I have to pat myself on the back for this one!

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I had a friend of mine (former co-worker) over for a BBQ. We used to work together; she left to go to a different company about a year ago. While she was at my house a couple weeks ago, she mentioned to me that they have a position open that would be perfect for me. Normally, I would not consider leaving since I love my job, am number 4 in terms of seniority, and just got my own office. But, this position would pay approximately $7,000 more per year than what I am currently making. I thought about it, but didn’t do anything. She mentioned the job again earlier this week and said that they are really keen to get me. I likely wouldn’t even need to interview since the manager of that office used to be our manager here.

So, I thought about it and decided that I would like to stay where I am. However, an increase like that I couldn’t ignore. So, I went to one of my coworkers here that I am really close to and told him what was up. I was really open and honest and just said that I had been approached by another company about a position and I normally wouldn’t consider leaving, but it would offer a substantial increase, which I couldn’t ignore. I asked him if he thought there was a possibility of getting an increase here, which would make my decision easy. I couldn’t talk to our manager since he’s on vacation this week. My co-worker (who is like a mentor to me) said “Christine, I personally can’t let you go, so I will talk to the boss and we’ll see what we can offer you; we can’t lose you”.

Today, the boss came into the office for a bit to check on some things, and came to see me. My coworker had apparently called him right up and said “You have to do something, we can’t lose Christine”. So, the boss expressed to me how much he appreciates me being honest and that he has seen a constant increase in my skills and abilities with experience, and they want to keep me. So, he asked me if I was happy here. I said I am incredibly happy here and love my job. So, he said, if it is just the money I am unhappy with, we can fix that. He offered me an increase of about $7,000 (I will get a final number in writing on Monday). So, I am very happy. That made my decision easy. I can stay in a job I love and get the salary the other job was offering. So glad I asked!

It also made me feel really important that my co-worker right away called up the boss and he came in on his vacation to deal with this because they can’t afford to lose me. It’s so nice to be wanted!