Dear J.T. & Dale: I just graduated from college and was offered a full-time position with the company where I interned my senior year. My boss told me that my salary would be a certain amount. I started and didn’t think much about it until I received my first paycheck, and I saw that I am not being paid what he promised. I went to him to inquire about it, and he said that he is sorry but he had misquoted the amount and that that is the starting rate and that he can’t do anything about it for at least six months. I am really upset, because I was offered another position at more money, which I turned down. Is it OK for me to go to that other job and see if they will still hire me and leave this one? — Logan
J.T.: The first lesson learned here is to always get an offer letter and to review it carefully. This entire thing could have been avoided if you had done that. Now that your boss has made it clear that there’s nothing he can do for six months, it is your right to go back to the other employer and see if they will hire you. I do believe it was your boss’s fault for allowing that to slide; and, honestly, it seems a little sneaky. Which is why perhaps going to the other employer is a better deal.
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DALE: This is telling you something critical about the state of your new employer’s management — either you have a boss who doesn’t really care about you, or the entire organization is so bureaucratic that it makes caring about employees pointless. So, I hope the other company still wants you. If, however, that other offer is no longer an option, then you have a tough decision. Whatever you do, don’t quit your current job — that will only make finding a new one harder. Instead, work at learning all you can while assessing the opportunities within the company. While doing so, keep up your job search.
Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a career coach and the founder of the leading career site www.workitdaily.com. Dale Dauten is founder of The Innovators’ Lab and author of a novel about HR, “The Weary Optimist.” Please visit them at jtanddale.com, where you can send questions via email, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.
