What was the biggest pay cut you ever took for a job?

[PhoenixOrion]

How did you decide? What factors affected your decision? Situation that triggered the process?

 

[Injury]

$4.24/hr

Going from factory work to my chosen career path in computer graphics.

Sort of a no-brainer that I'd have to take a pay cut from a dirty, dangerous job in an iron foundry to an entry-level job where I sit at the computer all day and look at pretty pictures.

Although I'm almost back to where I was after less than a year.

The big downfall was that the factory job was almost a guaranteed 55+ hour a week job and once that overtime became standard, it was easy money. The new job is an average of 45 hours a week, so I really felt the difference when it changed.

 

[amish]

~6-8K. at my soon to be old job i get overtime and at my soon to be new job i don't. i'm leaving for sanity and a better possibility of moving up quicker.

 

[Squisher]

I just took a $45K/yr. pay cut for my new position which is to sit home and do nothing.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally posted by: Squisher
I just took a $45K/yr. pay cut for my new position which is to sit home and do nothing.

what made you want to go 'sedentary?' won't that get old fast....doing nothing?

 

[Wapp]

I could, I would take a 20k pay cut to get out of the shithole that is the DC Metro area.

 

[Rage187]

$11,000

But I switched coasts and housing is a 3rd of of what it costs on the west coast.

 

[3NF]

If it was in the same geographic area, then maybe this question would mean something. If you are moving, like Rage said, from one coast to another, then the pay cut really doesn't have meaning unless you factor in cost of living.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

So far: [will be updated as needed]

1. better working conditions
2. to be able to spend more time outside of work than at work
3. upward mobility with new job
4. move out of a 'bad neighborhood'???
5. to be able to buy/afford house or a bigger/better house
6. reduce commute
7. prevent job 'burnout'
8. tired of shoveling snow; move to place with optimal climate/weather
9. potential high rewards; other incentives besides base salary with overall compensation coming out better.

 

[Linflas]

20% when I took my current job. No more wasting 4-4.5 hours of my life each day commuting was the primary reason along with the fact that I was burned out on the vagaries of working on Federal Government contracts.

 

[Capt Caveman]

$15k to work for a start-up. But being able to work in downtown Boston, wear shorts & sandals to work and eventually being rewarded with the company going public made the pay cut worth it.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

I was thinking that moving to Boston would require a 'pay up' than a pay cut.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
I was thinking that moving to Boston would require a 'pay up' than a pay cut.

Matters what kind of company you plan to work for. I took a pay cut for pre-ipo stock options.

 

[SoulAssassin]

About 10K which was about 25% percent of my salary way back then. Went from a position with a good monthly incentive plan to one with a slightly higher base salary and nearly no incentive/bonus. Did it because it was a foot in the door and I was able to springboard it into something paying much more.

 

[pontifex]

never took a pay cut yet and hope i never have to, not that i make a lot now at 33k

 

[halik]

100K ... going to Grad school

 

[mattpegher]

Switched from a busy ER to a lowkey community ER for a 41k/year pay cut, no change of geography, same house, same commute, plus it was in NY and I live in NJ (double state taxes).

Switched back, it just wasn't worth it.

 

[stag3]

10k, it was a no brainer.
i went from spending 4-4.5 hours a day sitting in traffic
to a 10 minute commute by streets

 

[Mermaidman]

I left one gig and took another one that paid $10/hr less. Did it due to job stress.

 

[puffff]

7.5k.

Went from being on a year to year contract at one company to a full time employee at another.

 

[MetalMat]

My first job out of college had a potential of 80-100k, but it was a very crappy oil field job that I hated. Took my current job and moved to dallas, around a 25% pay cut but am much much happier.

 

[Tiamat]

10k. Went from working full-time/part-time at Gillette to going to grad school.

 

[D1gger]

I took about a $20k cut in salary when I moved out of the IT business to take over the family business. Since then I have significantly increased my earnings and I am now earning far more than I could have hoped for if I had stayed where I was.

 

[Electric Amish]

I've never had to take a pay cut. *knocks wood*

 

[blackdogdeek]

i left the corporate world to join a startup and most of my compensation was in stock options. my base salary was cut from $77k/yr to $30k/yr.

thankfully, i am back in the corporate world.