviously making lots of it. But that shouldn't the most important thing in your career right now.
- JSK0
small shop with more freedom when you are young brings more money in the future when you are old.
more money is only good for short run. it dries up quick when you are kicked to the side when you have nothing to show for it on restrictive boring brand.
- gentleman0
:) sounds like i just made the right choice then :D :D
thanks yall
- kezza_20
I think you are under paid by about 20k where you are...
Id use it as a bargaining tool for a pay increase. Why work doing more or less the same job for half the price?
- skt0
and it seems like only yesterday when you were fresh out of school trying to find anything at all...
tricky situation, and one i'm quite familiar with (joining a company at its inception and now leading a team of people without ever having been led / taught).
i think you probably made the right choice though (if you're still where i think you are)... for now anyway. and it probably won't do you any harm to ask for a bit more coin especially if they know you are turning down big money offers to stay.
- haha.. yup still here.. they make it hard to leave. "blood in / blood out" kind of thinggentleman
- Horp0
Tread carefully. Money is nice, but there are more important things.
- clearThoughts0
Don't base your decisions on money - I totally agree.
If you think about it, you are gonna be spending pretty much all your week in the place you choose.
- d_rek0
I'm at a similar crossroads.
I have recently been offered a significant increase in salary ($38k to almost $50k USD) to be in-house at a larger ad agency in the area.
While the small, boutique studio I work at now is far from perfect I have found the variety and opportunity for creativity to be much more than I ever hoped at my first job right out of college. And having some insight to the company that wants to snag me up, I know i would probably suffer an endless parade of advertising and web-based marketing campaigns (ie: banner ads, rich media, etc).
There are many things you have to weigh with decisions like this. Sure the money may be right but I don't know if I can put task myself to create the very things that I utterly despise day in and day out.