Thoughts on a New Job, Money and Benefits.
Posted: July 13th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Employment | Tags: Employment, money, new job, Perspective, Raise | 1 Comment »Thoughts on getting a new job.
I finally got a new job!
Words alone cannot describe the sense of elation I feel. I’ve been stuck at a dead-end job now since 2008. I have had very mixed emotions about the whole situation for quite sometime. I have been extremely thankful to have a job in this recession, but I’ve also felt like my financial plans have been stuck in neutral. I knew I should be grateful that we weren’t falling behind financially, but it just felt so depressing to be getting nowhere after doing so well.
Like many who managed to avoid being laid off; I’ve had to take unpaid time off, lost my employer contribution to my 401k plan, had no raise bonus or similar salary increase.
But all that has changed.
I got a great new position at a new company in almost a new field, but it’s everything I wanted – and I know how lucky I am in this economy.
But there have been a lot of interesting remarks made by people when I tell them my news. I realized that I view things differently than others, and I thought I share some of those observations here.
Thoughts on money, benefits and what really matters.
But how much more are you making?
Believe it or not, I’m a pretty private person despite having a blog. And one of the things I’ve never felt comfortable talking about is income. It’s just one of those things that makes me feel awkward discussing with others. It’s like personal hygiene of the personal finance world.
So, I told my wife’s family about the job and her aunt asks me if I’ll be making more money. It’s a logical, common and completely expected question. It doesn’t bother me at all. But I also know she’s looking for more than a simple “yes”, but as I mentioned I don’t want to give her a dollar amount.
So, being the geek that I am, I give her a percentage.
“I’ll be making 12% more a year,” I tell her.
She just blinks and stares. “Yes, but how much is that?”
Now, I know her pretty well so I feel confident in saying that she wasn’t simply being nosey and trying to weasel my annual salary from me. She really just had no idea what to make of my response. 12% meant nothing to her.
But ask yourself, when was the last time you got a 12% raise?
The dollar amount isn’t important, it’s the percent that matters. It’s the percent that tells you how big, or how small a leap you’re taking relative to where you are, not compared to where someone else is.
How much does it pay?
I got this question from my younger cousin. Again, he wasn’t trying to be nosey, he’s just graduated high school and has no idea what real jobs pay. But the problem with this line of thinking is that salary is everything, and it’s not. It’s also about the bennies!
I support my family of four on my salary, so things like health insurance, time off and a decent 401k are important to me. More so than when I was my cousin’s age. But I think a lot of people just never get past the salary figure when considering jobs.
The other huge benefit to my new job is that I think I’m going to like it very much. And when you actually like what you do for a living, it’s a lot less like work and a lot more like living! And that’s something money can’t buy.
photo by kreg.steppe.
[...] Thoughts on a New Job, Money and Benefits. [...]