When is delaying start date a good idea?
If wait just four more weeks I will be very wealthy…or not.
Last week a friend joined me on a journey to Crater Lake. She is about to transition from one well known company to another and is balancing many variables, most of which are unknowns. Our visit gave us plenty of time to talk about her new job and the issues she faces, both real and imagined.
She accepted the job feeling reluctant to ask for a sign on bonus because she wondered if the current economy would make that a deal breaker. Of course she had no way to know one way or the other and decided to err on the side of caution. No sign on bonus. The ease with which she negotiated a higher base salary made her wonder if she made the right choice.
Her start date was postponed because her stock will vest end of the month and she doesn’t want to pass up on her year’s worth of extra compensation. She has no way to know what the stock price will be the day it vests so her planned delay could result in anywhere from $90k to $200k. The delay affects when her new company stock will vest. In either case, it seemed right to postpone the new job 4 weeks to obtain the award.
Rumors abound and she fears there is a near-term lay off in which case instead of just leaving for another job (a significant career move) she will lose out on another possible $250k or so. She has no way to confirm either the layoff or the amount. The temptation to wait another four weeks haunts her.
Job search is filled with many unknowns; all of which the candidate is expected to weigh immediately and well. Yet the stress of a job search and the wishful thinking of the unemployed corrupt decision making.
Rather than tell my friend what to do, I invited her to role play what she would tell someone facing her dilemmas. Once she removed her self from the equation, she was able to see there was more risk waiting for something that may or may not occur than the smaller risk of not getting a severance package.
I certainly hope there is no lay off, but even if there is, my friend is now certain she is making the wise choice. There will be no woulda, coulda, shoulda in her future. Only the beginning of a splendid new job where her manager and peers await her arrival so they can embark on the new projects her presence promises.
None of us can see the future. All we can do is make the best decisions we can based on the actual data we have…in spite of the wishful thinking and rumors. It is difficult not to imagine and anticipate but when it comes to the job search it is always best for morale and sanity to deal only with what is.
Themocracy