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And my past experience has been that the assurance of raises and bonuses
never materialize as they say it will. Things change, and while the
hiring manager offer you the "potential" of a 100% bonus each time and a
5% increase, there seem to always be unseen factors that prevent this.
And then there's prorating (if you are hired mid-year or convert to a
direct employee from a contractor.)
At a time when the job market was very bad (writers in my area with more
skills or education than I were unemployed for over a year), I was more
or less forced to accept a position with a $20,000 annual pay CUT. (That
or lose my home.) I was assured (they never "promise") that I'd make it
up within a year. Well, my first prorated increase resulted in about
0.2% for the year. (It was a "big" company and bonus results were
completely out of my control, too.)
And when converting from contractor to direct employee, it always amazes
me how HR tries to con you into believing that your benefits (medical,
vacation, and so on) equate to the difference you make as a contractor.
They never do. Trust me - I've seen the numbers on their side. =))
An exception to this is my current position, which is why I'm still
here. =)
Just my $.012345. Happy Friday!
Claire Conant
>>Eric writes:
I'm always amazed that there are people stupid enough to believe that
big
raises are better than a stagnant big salary. I'm also very indignant
that
any recruiter or hiring manager has the nerve to assume I'll fall for
it.
If I know the range of salary at the company or not, I am always very
clear that whatever I am offered if I discover what the true top salary
in
my grade is that supervision and HR will immediately tell me how I can
get
to the same level with specific performance goals.
If when being given an offer, they bring out some reasoning to justify
"Start low" and move up, I ask them to document and demonstrate with an
actual scenario how I can reach the top.
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