ok friends- I'm in a career quandry. advices & thoughts please.
tl;dr- I can accept an industry-standard, but still low offer from a good, low-risk established and respected firm with possibilities for growth (personal and professional) or stay consulting with an old colleague/friend who has promises/hopes of a lot of new work coming in who considers me as integral to that- high risk, but possibly more reward.
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I've had a rocky time with work for a long time- some of it because I've made the wrong choice (to leave a place and move elsewhere) and others because of circumstances outside of my control in a turbulent and unforgiving industry (projects die and as a guy who's moved around more than most, I'm usually the last and priciest hired/first laid-off).
I've wanted to settle in somewhere and help them and me grow together- but the two places I found that seemed perfect in the last 10 years ended prematurely- one closed up shop after my being there 5 years, and the other laid off every recent hire when Covid hit (I had been there less than a year, but had just gotten a positive review).
Outside of those, I've been doing consulting work to keep afloat. I have a regular client that gives me scraps, but not enough to live on. I bailed from a toxic full-time consulting gig last summer (first time I've ever walked into an office and said "I quit") and right after that, a guy I had worked with/under at both of the "happy" places above- great working relationship professionally and personally- hired me to PM a night club project (while he's still working at the Covid place). I'm a residential guy, so this has all been new, fun and exciting (and daunting).
The nightclub and working with this guy has been great- and he's intimated that there's a lot more coming for him, enough that he's considering bailing the full time gig to start up his own office fully and needs and sees me as an integral part of that. But no contracts have been signed outside of this night club. Work on the Club will keep me going until the end of the summer at least.
I get head-hunted pretty regularly, but have found that my age, sector-specific experience (residential interiors) and salary requirements have kept me from getting hired (based on talks with headhunters); basically, I've topped out as an employee in my earning capacity for the firms that do my kind of work... and that amount isn't enough to live on with a family of 4 in NYC. I make similar amounts consulting, but run everything through my corporation so my take-home ends up better.
Recent head-hunter activity has given me two offers- one, from a very well known and respected firm that mostly does hotel/restaurants but has a select residential client base of celebrities and other richies they'd need me for- perfect situation, really... but an embarrassingly low offer. The second is from another well known and respected spot that does a mix of hotels, multi-family buildings, restaurants and single family residential.
That spot felt really good- I genuinely enjoyed all the principals I met with.. good vibe from them, and apparently vice-versa. They'd be having me work on single-family residential, but would want to use me across sectors- hotels and multi-family, in particular. That sounds like fun. As a bigger firm (40-50) than the boutique firms (8-15) I usually work with, they allow growth from within and would be hiring me as a senior guy with an eye towards growing into the leadership team.
The starting offer is that ceiling I mentioned, which makes my W2 take-home putting me in a deficit at a starting point (my rent is about 60% of it). Benefits are solid, but I'd still be paying 50% of health insurance (1.5-2k/month +/- for family of 4) which further adds to the deficit- we've been on ACA which hasn't been perfect, but is affordable for us. They apparently use bonuses as a means of supplementing the salary- small summer offer and primary one at the holidays (10-25% annual salary), but the bonus is not guaranteed. But with it, the overall package is roughly the amount that I could live on... but tough to do without it being paid regularly throughout the year.
The wife is adamant about me taking this from a variety of factors- the certainty (low risk), opportunity for growth, the benefits, but also partially needing us to show a certain salary because of the FA we get for school. And that all makes sense, even if the starting salary (negotiated through the headhunter) is low for us. It's basically the kind of place I've been looking for.
According to my consulting colleague- he needs me. Having me as his right hand has been an integral part of his own planning for trying to take on these possible new projects. In talking yesterday, he sees me as a partner in operations and wants to grow this long term, leaving his very cushy (highest pay/benefits in the industry) spot to do so once some of these projects come into contract. He's offered to bump my hourly rate for now, but also expressed that his future plans are currently contingent on my participation... if I leave, I'm screwing him- especially with the current project which is almost entirely in my court. This could be bluster. But he and I know each other and I know he trusts and respects what I do (he got me into the office he's currently in that Covid dumped me), so I accept that as mostly truth. I'd certainly be leaving a giant hole for the current project at the least.
I'm genuinely torn.
My gut is to keep working with my colleague. I like and am comfortable in our relationship- personal and professional- we work very well together and the possibility of being part of growing something new is exciting. But I'm also change-averse... which taints my views about moving (and most things). And the risk to me is substantial- even the current Club project could disappear (crazy, young wealthy tech client who I've seen drop several other consultants on a dime) and there's no guarantee of any of the other projects actually happening. I highly doubt he has anything banked to keep paying me if work disappears. There are no benefits and partnership would bring a list of liabilities along with the potential for growth. I'd also be burning this bridge with him if I left and his work takes off- not something I take lightly. (the wife says I could always drop the other office and go back to him if his work happens and it's not working out at the other office... not something I think is true).
I have to tell the other office ASAP about accepting the offer or not, and work out how/when to leave my colleague, screwing the project and him as minimally as possible (not likely). Or turn down an actual offer (not something I've been seeing a lot of lately) from a well respected firm that ticks almost all of my boxes outside of the starting pay.
