Head hunted - Stay or go?

[Prophet]

Not expecting anyone to tell me what I should do as I know it's my choice but would appreciate your opinions based on you being in my situation.

I've worked at my current place of work for 2.5 years and over time become the key member of staff. We're a small Managed Service Provider with 8 members of staff, working here is good and I'm pretty much running the show. I'm being promoted to a Director in the coming weeks and will be given shares in the company, which at the moment don't really hold any value. The company has only just started to make profit after some bad decisions from the old leadership.

I've been approached, interviewed and offered a position as a consultant for a large company. I'll be on the road, on-site or at home working on huge projects, have training and be mentored by some of the best consultants in the country.


Pay is similar and will increase in both jobs, perks are similar.. At the new place I'll always be an employee, whereas at the old place I'll work towards taking over with another director with a 3 year plan for the old owner to bow out.

My head is all over the place at the moment. Be my own boss in a few years and hopefully have a profitable company that I part own, or be trained to be a top consultant with lots of hard work and MS exams ahead...

I do love my work life balance at the moment and the new role will change that. Just not sure what to go for as they're both very different jobs..

Opinions?

 

[Prophet]

Thanks for the input guys

As you can it's keeping me awake at night as I'm leaving, then I'm not, then I'm leaving....

Being a consultant later is an option but this opportunity is a one off which makes the case stronger to leave. I'd be training to be an AD/Office 365 specialist working on migrations of anything from 10,000 to over 100,000 seats.

To fill in some other blanks. I'm 40, getting married in August and have a very understanding other half. Although like me, she values work/life balance.

 

[Prophet]

doesn't sound like a 'one off' to me, it sounds pretty generic... 'AD/Office 365' we're hardly talking about unique or specialist software, the opportunities to be a consultant of some sort will still be there in a year or two and I don't think there is any single company in that space that is the only place to work for that sort of thing. I mean if you were really really keen to work on say big search engines then there are limited places where you can do that and an offer to work at say google really would be one of the few options... but a consultant working on Microsoft software, plenty of places do that the opportunity isn't rare or unique and will likely still be there in some form in years to come.

on the other hand you've invested time and effort in a company which you now stand to take over and own a substantial chunk of, that isn't so easy to come across

I'd be inclined to work towards taking over and running the existing company, you can still be a consultant later if that goes wrong, but if it doesn't go wrong and pays off then the up side of owning your own company is far greater

When I mean 'one off' it's more about the company I'd be working for and the people who I'd be working with. I did my research prior to interviewing and they're rated as one of the top consultancies. So yes there would be other opportunities to become a consultant but this is quite unique as a package.

 

[Prophet]

What is unique about it? Why do you think you wouldn't be able to work there in future if they'd be happy to consider you now?

Nothing you've said so far indicates that this opportunity is either unique to this one firm or a one time offer from them. Have they told you that you'll not get a chance to interview with them in future if you don't interview with them right now? Is there really no other company in the UK consulting on generic Microsoft software at a large scale? All you've pointed out so far is they've got a good reputation/are one of the top firms.

You're a tough cookie

In all the other roles I've looked at and interviewed for this company is the only one which tickets all boxes with regards to training, advancement, perks, company ethics, exposure, HO locality to me and salary.

Maybe I could go back there in a year or two if things don't work out, however this is one of 3 new roles which, once filled are off the table.

If you still don't think this is quite unique, we can agree to disagree

 

[Prophet]

On the flip side becoming a director and in the end being part owner of an already established and hopefully by that point turning a decent profit business is also pretty unique.

I totally agree, which is why it's not an easy choice. Both routes will be hard one way or another and both will be very rewarding.

 

[Prophet]

If they want you that much, what's stopping you applying with them again in the future?

I would definitely be looking at going the own company route and would consider the other role as a possible fallback solution.

One thing to be aware of, surely owning part of a comany will most likely lead to an increased workload as you have more invested in it, especially if the company becomes successful.

One of the reasons I'm becoming a director and getting the shares is because I'm already doing the extra workload, so there won't be much change in that respect.

 

[Prophet]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree, I'd wager that if you decide you want to consult on MS software in a few years time there will still be good companies out there hiring consultants to do that job.

'The grass is often greener on the other side....'

I do agree with you. There will be other opportunities. I'm not sure they'll be as good as this one. Bird in the hand and all that. But as you say it won't stop me if I do want to go down that route.

 

[Prophet]

But you don't really know much about this one until you actually do the job, lots of companies are able to make jobs sound really good and there are plenty of companies with decent enough reputations, none of that is unique. You partly shape a job yourself anyway and the skill set isn't unique either, I'd really caution against looking at the consultancy role as a missed opportunity, it is very very unlikely that it is anything of the sort. I've worked with plenty of consultants and even within the same teams experiences can vary widely depending on the clients they work with, projects they work on etc...

Fair points

 

[Prophet]

Thinking about the future as well I imagine having "Company Director" on your CV is going to carry a lot more weight than just another consultant role especially if the company is a successful one.

There's nothing stopping you keeping your hand in the actual nitty gritty stuff and doing extra training while being there as a director which will give you the best of both worlds.

That's one of the plus points to staying. The company has been around for 20 years but not managed well. Along with another new director we plan to buy the owner out and change how things are done.

To give you an idea how things are going since 'we' took over. Since Christmas we've won 9 new support contracts and 4 Office 365 migrations, which for us as a small company is unheard of.

 

[Prophet]

So sounds more and more like this is a really good opportunity to you

Maybe your main issue here is not making the company too valuable before you've actually bought it from him!

That's something we're both very mindful of. He's not driven the business forward and has a very old fashioned approach. We will be having a conversation about how we can set a realistic buyout price, especially when we're doing all the work.

edit. To add.. Working with the MD is a continual nightmare and I've been here for just over two years which is one of the reasons the move had some appeal...

 

[Prophet]

You would be mad to leave your current role unless the other MSP is offering you 20k a year more...

One thing you haven't taken consideration of is the culture shock of moving from a small company to a huge organisation. the pay at large MSPs is normally poor and you get senior management who you have never met dictating payrises and your career path.

The money isn't far off 20k and they've given me a plan for pay rise/MS certs I complete for the next two years.

I have taken the culture change into consideration. It's probably the biggest reason I'm having reservations as I've never worked for a company of that size.

The more I think about it the more I want to stay. I've not detailed last two years and how difficult the MD is to work for, and how it's only since the new director came in that I actually see a future here. But that's by the by, the opportunity to become a director and get 10% of the company has huge potential.

 

[Prophet]

Any chance you can get those assurances in writing? Would be a bugger if you stayed and ended up getting the shaft over the directorship!

I will have a written deal by the end of next week which is about the same time I'll have to give my answer to the other company

 

[Prophet]

Once you have the written paper signed from them - I'd politely e-mail the other side and say thanks for you interest however at this time I'm going to have to politely decline, however should circumstances change I'll be in touch and we can discuss further then.

Simple, polite and to the point with out burning the bridge - I think?

That's pretty much what I've got planned. In fairness to the recruiter he's been bar far the best person I've every had dealings with. Not the typical 'in it for the commission' type most are. He's really helped throughout the whole process so I don't want to damage our relationship.