What Should My Next Career Move Be - Poll?

L[Deactivated] on 31/07/2015 - 23:40
Last edited 01/08/2015 - 08:52 by 1 other user

Good Evening Ozbargain,

I'm currently trying to decide where I should take my career and would appreciate your help.

I'm 23, have a marketing degree and around 1.5 years of experience. I live in Sydney and with my current role as 'Marketing Coordinator' for a large franchisee company earn $42,000 per year. I feel like I'm being underpaid as other employees with the same experience and qualifications are earning $54,000 per year. I like my job, and more importantly the people I work with, even though they all earn more than me and work less (It's probably my own fault for not negotiating when I started)

I need more money as I'm getting married in December, my wife to-be is in her 3rd year of Med School and can only work part time 2 days a week before it affects her marks. I will happily work an extra job to support my family (the two of us anyway).

I need advice on what to do. Should I wait for my review in September and hope i get the $54,000 that similar employees are on, Find another Job that pays better or find a part time job and work weekends / nights.

Thanks for your help.

Poll Options

• 28
  Wait until your review and then re-assess
• 6
  They are underpaying you - find somewhere else
• 2
  Find additional weekend/ night work

• 

  cureforanitch on 01/08/2015 - 00:29

  Give them the opportunity to acknowledge your worth. Spend the time now thinking about tangible examples of how you have contributed to innovation, cost savings etc..

  If they don't acknowledge it, treat looking for a job like a job, but while you're still employed by these guys. Find something new, making sure it's what you want, and go for it. If supporting your family is important to you, maintain the security but refocus your energy on proving your worth, or looking for something new.

  Good luck

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:18

    Thank you, having security is the key motivator to staying in my current job. Most new positions have 3-6 month probation periods.

• 

  SmiTTy on 01/08/2015 - 01:32

  +7

  Start looking for a new job. It doesnt come immediately , it takes time.
  Hopefully if you find soemthing by September, it will help you negotiate when you are going through the pay review. Just because you have another offer, doesnt mean you need to take it … (sometimes taking a (slightly) lower offer for good experience/work life balance/good working environment is worthwhile).

  If you're happy with your pay review, then stop looking. If you aren't, then you havent lost time looking in AUg/Sept

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:17

    +1

    Great advice, Looking for another job seems so time consuming. I dread the mental drain but it's all apart of work life I guess.

• 

  Davo1111 on 01/08/2015 - 01:37

  start looking, then come negotiation time see what they have to offer.

• 

  GnarlyKnuckles on 01/08/2015 - 03:20

  To me, it sounds like your life is going great at this point; so you'd be mad to 'rock the boat' before the review. Bear in mind the old adage 'better the devil you know'… of course you should try and ensure that your pay is ultimately adjusted such that it is commensurate with your efforts/productivity relative to your colleagues, but also realise that money is not everything. I'd MUCH rather earn 70K from a job working with awesome peeps a 10-minute walk from my house, than 100K working a job that was an hour commute in the car each way per day, working with annoying and/or boring peeps day in day out.

  You've stated that you like the people you work with… that is a rarer situation than you might think, and thus rather than taking a gamble elsewhere for potentially more money, I'd advise you to retain your current position and try to tactfully get your pay adjusted to where you think it should be.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:22

    An interesting proposition, you're right my life is going well (I forget how young I am sometimes)

• 

  RockyRaccoon on 01/08/2015 - 08:24

  Poll optoion 4

  When the new wife graduates you can retire

  so why bother 👿

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:25

    Doctors can take 10 years to be fully qualified. In 2 years time she will be an intern on $70,000 but that doesn't mean much when you're trying to buy a house in Sydney.

• 

  johndowy on 01/08/2015 - 09:29

  Have you checked around to see if you really are getting underpaid? $42,000 doesn't sound so bad to me but I might be wrong.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:28

    +2

    Yes i've looked around. $50 - $60k seems to be the going rate. $42,000 is only slightly more than the award rate for many industries. I was earning more income when I was at University and stacking shelves at Coles.

• 

  airzone on 01/08/2015 - 10:38

  +2

  Check a few salary surveys.

  e.g. Hudson
  http://au.hudson.com/portals/au/documents/Salary%20Guides/Sa…
  Corporate & Retail
  - Marketing Assistant (0–2 years) 55,000 - 65,000
  - Marketing Coordinator (2–5 years) 65,000 - 75,000

  You might well be underpaid. But good luck going to your boss and asking for 13k more to meet the average minimum for a marketing assistant (or 23k more for your titled position). The best pay rises you get are normally when you change jobs.

  You might be wise to start gauging the market and then when the review comes, you can choose to stay or go.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 01/08/2015 - 11:31

    I know what you mean, the average salary increase is 3%. From talk around the office a $5,000 yearly salary increase is fairly average, but I would still need a part time job to live comfortably on that.

  • 

    Davo1111 on 02/08/2015 - 01:54

    I wouldnt trust hudson to clean a toilet, let alone give out salary advice

• 

  peteru on 02/08/2015 - 00:05

  +1

  It's pretty much standard fare that when you are being paid below market rates, the only way to improve things is to change employers. It's usually in the too hard basket for most managers to increase a salary in an annual review by more than 5-10%. It's much easier to do a new hire at a higher rate.

  You need to weigh up the $ vs the love of job. I've been in a position where I went from a $100k job I hated to a $75k job that I loved. It was hard. The major reduction in $ was a hard thing to get through my skull before I made the decision, but in hind sight it was the right thing to do. The quality of my life has improved tremendously, even though there's less money to spend on luxuries.

  If you think that money is important to you at this stage, by all means have a go at a more stressful and better paid job. If you decide that this is not your scene in a few months or years, you can always go back to an underpaid job that you enjoy, but at least you have had a go, If you sit on your bum where you are for a few more years, you'll just end up being filled with regret or self-doubt and questions about what could have been.