Job offer question

[Tiger]

I have recently been offered a position at a new company (which would be a direct competitor to my current company). I don't wish to leave the company I'm currently with, but the offer is significantly more money. Does anybody here have any experience/advice for letting my current company know about this offer and seeing if they would match some of it? I don't want to give them an ultimatum at all, but I do think I'm currently undervalued (as everyone thinks I presume) and hope they would give me incentive to stay with them.

[Slava]

I have been in a similar position (years back mind you). I had no intention of leaving, but I wanted to make sure that the boss new of the offer. I just went in and told him point blank that I had an offer for x amount of dollars and this is why this is attractive to me.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Yup, be honest and talk to your manager face to face about this offer. Make sure he/she understands the urgency of the situation so he/she can immediately talk to the people with the power to give you an immediate raise.

[Flames in 07]

It's good to be upfront with where you are coming from, think you are under valued, you have a competing offer (I wouldn't say who though), don't want to leave etc.

However before you do so I'd think about two things:

a) what if they say no raise, what do you do? you may want to know the answer to that before going into the process.

b) don't know what your boss is like or what your relationship is with him/her however it's fine to be nice and honest but you do run the risk of making them defensive and being percieved as holding them hostage, regardless of your true intentions. Be ready for negative feedback, and if you do, that may a be a good signal to move.

[calculoso]

Be careful about the "direct competitor" part of the job... Some jobs force you to sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting, and/or an agreement to not work for a competitor for a period of time.

http://joblaw.ca/index.php?view=workCompetitor

EDIT: The second agreement I mentioned is often called a 'non-compete' agreement.
http://midcareer.monster.com/article...ut/noncompete/

[Ozy_Flame]

Some companies have been known to hire employees from their competitors with significantly higher salary and benefits offers, and then as soon as they join, they get canned for simple trivial reasons - the whole point being to just get that talent out the competitors office.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Some companies have been known to hire employees from their competitors with significantly higher salary and benefits offers, and then as soon as they join, they get canned for simple trivial reasons - the whole point being to just get that talent out the competitors office.

Word spreads pretty quickly about stuff like that and it can't be a long-term strategy, especially if there are only two or three prime competitors.

[jamesteterenko]

I was in a similar situation shortly after I graduated university. I had been with my employer for about 9 months (I had a co-op work term with them and then worked 3 days per week during my last school term before I started my fulltime permanent position). I got a substantially better offer from a competitor. I didn't really want to leave the company I was with, but the offer I got was for substantially more money for a very similar job. It's a long story as to how this happened; basically a perfect storm scenario of being in the right place at the right time.

So, I called up the president of the company and said that I wanted to speak with him in person. It was a small company, and I had a good relationship with him. I explained my situation. I was willing to choose an appropriate end date for the project I was on, but I really thought that I would be leaving them. He asked me for a day for him to come up with a counteroffer before I accepted the other job. They ended up giving a similar offer to the one I got from the other company, so I stayed with them. I was convinced I would stay with them for the rest of my working life.

Fast forward about 4.5 years, and I ended up leaving the company for another. It was a very difficult decision for me, since I was leaving a very good employer. They had treated me very well, and much of my personal development was due to working for such a good company and with really great people.

A year after I left them, they ended up getting bought out and I was doing really well with the company I was at. I realized that would likely have become a small fish in a big pond if I had stayed with them. A decision that I agonized over a year prior, ended up being really lopsided in my favour. I just about let an emotional tie with a company lead me to a poor decision.

My recommendation based on my experience is, do what is best for you as long as you treat everyone ethically.

James.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Some companies have been known to hire employees from their competitors with significantly higher salary and benefits offers, and then as soon as they join, they get canned for simple trivial reasons - the whole point being to just get that talent out the competitors office.

Yup ... that happened to me once. It was the worst employment experience I have ever had. I really liked the first company that I worked for, but they paid peanuts and couldn't match the other company's wage offer. So I took the higher wage offer. It was the worst job I've ever had and the only job I've ever been fired from in my 20+ years of working ... I got fired because I wouldn't conduct business in the sleazy manner they asked me to.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by jamesteterenko

I was in a similar situation shortly after I graduated university. I had been with my employer for about 9 months (I had a co-op work term with them and then worked 3 days per week during my last school term before I started my fulltime permanent position). I got a substantially better offer from a competitor. I didn't really want to leave the company I was with, but the offer I got was for substantially more money for a very similar job. It's a long story as to how this happened; basically a perfect storm scenario of being in the right place at the right time.

So, I called up the president of the company and said that I wanted to speak with him in person. It was a small company, and I had a good relationship with him. I explained my situation. I was willing to choose an appropriate end date for the project I was on, but I really thought that I would be leaving them. He asked me for a day for him to come up with a counteroffer before I accepted the other job. They ended up giving a similar offer to the one I got from the other company, so I stayed with them. I was convinced I would stay with them for the rest of my working life.

Fast forward about 4.5 years, and I ended up leaving the company for another. It was a very difficult decision for me, since I was leaving a very good employer. They had treated me very well, and much of my personal development was due to working for such a good company and with really great people.

A year after I left them, they ended up getting bought out and I was doing really well with the company I was at. I realized that would likely have become a small fish in a big pond if I had stayed with them. A decision that I agonized over a year prior, ended up being really lopsided in my favour. I just about let an emotional tie with a company lead me to a poor decision.

My recommendation based on my experience is, do what is best for you as long as you treat everyone ethically.

James.

Perfectly Stated...If the company you're with treats you fairly than give them a chance...