long time listener, first time poster in this little cubicle you have here.

here's my deal.
you've heard for about a year i've been working for a nice little magazine at about intern pay. its helped me alot and been rewarding, its a cool little gig to be an assistant art director out of the box and be responsible for half a magazine's graphic work.

however, in terms of money i'm getting screwed.

so looking for summer jobs, it took them a while (to figure out if they could afford it) but i'm getting an offer monday from them. but during this while it took them to figure out i set up a couple interviews, and to be a nice guy i also informed them i was taking callers.

i have a 2nd round interview with another company next week. and my first company knows this.

so they are offering me on monday probably to pre-empt whatever the other one says.

everyone involved is nice people, but i feel i'm getting a LOT of pressure to make a decision, ... plus i just got cut off from the proverbial parents tit cash-wise. i was at least in the past getting supplemental income from them.

SO.... NOW THE QUESTION.

how do i balance them out , can i weigh one against the other, i don't want to start a bidding war thats not nice... but i don't want to make a decision before i get the other one.

Why in the world did you let your current job know you are interviewing with others? Of course they are going to put you in this position and force you to choose. If you hadn't said anything and went to the other interview, get a feel for what they are like before your current position offers, you would have been in a much better position.

Second of all, you need to look out for you. If you can delay an answer to your current employer and go on the interview to see more of what they have to offer. Go with whatever you like best as a job and can get you the furthest down the road towards your goal. Don't just go with what you are comfortable with. If the other job is offering you more money, a better experience, and will look better on a resume for future employers, jump ship. Business is business and while it is good you want to spare feelings, at the end of the day it is always business. Why should you have a crappy amount of pay, hard hours, doing work you don't like just because you don't want to upset anyone?

Go with whatever you find the greatest benefit to you.

Edit: Oh and don't be afraid to start the bidding war. Again it is business and companies should pay what they think the candidate is worth. Just keep in mind that if the war gets too heated that expectations will follow. If they start offering more than you think might be reasonable then you must stop it and just choose otherwise a company may pay you more than you are worth, but then take it out of your hide when you get there with a huge workload. After all they want their money's worth and believe me, they are not going to necessarily be so kind about your feelings.

This post has been edited by Martyr2: 1 May, 2008 - 11:02 AM

yeah martyr , at first i told them 'hey i just might start looking while your deciding' but then i started getting questions... that i felt bad not answering....


i take the rest of your knowledge and will do well with it sir.

Capty,
I have to agree with Martyr on the fact that you might not have wanted to say anything to them till after the interview, but I am not in the same situation as you, although I am starting to look as well.

do what's best for you, once you have both offers, decide which one you like better, tell the other company you plan on taking the other offer. if they want, they might prod you for some information and counter, if not you just got the better of the two deals.

in the end, it's important to realize that as long as you did good work during your time there, and are not leaving them hanging (i.e. fulfilling your contract terms or giving them 2 weeks notice) then you owe them nothing. make the choice that's best for you.

edit - oh look, martyr already said all of that, and much better too!

Don't let personal feelings mix with doing business.

You would be hard pressed to find a company that wouldn't think twice about kicking an employees ass out on the street. Running a business doesn't allow for personal feelings to get involved. So don't ease up on them.

I had a friend who's brother was working for a "family comes 1st" business. When his wife was hospitalized, he got canned for missing too much work.

Anyhow... the last thing you should do is make a decision based on your feelings for the business, & do follow your gut instincts on what is best for you.

I recently had three offers on the table at the same time. They mostly coincided, however, one of them was a bit later than the others and I had to stall a bit to make a good decision. Basically, what I did was tell the other companies that I was trying to make the best, most informed decision I could, but that I did not yet have all of the information that I needed to do that. Thats code for "waiting on another company's offer." I've never had a company in such a hurry that they were not willing to wait for a week while I made a decision. Any hiring manager worth a damn knows that it is in the company's best interest to let the candidate make an informed choice, otherwise the candidate might have regrets later and be dissatisfied and more likely to leave unexpectedly. So, while you have probably showed your hand too early to your current employer, you can still push back when they pressure you to make a premature decision. Just ne kind, but firm in telling them that you want to make the best, most informed decision possible and that you would appreciate their patience. Also, before doing that, make sure you have a good idea of how long until the other company makes and offer. If you don't know, call them and ask them, politely, if they have any information. You might say something about having other offers on the table, but that their's is the one you are looking forward to hearing.

Good luck in making your decision. Don't rush it because the last thing you want is to be working somewhere that you don't like. Make sure that you get a tour of the place you'd be working and meet some of the team. Also, ask where you'd sit and what equipment you'd be working on. Find out as much as possible (details are important) because it sucks to take something like a place to sit or a decent computer for granted only to find that you chose a job with more money, but you're sitting in a shoe box and working on a computer that is past its prime. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.