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Relocation / Promotion questions - IT Operations Manager

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pac1085

Diamond Member
I was approached by management and they asked me if I would be interested in relocating from Upstate Western NY to Houston. The company is a large, stable BPO that is rapidly expanding in the US, especially down south. I've been here nearly 10 years, having worked my way up from call center agent, to IT Operations Specialist and currently oversee IT Operations at a 1300 seat call center with 3 direct reports. I do not have a college degree and while my current salary is fair, I feel that it is a little on the low side for my level of responsibility.

I'm still fairly young and do not have any kids, so naturally, I am interested in the opportunity. Slightly hesitant because I do like where I live, and have a lot of friends/family up here. The company is VERY interested in moving an existing employee down there, since we have a high level of institutional knowledge. There are not many internal candidates.. I may be the only one. New role would be IT Operations Manager for 4 continental US call centers (incl several government contracts), and one in the caribbean. I would have a few more direct reports. Once I move into this position, I do not see much upward movement for a while.

I did tell them that it would take a significant increase in compensation to get me to move. (Benefits are not that great - no 401k match for example). They asked me to give them a number, this is where I am having a problem.

I've researched several salary sites on the net (glassdoor, etc), and they are all over the place. I do not have any friends in the industry to get figures from. I'm having trouble figuring out what to ask. The number that I feel would be fair is 1.6 times my current salary. I feel odd asking for it, since it's so much more - but that is roughly the median salary for the position in Houston. Has anyone been in a similar situation, and do you have any insight?
 
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The number that I feel would be fair is 1.6 times my current salary. I feel odd asking for it, since it's so much more - but that is roughly the median salary for the position in Houston.
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2X if they want you. You're not "median" if they asked or they figure you're easy. It's a bitch to give up friends and such. Shoot for the moon.

That said, cold as hell NY vs hot as hell TX.....But I hear TX is a country now.
 
highland145 said:
2X if they want you. You're not "median" if they asked or they figure you're easy. It's a bitch to give up friends and such. Shoot for the moon.

That said, cold as hell NY vs hot as hell TX.....But I hear TX is a country now.
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Yeah, I'll give that a try. I'm just afraid that if I ask for too much they may look into bringing in an outsider with an MBA or something. They may not have as much insight into the company but would bring lot of other things to the table for the money.
 
pac1085 said:
Yeah, I'll give that a try. I'm just afraid that if I ask for too much they may look into bringing in an outsider with an MBA or something. They may not have as much insight into the company but would bring lot of other things to the table for the money.
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Make yourself irreplaceable. Know everything about everything. I'm not in IT but that's my thought. My other thought is that a MB is crap if they can't preform. Some/many companies don't care though.

Have a friend that did engineering work for a local company, United defense, for 29 years before they closed shop. Got a job at the SRS as a subcontractor. After 6 months, he got a new boss that found out he didn't have a degree....fired him even though his work was fine. Elitism at it's best.

Shoot for the moon because they're not looking out for your best interests. They're looking out for theirs.

Good luck.
 
Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss numbers privately. I moved from San Antonio to Houston because the tech market sucked at the time, and I've worked in several different areas of expertise and held several different levels of jobs. I have a pretty big grasp of the market here as well as rates so I can give you a lot of insight as well as cost of living ideas.
 
Sadly, no company is going to really double anyone's salary. Even giving 60% is out of the question really.

Shoot for a 30% raise, hope for 20% if you believe in the opportunity.
 
My recommendation though...if you move to Houston, there is a lot of money down there from the Oil industry. If you were to relocate, there may be other opportunities in the area that you could laterally move(title) to that may bring more money.

My cousin moved to Houston a few years ago and is doing pretty well. I don't know if I'd want to live in the heat/humidity down there...but others may be happy with it. You'd only be an hour or so from the coast.... It's not Florida, but it's still ocean.
 
Scarpozzi said:
My recommendation though...if you move to Houston, there is a lot of money down there from the Oil industry. If you were to relocate, there may be other opportunities in the area that you could laterally move(title) to that may bring more money.
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Exactly, the economy in Houston (Texas in general) is doing great and people with IT experience are valued.

I moved to Houston from the SF Bay Area and I like Houston WAY more than I thought I would. I would have regretted staying in California.
 
alkemyst said:
Sadly, no company is going to really double anyone's salary. Even giving 60% is out of the question really.

Shoot for a 30% raise, hope for 20% if you believe in the opportunity.
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Sadly, your absolute knowledge of every company out there is wrong...again. Companies do double salaries and give 60% or more...if the candidate is the right candidate.

You shoot for the highest number and negotiate from there. You have a bottom that you won't go below, they have a ceiling they won't go over. Good knowledge and good negotiating will allow you to get to the right number.

My personal experience is as follows:

- I've made 5 moves in 15 years at my current company. Average compensation increase each move was in excess of 30%...average. One move alone was in excess of 50%.

- I've personally had people reporting up through me that performed well above expectation and were promoted with significant increases. 2 in 15 years were in excess of 80% increases.

- 2 people I've worked with directly over the years were promoted straight from Mgr to VP with company reorgs...both doubled salary over a 180-day period.
 
I don't quite understand something: If you'll be the "IT Operations Manager" for five call centers in the US and Caribbean, why do you need to be stationed in Houston? It sounds like a job that would entail a lot of time on the road.

Is that all of the company's call centers, or just a subset of them?

You say that you'd have four people directly reporting to you. Is that the entire IT staff in Houston, or are their additional people below them?
 
Whatever you ask for, they'll counter. So ask for 2x and counter their counter. Expect something like 1.8x or 1.9x.

But I'd go, personally. If I were single that is. I had a recent opportunity to move across Canada (to the north... but a great job) for more money, but I had a fiance (now wife) and chose not to go because of that. I don't regret it for a second, but if I were single I would have gone without hesitation.
 
You need to figure out your cost of living where you are now against Houston. Yo u may find that you wont be getting too much of an increase. I make 6 figures in NYC and I can barely get buy.
 
Oyeve said:
You need to figure out your cost of living where you are now against Houston. Yo u may find that you wont be getting too much of an increase. I make 6 figures in NYC and I can barely get buy.
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Houston real estate is pretty decent. Lots of newer houses being built and most are pretty large.

I think the biggest issue there is dealing with the commute....just like other sprawling cities. Land is cheap the further out you drive....that's where the new stuff is being built.

Since he has no family to move, the rent vs own question should come up and maybe see if buying an investment property would be the way to go. Just scope out the area pretty well before buying.
 
Oyeve said:
You need to figure out your cost of living where you are now against Houston. Yo u may find that you wont be getting too much of an increase. I make 6 figures in NYC and I can barely get buy.
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This. I considered moving to TX for work about 2yrs ago. I looked up my equivalent salary in the area I was looking at, and it was about 20% less than I made here. Again, not sure if that was a median, average, min or max.. But overall, if you live in the NE and move to the south, even keeping the same salary as you actually have currently, might be a decent pay raise.

I find it pretty tough to imagine a company would give you a raise of 60% moving from one of the most expensive states in the country, to one of the least expensive states in the country. I'd shoot for closer to 30%, and expect maybe.. 0-10%. Just my .02 though, I have no real insight into the IT field, YMMV.

Scarpozzi said:
Houston real estate is pretty decent. Lots of newer houses being built and most are pretty large.

I think the biggest issue there is dealing with the commute....just like other sprawling cities. Land is cheap the further out you drive....that's where the new stuff is being built.

Since he has no family to move, the rent vs own question should come up and maybe see if buying an investment property would be the way to go. Just scope out the area pretty well before buying.
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I disagree with this. As a person who moved to a totally different state from where I was from, I regret purchasing property right off the bat. I came to found out that I don't like my job and I don't like the area all that much in general. Now I am stuck because my house has lost value and I'm actually underwater. I could rent it out, but if some idiot ruins something in my house, I'll be liable.

I would strongly advise a young person moving someplace they have never been to before, to wait at least 2 years before buying property. Even if buying is the "smarter" financial move, markets shift quickly and there is nothing worse than being stuck some place because you don't have the liquidity to pay your loan off.
 
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Ehh, I dunno what you make, but it sounds like a 100K plus or minus job.
This new one sounds like a lot more responsibility, I would think 150K is fair game ... They might counter, or they might offer it to you ...

Don't say any number unless its high enough to entice you to move to the south....
 
alkemyst said:
Sadly, no company is going to really double anyone's salary. Even giving 60% is out of the question really.

Shoot for a 30% raise, hope for 20% if you believe in the opportunity.
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Are you referring to a single step, or in general (i.e. you generally have to go to another company to advance that far financially)?

It was over more than one position, but I'm up ~75% from two years ago.
 
Carson Dyle said:
I don't quite understand something: If you'll be the "IT Operations Manager" for five call centers in the US and Caribbean, why do you need to be stationed in Houston? It sounds like a job that would entail a lot of time on the road.

Is that all of the company's call centers, or just a subset of them?

You say that you'd have four people directly reporting to you. Is that the entire IT staff in Houston, or are their additional people below them?
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Houston is basically the hub site of the south. It is the largest, and has the most visibility. Also happens to be where most of the Sr Mgmt is. The sites are grouped together because they all in the same geographic area and provide similar services (financial, back office, govt contracts). There would be travel but not an extreme amount...I don't mind it. New role would have responsibility for about 1/3rd of North American sites, but we are global (India, Philippines, Europe, Africa, etc)

New role would be 9 direct reports, all 1st line it operations techs.
 
This thread reminds me how grossly underpaid I am. It's sounding like I should take it, keep it for a little bit and find a new home in the oil industry.
 
One thing to clear up though... This is just LOCAL IT Operations for those sites. It is not the person in charge of network, telecom or server infrastructure. The local operations teams do provide services to those groups (such as physically racking servers, on site troubleshooting and other basic tasks) but do not own them.
 
z1ggy said:
This. I considered moving to TX for work about 2yrs ago. I looked up my equivalent salary in the area I was looking at, and it was about 20% less than I made here. Again, not sure if that was a median, average, min or max.. But overall, if you live in the NE and move to the south, even keeping the same salary as you actually have currently, might be a decent pay raise.

I find it pretty tough to imagine a company would give you a raise of 60% moving from one of the most expensive states in the country, to one of the least expensive states in the country. I'd shoot for closer to 30%, and expect maybe.. 0-10%. Just my .02 though, I have no real insight into the IT field, YMMV.
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I moved from the SF Bay Area to Houston and I actually secured a sizeable pay raise (about 25%) so it is possible but I doubt it is the case for most people.
 
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