New Job Opportunities

[RichS]

I've been working at my current job (IT support for a school district) for almost 5 years now. I will say that it's the best job I've had, but if there's one downside, it's been the pay. I know that I'm being paid less than others that have had the same jobs through research. There was one job available last year that would've paid more, but it was too long of a drive.

Right now, I'm kind of at a crossroads. We've had a new Superintendent come in this year, and he wants to renegotiate my contract. It would be retroactive to the start of this school year, which I'm thinking means that it involves some sort of pay raise. Also, they would include a phone stipend to pay for my phone which I use for work. The negotiations start after the Board meeting next Wednesday.

Today, there's been 2 job opportunities that were posted here for another school district. The pay for the lower-end job would easily be double what I'm being paid now with the same benefits. The problem is that the deadline to apply for these jobs is Friday.

Thing is, I'm torn. If I was able to get either new job, that pay would help out so much. Like I said, though, I'm really happy where I'm at now, and this renegotiation could match or be better pay-wise. I know I'd have to give my resume a thorough re-write as well, and the higher-end job also wants a letter of interest which would be pushing it deadline-wise.

I think I know what I want to do, but I still have some doubts. What do you think?

[csquared]

Give it a try. think of it a s practice. You don't have to take it.

[greek_jester]

Apply for the job. If your current job decides to offer you enough to make it worth staying then you can just let the other job know that your circumstances have changed and you're no longer in a position to apply (doesn't hurt to be polite, you never know what'll happen a few years down the line).

Do you think it's worth taking copies of recent job adverts in to your negotiations? It would be proof that you're being underpaid, and gives everyone a ballpark figure to aim for. You could point out that you're not necessarily asking for the same amount, just an increase to somewhere close. Point out you're happy where you are but are beginning to get too stretched financially to make staying long-term viable; if they want to keep decent staff then they'll be willing to push the envelope a bit.

[Pixelated]

^^^ What they said.

You can always turn down the new jobs if you decide the new deal at your current job is good enough. But if you don't even try, you will likely likely end up wondering what you might have missed.

[RichS]

So, I put my applications in for both jobs. One I would be surprised to get; it involves support, writing support documents and training for 2 specialized pieces of software. One I've barely used, and the other I haven't at all.

The other is the one I should get an interview for. It is what I'm doing now, but with the addition of supporting MacOS, which would be my only weak spot. I haven't used MacOS since the PowerPC OS9 days.

I did put in both applications that I can learn quickly. I will mention both at my negotiation if I need to, if they're really off on salary.