Should I go for this interview or not ?

[Zombie]

Ok,

I have a job interview tomorrow with a major defence company. But, I already have a job. So I am having some moral delema in interviewing with them.

I recently graduated from college with my undergrad in CS. I am in north-east and those who are from around here probably know how bad the job market is. Every opening out there is asking for 5-7 years experience. I was lucky to have good interships and co-ops to show as some experience. The company where i was doing my co-op in senior year was the only one to offer me a full-time position after december. I took it and considered myself lucky. When I accepted the offer I was told that they want somebody who would stick around and not leave in 3-4 months as soon as some thing better came along. They made it sound almost like a precondition for the job offer. The pay here is 'ok'. I am in top 60% if i look at the national pay scale for my postion.

Now that I have been working here for less than 3 months this company wants me to come in for an interview. Since, it's a bigger company I will probably get more money and more importantly variety of projects to work on. All my internships and co-ops have been at small start-up type companies so project types are limited and too much pressure of not having a job next week or month. Considering that this might be a good opportunity should I feel guilty or loyalty towards my current employer or should I atleast go for the interview ? Looking at the market situation should I hold on to what I have? My current company has < 50 employees but they have been around now for almost 10 years. The other one is huge probably more than 10k employees just in US.

 

[tigerwannabe]

depends on what you want. i say take a day off & go for the interview. nothing to be guilty about--everyone is entitled to better themselves. play it straight with both companies and you'll be ok

 

[Capn]

what's the company?

 

[Tominator]

Let a budget crunch come along and the company you presently work for would drop you like a hot potato!

I'd go to that interview.

 

[Nitemare]

Go for the interview. Your company cares nothing for you and would lay you off in a heartbeat if it mean't it could save a buck.

The days of company loyalty are over since all these companies started doing layoffs, voluntary and involuntary RIF's, forced early retirement. and etc.

 

[Azraele]

Go ahead and interview. If they offer the job, carefully consider it. With the job market as bad as it is (I know, I've been looking to better myself), they wouldn't have any problems filling your position should the need arise.

 

[CKDragon]

It's a tough call, but you're going to feel some regret either way.

What if... you take the job and your now ex-employers are left feeling betrayed and you feel guilty for that. There's also a chance you might not like it in the bigger company atmospehre.

What if... you don't take the job and for whatever reason the business is disloyal to you and you lose your job. You won't have another waiting for you on the horizon like you do right now. I would think that the bigger company job would offer more job security, although there are exceptions depending on the industry.

You can 'What If' yourself to death sometimes, but in this case I would go to the interview and see what comes out of it. Even if they offer you the job, you still don't have to accept. Just remember that you're right out of college and young, business is cut-throat, you have to look out for #1 because nobody else will.

CK

 

[Zombie]

<< The days of company loyalty are over since all these companies started doing layoffs, voluntary and involuntary RIF's, forced early retirement. and etc. >>



Isn't that more true for bigger companies than smaller ones ? I mean layoffs seem to come faster in bigger companies than smaller ones or I guess only the big layoffs make the news. I guess either way it's a gamble.

 

[Mitzi]

You should never skip the opportunity of bettering yourself because of loyalty to an employer. Look after number one - after all, that?s what any employer would do.

 

[Nitemare]

<<

<< The days of company loyalty are over since all these companies started doing layoffs, voluntary and involuntary RIF's, forced early retirement. and etc. >>



Isn't that more true for bigger companies than smaller ones ? I mean layoffs seem to come faster in bigger companies than smaller ones or I guess only the big layoffs make the news. I guess either way it's a gamble. >>



Smaller companies tend to go under, declare bk...and dissolve the business

 

[Spooner]

If you don't mind me asking, how much are you making now?

Curious, because it has a lot to do with if you should stay or not...

 

[Zombie]

I can't post company names but I started at 50k/yr salary. I hear avg. is much lower in NY, NJ and other states on the east coast. Plus all those dotcom employees who actually do have experience are lined up for entry level jobs.

 

[Arschloch]

I am in a somewhat similar situation. I graduated in August, and wasn't able to find a job until November.

I began working this job at the end of November. Although the job sounded okay, I knew it wasn't something I wanted to do for a career. At that point, I would've taken any job after 3 months of nothing.

Well, here I am, three months later, and I don't like it here at all. I'm not interested at all in their business. I also strongly dislike the work I do. I feel they misrepresented to me (intentionally or unintentionally) what I would be doing during the interview process. Essentially, when I actually have work to do (probably about 60% of the time), it's data entry. I do data entry nearly every day, and as anyone can imagine, it's quite painful. The only thing the job has going for it is that it's a "professional" job. My job title is actually "Economist," but of course it's a misnomer.

So, I've been looking for another job for about 3 weeks now. I'm actually willing to work a non-professional job (for example, a sales associate at Best Buy) as long as I can work enough to be able to pay off my bills each month. I know that it won't really look good on my resume, but I can't take much more of this.

My own experience says that if you think you have a better opportunity to do something you will enjoy more, then you should go for it.

 

There's no harm in GOING to the interview. If they make you an offer, you're not obliged to accept it.

It's always good to keep your options open.

 

[Zombie]

oh..no I don't hate this job. There is nothing to hate about it you know. This job is just MFC programming and I graduated in CS so I don't mind this or any other hardcore stuff. It would be stupid of me to go thru 4 yrs of school and not be ready to write programs. The problem is that this is small place and thus has limited projects therefore after sometime i know that i won't be challenging myself enough to enjoy work.

 

[BooneRebel]

Well, the first thing you have to ask yourself is if you would still feel loyalty to Company A if they did not pay you. Of course not. You work for the -money-. Regardless of what anyone says about fulfillment, bettering themselves, etc., there are very few people that are willing to work for free. The rest of us are working to pay bills, make a living, etc.

So, all other things being equal I would encourage you to take the interview. From your post you said that you were in the top 60% of the national pay scale. Another way to look at this is to say that you are only making 10% more than the average employee.

It's nice that the company you interned with hired you on full-time but make no mistake about it, if it's in their best interest to let you go then you will be out the door.

I'm not sure who your current employer is, but considering the recent events and the current government's push for defense spending, the defense market would be a good move right now.

Either way, get back to us and let us know what you end up with...

 

[BooneRebel]

<< oh..no I don't hate this job. There is nothing to hate about it you know. This job is just MFC programming and I graduated in CS so I don't mind this or any other hardcore stuff. It would be stupid of me to go thru 4 yrs of school and not be ready to write programs. The problem is that this is small place and thus has limited projects therefore after sometime i know that i won't be challenging myself enough to enjoy work. >>



I think you just came up with the answer right there. There is -no way- a small company can expose you to the quantity and quality of projects that a large business will be doing. You might not get to work on all of them directly, but the environment on it's own will teach you more than you learned in college.