Hi All,
I am currently trading ag products with ABCD firm. I've been promoted twice in two years and have been given a lot of great opportunities and responsibilities that a trader would typically not receive until later in their career. (or so i'm told). My current job consists of challenging work and my superiors are very well regarded in the industry and are great to work with. My current company is well respected and i've risen up the ranks quickly, compared to my peers that I started with. My current company has a significant brand name, but is known to underpay (you can prob guess which of the ABCD I work for). I have been given an opportunity to lateral (slightly more responsibility, kind of a diff role) to a smaller company with a significant raise. (40% or more, depending on bonus). Given that i've taken on a significant amount of responsibility in a short period, I believe that this offer is a fair mkt representation of what i'm worth.
The way I see it I have 4 options.
1) Move to the other role
2) Attempt to leverage the offer for more at my current role
3) Ask for a raise without bringing up my other offer
4) do nothing
If I had to summarize my questions they would be as follows:
Is it too early in my career to jump to a smaller company? Should I stick it out at ABCD for a longer period to build my resume and gain more experience?
Would leveraging my offer for a raise permanently mar my relationship with my company?
Are there any other options I should be looking at?
Really appreciate any insight or advice.
Thanks.
Check this out: you can do 3, 2 and 1 all together... and that's exactly what I would recommend you do. I would approach the conversation suggesting that you are currently being valued below market, outline accomplishments over recent years, gauge feedback. If it doesn't seem like anyone is going to bat for you, move to option two (at this stage you have to be committed to leaving, you can't go back on this) and gauge feedback again. If still nothing, jump and enjoy sinking your teeth into something new. Good luck
Thanks for the feed back. Makes sense, and seems like a logical approach.
Do you think 2 years is too early to jump ship from a brand name & experience standpoint? This would probably be my biggest concern, if I followed these steps and it came down to me leaving the firm.
you haven' been specific with what you have learned, or what you are doing, so its hard to advise. You say you are a trader...if you sit down in a new firm with out the people, technology and process around you....will you be profitable? 2 years is usually not long enough to make that statement, especially as the economy is about to go thru a recession. However, we don;t know you, so its hard to give advice.
Sometimes, there is monetary value in your current seat, and taking a lower salary is worth it for the experience. It doesn't hurt to ask for a salary raise to market value at your next review, whatever they think your market worth is...making the ask non-confrontational, especially when you have this offer in your back pocket.
True - very small industry so don't want to give too many details. If i'm being honest to your question - I really don't know if I would be profitable. With the current information flow, support and advisement i'm currently receiving it's very tough to say exactly how i would perform under different conditions given how new i am to the industry. Obviously, I would like to think I am, but can't say with certainty.
Great point - I hadn't thought about that. Appreciate the advice.
I'd suggest you stick it out. Since you've been promoted twice in two years, given more responsibilities obviously shows your current company sees potential in you. And that you have risen quicker than your current peers highlights that you are in aligned with the right people internally.
I don't believe staying on for a few more years at your current shop would be detrimental to you, as there will always be opportunities around the corner in the future. And saying this it could further add to your experience and demand in the market since you're working with well regarded people in the industry. If your still young then I wouldn't suggest to start chasing money over experience. Scale is quite important in trading and the transparency on market intel. You may not get much deal flow at a smaller shop.
I would personally go for number 3, and highlight your performance since you've taken on the additional responsibilities.
I'm at a big shop in metals and felt like I was in a similar position the first two years. Best advice I ever got was to stay put as long as possible. The brand name, the contacts you make, the experience you get, those will matter a whole lot more over the course of a career. I could easily trade my current position for a largish pay increase elsewhere but it would almost inevitable be to compete with my former bosses with more limited means, which does not sound very fun.
At some point or other you might really get stuck (maybe you get passed over for someone else to take on more risk), and that is when it will make more sense to consider a move.
If you are trading around assets, remember you may not have these same dynamics at this other shop.
I see lots of guys leave ABCDs and go to ECTP, Freepoint, CCI type of places and promptly blow up
Lots of good points in here. At this point, i'm leaning towards staying and asking for a raise at my next review. I do think the experience, brand name, contacts and superiors are more important this early in my career, and this seems to be the consensus as well. Thanks for everyones inputs.
i would suggest asking questions...with the thought in the back of your mind that someday....you will leave...so learn everything you can...and maybe in 3-4 years...you'll be worth a lot lot more
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