new job offer?

[happymommy]

Hello,

Dh just found out he is getting called in for a job interview.

He has a job now but with no benefits.

Current job $40 hr. with Unlimited overtime presently. No bennies we pay almost $1800 a month health insurance.

New job $28-32 an hour, that's also capped at $32.00 hr.
40 hrs a week, with 8 hours maximum overtime. Sounds like the new job is mostly a 40hr week, with little overtime offered.
It is Union, offers health ins. $114.00 a week, 5% retirement match, and union dues. They might also have so other retirement plan, not sure at this time.
Sick days, 4 weeks paid after a year I heard, that sounds impossible though, so I question that.

He was out of work for over a year. In 2010 he got a job and it's been very busy. He made over $100,000.00 with OT. He's worked very hard to get us out of the financial difficulties we had with no work for over a year.
We are almost all paid up on old bills and ready to sock as much money as we can away.

Before taxes etc.
New job 28x40=$1120.00 weekly
Current job 40x40=1600 weekly

New Job Yearly 58240.00.
Current Job 83200.00 .............with no overtime as above.

The down side besides the pay cut is it is located in a metro area.
Commute will have tolls and tons of traffic.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you

[Darlene]

Hope it works out just the way you want!

[happymommy]

I posted under the wrong forum. Could someone move this post to a more appropriate forum.

Thank you very much.

[monkeywrangler71]

I posted under the wrong forum. Could someone move this post to a more appropriate forum.

Thank you very much.

Moved to money management forum

[kita]

Just eyeballing it, it looks like it is almost even financially before overtime. Clearly at $40 you can afford to pay for bennies. (Wasn't that a drug in the 70's??). So it is value stuff to you:

How bad do you want him home? Is the money from overtime worth the time he is gone and then exhausted when he gets home?

Also, some people would hate the drive so much they would prefer to work overtime rather than deal with traffic everyday.

Another question I would look at is: If your husband had to turn down overtime because of a family emergency how would it affect his current job.

And remember, this is a nice problem to have....I wish I had it...

[happymommy]

Just eyeballing it, it looks like it is almost even financially before overtime. Clearly at $40 you can afford to pay for bennies. (Wasn't that a drug in the 70's??). So it is value stuff to you:

How bad do you want him home? Is the money from overtime worth the time he is gone and then exhausted when he gets home?

Also, some people would hate the drive so much they would prefer to work overtime rather than deal with traffic everyday.

Another question I would look at is: If your husband had to turn down overtime because of a family emergency how would it affect his current job.


And remember, this is a nice problem to have....I wish I had it...

Kita, thanks for replying. You bring up great questions.

A little correction pay scale, is 28- capped at $31 an hour.

Well, this weekend we took a ride into the big city. It was a nightmare IMHO, lol.
Dh didn't seem thrilled either but said he would get use to it if he had too.

Dh current job he can go in anytime and leave when he wants. He likes to go in early 3-4 a.m. but could go in at 8 or 9 if he wanted.
He can make his own hours daily and weekly that doesn't effect his job status. He has lots of freedom.

So that freedom would be gone with the new job.
His shift would be 7-3:30pm m-f all going well he would be home by 4:30.....5 pm or after! Iff their were extra traffic from accidents, bad weather etc.... we have been slammed this year with lots of snow. He would have to leave 6 am or before to be in on time in the morning.

I think he would be more overtired with the stress of the commute.

He did inquire about this job when he was out of work, at that time he would of taken it in a second.

My fear....... the unknown future........like everyone.
Which company would be the safer bet. I don't know.

[Preston]

Before you commit any way is there a way to use mass transit to get where we needs to go with the new job? If you are able to just get a bus/train pass and get to work (and read or do budget while commuting) as opposed to sitting in traffic steaming. Or perhaps even eventually ditch the car (which would be even more savings to offset the paycut)

consider all options. But the proximity to mass transit would be a major factor.. considering oil prices are going to go up.

But then again, the flexibility of the current situation is excellent and that is a major benefit.

[Ramona]

Does his car get great mileage? I hope so if Preston's idea of public transportation isn't feasible.

It's always good to have an alternate route to work but when he's stuck in traffic, listing to books on CD is very good. Your library will have those and also specialized music or self-help books.

Hugs to you and him in your decision making.

[Sassyclass]

Another thing he needs to find out is about the union. While unions have their good points, they also have their bad points. How much are dues, is the union the right kind of union for the job being offered, how many members do they have waiting in the union hall looking for a job? Personally I dislike unions, but that is just me. I never liked the idea of paying someone else to speak for me, I can do that very well on my own thank you. I'll be keeping you and your DH in my prayers. BTW no job in todays world is stable, and just because you are in a union does not mean you will have a job tomorrow.

Cat

[jzanoletti]

From the information you've given us I would tend to lean more towards the $83k job...due to these reasons:

1.More pay
2.Flexible schedule (for me very important and in today's economy very rare to find).
3.Very busy + overtime= more $$
4. Better communte than the new job offer (again, more time with family which is heavily considered in my opinion). + traffic....it can add stress to his everyday life.

I believe I would need more information in order to make a better determination.

1. How does he like his job? It is ok, does he love it, hate it? Very important
2. Advancement opportunity compared to the new job.
3. Have you shopped around for a new or more affordable health care plan? Perhaps you can go with a higher deductible plan if you are one of those people who don't get sick often....but then again it sounds like you have kids (based on the monthly prem).

Solely based on the information you posted IMHO the exising job is the way to go based on the overall benefits....

Good Luck!

[frugalfranny]

No advice but just telling you that you should consider yourself lucky that he is at a 'two-job' crossroads........way to go to your DH!

Good luck in whatever decision you decide to make........

[a.nonymous]

Instinctively, I cannot think that the new offer can beat the old one. But let's check.

I think it's easier to either break this down on an hourly or monthly base. And let's drop overtime all together, as that is not always a given.

Let's take the monthly (assuming 4 weeks per month) version, and correct me if this is wrong.

New offer:
pay: 4960 (assuming 31 per hr)
health ins.: -456
ret. cont.: 248
total: 4752

Current job:
pay: 6400
health ins.: -1800
ret. cont.: 0
total: 4600

So, even looking at the worst-case scenario for the current job, the new offer can just barely beat it (3.3% increase). And that is without additional costs factored in of actually getting to the job and back.
As reference, you could start watering down the payments of each job by factoring in commute hours (reduces hourly pay) and costs.
From this point onwards, if you add more hours and all, the current job will start to catch up, and eventually easily beat the new offer.

As a general rule of thumb, I always try to negotiate at the very least a 25% increase in pay when changing jobs in comparable industries. The only exception in the past was on one of our moves between countries (Germany just does not pay London wages).
I may not always succeed, but I aim for that number and negotiate really hard.

I personally am not a fan of unions. Therefore, the union job would be out of the question for me from the get go. I prefer to negotiate my pay and benefits myself. You may feel completely differently on the matter, so your own judgment should apply here.

The 4 week per year does not sound that unrealistic to me. It is very well possible. Keep in mind, that some companies in Europe that I have worked for offered up to 28 days' paid leave (French company with 28).

I'm not sure how much room for negotiation there is for your husband (the offer being unionized and all). But it can't hurt to try and get a substantial rise from the new offer. Being in the position to comfortably and confidently say "no" to terms offered gives you tremendous negotiation power - if you are the best candidate for a job.
Just take the time and try to come up with a number that would make the extra costs, time and hassle of the new job worthwhile. Add some to that for negotiation wiggle room, and you're ready to try and get a better deal. And even if you do get that, you can still say no.

[frugalcdngal]

No real advice here, except, check out how much union dues are. Union dues can be outrageous. That alone could be the deal breaker. The amount you pay for health benefits is depressing. That being said, it is wonderful that in an economy where so many cannot find jobs, that your husband found one that pays so great.

[happymommy]

Update......

First, thank you all for your generous replies.

I agree dh is lucky to have two job opportunities, considering he was out of work for over a year.

Dh was offered by his current employer to manage the operations of the company along with another employee.

He can will have a share in the companies profits. (If there is any!)
Looks good at this time.

So he is going for it! Who knows what tomorrow will bring but if we can make some good money and sock as much as we can away for
the unknown future it will be a win..win.

Happymommy

[dancemommy]

Have you shopped around for health insurance? We pay for our own insurance and pay just under $1000 for 5 people. It is still waaaay more than I want to pay- I can't imagine paying $1800. We have blue cross blue shied anthem through an agent.