Go with your gut instinct. Do you want this job, or not? Do you think you'll be happy?

If the answer is yes, accept it and make the most of it.

Now - this is important. Don't burn your bridges with your current employer, and most of all be honest. Go back to your current employer and resign gracefully, telling them face to face that you've enjoyed working there, and giving honest reasons why you've resigned. If it's about money, say so. Make sure you thank them for the past however long you've been there, and work your notice conscientiously. One of two things will happen - they will offer to increase your salary in order to keep you, or you leave on good terms, hopefully leaving the door open for your return should your new job not work out.

A lot of employees expect their employers to kick off if you hand your notice in, when the reality is they expect it every so often and are used to it. So, be nice about it, and you'll probably find they're nice back. It's when an employee is an ar5e about leaving that employers end up being funny with you.

not always true, I know of people who have gone in to resign and been perfectly happy to work their notice, when the boss finds out they're moving to a bigger/better company they throw a hissy fit and march them off the premises.

it's hard to answer the o/p, on the face of it for £6k and no weekends I'd be gone like a shot, especially when it's a 33% raise.

Then you simply have to do it, as if you don't, you'll spend the rest of your life wonderings and wishing and what iffing.

I was in the same moral predicament with a job. I'd worked for an optician since leaving college, he had been my optician since I was 10 and I worked there for 5 years. He was more like a family friend than a boss (which he was) but it got to the point where I felt I was working for my parents if you know what I mean. I applied for a job in a vets not in a million years expecting to get it but I was offered the job. I had a very emotional tussel over my feelings of excitement yet dread at a different job. Half of me wanted to stay in my nice, secure, familiar position, the other half wanted so desperately to work in a vets. In the end I decided it was time for me to move on from my opticians job and go to the vets. The optician is still my optician and still a close family friend, unfortunately it didn't work out at the vets and I again moved on after 3 years but I still feel I did the right thing.

There probably is no right or wrong answer for you, you have to weigh up all options and decide what is right for you. Good luck

You're probably right actually.

In that case I'd modify my comments to include that if the employer does indeed throw a hissy fit, then it would effectively confirm that your decision to leave is correct.

Being honest I have said in the past that if any of my sales staff were to resign, I would probably not require them to work their notice (paid in lieu of course). Nothing personal, I would just want to minimise the chances of them fecking off with my client list. That said, I wouldn't march them off the premises.

The point I was trying to make is for the OP to be as nice as possible, irrespective of how his employer reacts, and to try his best to leave on the best possible terms to facilitate a return at a later date if required. The boss's reaction is almost irrelevant to this.

I don't disagree, never leave anywhere on bad terms if you can avoid it.

One job I had, the sales staff were on a three-month notice period (I was on six

), one lad came in to me and tendered his resignation, he was of course going to a competitor. I thanked him for his services, wished him well and asked when he would like to leave. He wanted to leave immediately but thought that he should be entitled to three months salary, ex-gratia, in lieu of notice. He looked a little surprised when I explained that the three months notice was a cushion against getting sacked or redundancy and if he insisted on the notice, I'd be quite happy for him to work out his notice period. It took a couple of days for the penny to drop, especially when someone else told him that I planned to give him a desk in a corridor with no telephone access for the three months. He left on the Friday and started his new job on the Monday but by that time the word had got round the boardroom and his cards were well & truly marked for the future

Any with a bit of savvy would already have there own copy already

Mr Sandercock, id move while you can

Go for the job where you think you will be happy and be more secure in the company, look into their staff turnover and how much pressure you would be under in both jobs and most impotantly job security, in this current climate job security may seem a state of mind but I'd look into which job you'd last longer in.

I was sub-contracting to a central heating firm and was offered a supervisors job at another firm in April, the money was great sub-contracting and was assured that there would be plenty on going work as the new budgets would be out in the April and there would be plenty work until the following Feb/March so I stayed, a couple of weeks later I was layed off as the budget had been slashed and they weren't getting the work so I wish I'd have gone.

Another time I was supervising at one firm and was offered a job for a local housing authority to take charge of void properties and manage the renovation of them, I turned it down as I thought 'it's better the devil you know' and was layed off a couple of weeks later along with a few site managers as they'd lost out on a contract.

I am a little confused - you started off saying you were getting stressed by your current job but later suggest you are happy with it. I think you should consider the extent of the stress and whether this is likely to continue long-term. That may be the deciding factor if the terms of the possible new job are, on the face of it, better. In this climate it would be wise to consider whether both employers appear financially sound as if one isn't then you will probably be better sticking / going to the stronger one. The economy is only heading one way at the moment and so an employer who is likely to be still an employer in 12 months time will be a wise option.

For 15k you should not be stressed, take the 22k.

We are not given a money option and have to drive a company car, which gets a few colleagues up in arms, but the way I look at it is this, I get a decent motor, changed every 3 years or so (18 months in my case as I will reach the 85k), serviced, tyres, insured, taxed and I can take it abroad on holiday for around £43 per month additional tax. If it breaks down I get a hire car delivered to where its broken down within 2 hours, they take the car away and return it fixed.

Taking a cash option means you have to buy a decent car, suffer the depreciation, insure it, tax it, service it, pay for tyres and if it breaks down, provide a replacement.

No brainer for me.

I agree, I didn't make it clear though, my job function has changed and I'm mainly office based now, I took the money, threw away the crippling tax code to replace it with a standard one and bought a cheap second hand Peugeot for commuting the 7 miles each way to the office.

Couldn't agree more. My employer is taking the piddle when it comes to cars. I work from home and I'm on the road 3-4 days a week, with a patch ranging from Milton Keynes to Aberdeen. For 5 years I got 40p a mile, that's it. Nothing else. I had to suffer many tyres, an exhaust, a blown clutch, etc, for 40p a mile. Then in August they raised it to 45p a mile, backdated to April. How generous.

What irks me is that they said if we gathered evidence our competitors were offering more they'd match it. I spoke with our competitors and put together a comprehensive list showing they provide company cars, or an allowance + fuel card, etc. Some of my colleagues did the same. It was ignored for a year until they put the mileage up, and that's all we're getting.

Unsurprisingly, after almost 6 years I'm looking elsewhere.


Screw it, go for it. Don't die wondering. I made the decision years ago never to work weekends again and I love it. You're getting an almost 50% pay rise and a company car. Blow 'em away in the final interview and make 'em want you.

I suspect you're nervous at taking the plunge, but everyone has doubts when changing jobs - don't let that put you off, take the next step up the ladder.

I was charging out 45p per mile ten years ago, I never used my own car then, I had a very lucrative hire deal and still came out in front.

It really shouldn't be up to you to rank yourself among your competitors, it's a simple question of a realistic and fair mileage allowance, based on a full-repair, operating lease + tyres, fuel, insurance, VED etc. There are websites out there to help calculate a fair mileage allowance.

Mind you, I know of private healthcare workers who would kill for 45ppm

The Inland Revenue aren't known for their generosity when allowing individuals to claim for things but even they standardise on 45p a mile for the first 10k in any tax year, then 25p a mile...[urlhttp://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/travel.htm[/url

20k of chargeable mileage a year should nett you £7k a year which is about the same as they rate your average fuelled-up rep-mobile for personal tax coding purposes (or at least it was in 2010), all you have to do is buy/lease, maintain and fuel it for £7k, and then keep meticulous records to record your business mileage.

15k for a 43 hour week? Working weekends and bank holidays for normal rate, and not time and half/ double time/ day in lieu?

You get a chance of a £7k pay-rise, and you got to ask if you should take it?

Put it this way, you are a number and nothing more. You are easily replaceable. You're present job could go t1ts up this week ( as could any job). Absolute no-brainer, look after and care about number 1, because noone (workwise) cares about you. Think of the positives, no weekends/ bank holidays, more money, better holidays, better standards of living. Go for it, and sod the rest.

ps/ can't believe that some people are prepared to work bank holidays and weekends for normal time

You've probably never worked shifts then, or shopped anywhere on a weekend ?

I know the car situation is a crap state of affairs, but this job was a step-up for me, a £10k pay rise and working from home means no commuting costs and a far better quality of life. We've made our case several times, provided evidence and been ignored, and after almost 6 years I've probably done my time and ready to look elsewhere. I will be citing the car situation as a key reason for me leaving.

One of my colleagues in London has sold his car and when public transport isn't realistic he hires cars at an astronomical cost. He's had his wrists slapped but well done to him. I sold my car last year so we're down to one (we don't need two anyway), and I can't therefore be as flexible as they like, but tough titties. We warned them many times this would happen.

If he's in London and not on a car share scheme, he's daft

He lives in Kent somewhere and like me he's not office-based but has a territory - his covers most of East and North London, plus Essex and Kent. Most of his working week is spent whizzing around London by tube or train, but duty often calls him further afield when he would normally require a car.

Or lease.

I think it's still worth his time investigating car-share clubs, there seem to be plenty of them in the London area

The problem with "personal contract leasing" (which is not really a lease at all), could be the overrun mileage charges at the end of the contract