stresshead
Registered User
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- 95
I currently work in the private sector, in a large, multinational, US-based company. I’m earning €46K per year, plus 10% bonus, and am quite happy with my pay. There is also room for negotiating a raise this year as I have just received a masters degree.
However…the hours and pressures are terrible. I have not yet had a weekend off in 2008, I work usually 12-hour days at minimum, and in general my quality of life is poor (and I don’t get paid overtime or time-in-lieu). I could not even dream about having any activities outside of work, and naturally relationships with family and friends suffer! I don’t have kids, but know that if I did I could not continue as I am. Also it could all go bust tomorrow (although I do not believe that is imminent).
I have been thinking a lot about moving into the public sector (although not civil service), and there are 2 options open to me:
1. A job paying €41-49 K on a scale, the pros are that it would be a lot less stressful, and quite different to what I’m doing at the moment. The cons are I will not be able to use the skills or education I have at present, and I am not sure how much opportunity I would have to move around, or up.
2. A job paying €35 (though it may be possible to negotiate a bit more than that – again it is a scale but I have heard you don’t have to start at the bottom if you have experience. So maybe I could negotiate to €38K. The pros are that I would be in an area in which I could use my skills and education, AND there are higher level jobs coming up regularly in the area, which are hard/impossible to get into from the outside. The cons are that I would be taking a step back in terms of level of responsibility, and also it would mean tightening the belt in the medium-term.
For any of you who have moved private to public, and vice versa – if you have any advice I would be really grateful. My heart tells me option 2 is more for me, however while I would be happy to tighten the belt for a year or two, I would really like to move up a grade quickly. I would be able to pay mortgage etc., but holidays etc would be forgotten – and I haven’t had one of those in 3 years thanks to work!
Any opinions?
However…the hours and pressures are terrible. I have not yet had a weekend off in 2008, I work usually 12-hour days at minimum, and in general my quality of life is poor (and I don’t get paid overtime or time-in-lieu). I could not even dream about having any activities outside of work, and naturally relationships with family and friends suffer! I don’t have kids, but know that if I did I could not continue as I am. Also it could all go bust tomorrow (although I do not believe that is imminent).
I have been thinking a lot about moving into the public sector (although not civil service), and there are 2 options open to me:
1. A job paying €41-49 K on a scale, the pros are that it would be a lot less stressful, and quite different to what I’m doing at the moment. The cons are I will not be able to use the skills or education I have at present, and I am not sure how much opportunity I would have to move around, or up.
2. A job paying €35 (though it may be possible to negotiate a bit more than that – again it is a scale but I have heard you don’t have to start at the bottom if you have experience. So maybe I could negotiate to €38K. The pros are that I would be in an area in which I could use my skills and education, AND there are higher level jobs coming up regularly in the area, which are hard/impossible to get into from the outside. The cons are that I would be taking a step back in terms of level of responsibility, and also it would mean tightening the belt in the medium-term.
For any of you who have moved private to public, and vice versa – if you have any advice I would be really grateful. My heart tells me option 2 is more for me, however while I would be happy to tighten the belt for a year or two, I would really like to move up a grade quickly. I would be able to pay mortgage etc., but holidays etc would be forgotten – and I haven’t had one of those in 3 years thanks to work!
Any opinions?