Reply to: Perm offer(s) - take the first one available, or stall for as long as possible

[dsc]

Just be careful you are not danish tax liable. I worked in Copenhagen for a few years. Tax is not low.

Good luck

Cheers! It's fully remote unless a few days of testing are required, there's also a kick off meeting in the first week, apart from that I should be wfh. Need to have a chat with a Danish accountant on how these few days get taxed as a non-resident.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

So #2 came back but their offer was way below #1, so I told #1 it's a go, got the contract through yesterday, so things moved really fast.

Today had an interview for a remote contract in Denmark, that also moved very quickly and they offered it straight away. I said yes as the rates are double what an average contract is in the UK, so it would be mental to walk away. Kicks off in 3 weeks.

I've not signed the initial contract from #1, but will need to fairly quickly as my start date is mid week next week. I reckon safest option is to sign and simply carry on with perm position just in case the contract position gets canned in the next three weeks? Notice for #1 is one week.

Just be careful you are not danish tax liable. I worked in Copenhagen for a few years. Tax is not low.

Good luck

[GhostofTarbera]

So #2 came back but their offer was way below #1, so I told #1 it's a go, got the contract through yesterday, so things moved really fast.

Today had an interview for a remote contract in Denmark, that also moved very quickly and they offered it straight away. I said yes as the rates are double what an average contract is in the UK, so it would be mental to walk away. Kicks off in 3 weeks.

I've not signed the initial contract from #1, but will need to fairly quickly as my start date is mid week next week. I reckon safest option is to sign and simply carry on with perm position just in case the contract position gets canned in the next three weeks? Notice for #1 is one week.

Man alive, do you want me to tie your shoelaces and hold your hand as you cross the road

Do both at same time !!!!

Fill your boots man


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[dsc]

So #2 came back but their offer was way below #1, so I told #1 it's a go, got the contract through yesterday, so things moved really fast.

Today had an interview for a remote contract in Denmark, that also moved very quickly and they offered it straight away. I said yes as the rates are double what an average contract is in the UK, so it would be mental to walk away. Kicks off in 3 weeks.

I've not signed the initial contract from #1, but will need to fairly quickly as my start date is mid week next week. I reckon safest option is to sign and simply carry on with perm position just in case the contract position gets canned in the next three weeks? Notice for #1 is one week.

[dsc]

Massive thanks for all the replies, I think the best option will be to accept and see what else happens, as many said, there's no guarantee I'll get anything else, so this might be my actual perm job for a while. It's engineering and the industry is deemed "dirty" for a lack of a better word, filled with rather, lets say "rough" types, so interactions might get nasty / heated etc. Throughout my career I always avoided this sector as it's rather uninteresting and I don't really want it on my CV as sectors tend to "stick" and can affect getting jobs outside.

Btw still haven't heard from #2 even though they are aware I have an offer from #1 and getting any info about the job from #3 seems impossible (at this point I don't even know where the job is or what salary it is). It seems that #1 are keen to get me on board and I might be their only candidate at this point, but sooner or later they'll realise what is going on.

To make things a bit more complicated I've heard that a contract position I was after and lost got slightly re-written (whatever that means) and that they are now considering me for the role, so I have an interview lined up for Friday. Of course if this goes ahead it trumps everything, but there's still a risk it might get canned, so having a perm backup just in case would work well.

[TheDogsNads]

A bird in the hand and all that. This is a buyer's market, not a seller's. If you stall, be prepared to find the employer has dragged someone else in.

[sira]

I know this is a perm related thread, so feel free to move to general.

As some (most?) contractors here I started applying for perm jobs to avoid having to live off my savings. Basically went through a month of hitting apply to most things which I was a fit for. Landed a few interviews, currently at different stages with three companies:

1. Offer from a small company which does business in an industry I wouldn't normally touch with a bargepole. Pay is OK for perm, wfh unless you have to go to site to test things. Not crazy about the company myself and this would definitely not by my first or even second choice.

2. Big, fairly well known European company, owed by an even bigger US company, application went really fast, in two days they arranged a date for a call, had it today and they want the final stage probably by the end of this week. Work they do seems interesting and it would look good on a CV.

3. Amazon - dragging their heels, but I reckon they have thousands of CVs. Should have the final stage interview(s) within a month.

I've told company 1 that I'm waiting to hear back from two other companies, I can probably stall them till the end of the week but that is it, maybe delay the start by a week as well. Company 2 knows about offer from 1, so might move quickly, or might decide to bin me, who knows. Company 3 probably doesn't give a tulip about my situation, so I doubt they would speed things up. Preference is back to front, so 3, 2, 1.

Any advice? Take offer 1, carry on with 2/3 and just leave if smth works out? Or stall 1 till 2 offers (IF they offer), then maybe leave 2 as well if 3 offers (that would be a mess).

Original plan was to take whatever, then switch to a contract, but I'm 95% sure my industry won't offer contracts for a very long time (if ever again).

I literally just went through the exact same situation in the last few weeks. I reluctantly accepted the perm offer - there is a 6 month probation where I can give 1 week notice, so it buys more time to jump ship.

Accept the offer and start onboarding, because literally anything could happen in the current environment. Jobs are getting canned on a daily basis.

Oh also, theres no guarantee you'll get the other jobs. Or any guarantee that they wont get pulled.

[PCTNN]

Just take you will have a probation period of at least 6 months during which you can give notice in 1 or 2 weeks. First month often no notice required.

This is good advice.

Often times people forget that the probation period is for both parties to understand if they're a good fit for each other and not just for the employer to see if the employee is good enough for them.

[SueEllen]

So if the OP was to identify as female they could tick two woke boxes with one hire....

Just a thought.

And piss a load of feminists off.

Personally being Amazon and with their poor reputation, I would just laugh.

[Eirikur]

Just take you will have a probation period of at least 6 months during which you can give notice in 1 or 2 weeks. First month often no notice required.

[mjcp]

If 1 and 2 both offer, take the one you prefer / want.

If 3 comes along in a month, give notice* and take 3. (if that's what you want to do)

* notice is pretty much irrelevant; be polite and say "I'll be off end of next week, this isn't working etc etc". They can sue you (at their own costs, even if they win) for *ONLY* the difference between you and a temp and only for a "reasonable" period while they replace you. i.e. probably not worth the bother!

M

[edison]

My work attitude has always been that life is too short to do something you don't like. I wouldn't go with #1 if I had that level of misgivings about it. I probably wouldn't have applied for it in the first place.

Yes, fully appreciate that times are tough, but I still don't think that means you need to make life even more miserable by taking on a crappy job.

A lot depends on how big a warchest you have.

The smaller it is and the more appealing option 1 becomes.

As Ladymuck says, if it was that unappealing in the first place maybe swerve number 1 but it depends on how confident you are of finding something soon and your financial situation.

I turned down a decent day rate contract back in 2014 as a) it sounded really dull and b) I had three final interviews lined up for perm roles where I was down to the last two and I was very confident of getting at least one offer. Turned out I lost out on all three perm roles after I had declined the contract. Was a schoolboy error, I should have taken the contract role and jacked it it if/when I got the perm role. That cost me around £35k in lost income till I found another contract.

I've recruited lots of permies over the last few months and had one person resign on the first day and another who resigned after less than two weeks. No-one can really predict what is going to happen the next 6 months with Covid, Brexit and IR35 but most likely the market will be chaotic and have limited opportunities so maybe take the safest option?

[Lance]

Depends on what dodgy industry 1 is in.

However I would stall until you see if you can get an offer from 2.

Then take 2 then take 1.

Forget Amazon. Incidentally because of their drive to recruit more females I have come up in their crosshairs 3 times in the last 5 years and every single time I make it clear I'm not interested.

So if the OP was to identify as female they could tick two woke boxes with one hire....

Just a thought.

[PCTNN]

A lot depends on how big a warchest you have.

The smaller it is and the more appealing option 1 becomes.

[ladymuck]

My work attitude has always been that life is too short to do something you don't like. I wouldn't go with #1 if I had that level of misgivings about it. I probably wouldn't have applied for it in the first place.

Yes, fully appreciate that times are tough, but I still don't think that means you need to make life even more miserable by taking on a crappy job.