Q & A Table of Contents
I Agreed To A Bad Deal; What Should I Do?
From: Tina, Mission Viejo, California
Question: It is my very first time to work as a contract-to-hire through a headhunter. When I was asked by my headhunter for my contract rate, I really did not have an idea. All I know is that you always have to add 30% to your base salary to cover for benefits.
I was offered a job with the rate slightly lower from my hourly base rate from previous job. Therefore I will not get any benefits and bonuses, etc.
Having been unemployed for 8 months and wanting to work for this company, I hesitated a bit but them accepted it. When we hang up, I started computing and realized I should have asked for a bit more.
Can I still renegotiate without jeopardizing the offer or offending my headhunter? Or should I take it as a lesson learned and try to make a better deal if they hire me for a full-time (non-contract) job in 6 months?
Response: It sounds as if you have learned a most unpleasant lesson: agreeing to a deal that is against your interest can leave you quite unhappy.
>From your question it sounds as if you have not signed anything nor have you started your job. It could make excellent sense to tell the company person who hired you that you accepted a poor deal just because you are interested in a long-term position with the company. You should ask them how soon you can have a salary review or how soon they would be willing to begin discussions about hiring you full-time.
You should certainly tell the headhunter that you have accepted the job at a net loss and ask the headhunter what suggestions s/he would make to improve the situation. If the company paid the headhunter a commission for finding you, that commission might be based on how much -- or how little -- you are getting paid. It is perfectly appropriate to ask the headhunter about that; if s/he could make more money if your pay were higher, s/he might take a more aggressive approach to help you get better paid.
Clearly if you have been unemployed for eight months, taking a job that pays less than your last one may not be the most wonderful thing in the world, but it is certainly better to get paid 90% of something than 100% of nothing.
Develop a strategy that looks to the long term: find out what the company needs and how much value you can add to their business. Emphasize your value by doing an excellent job -- but make sure that the standards by which your performance is judged are the standards the company will use to determine your future employment and compensation package.
If the likelihood of gaining a full-time job at the company appears strong, and if you like the job, that is where your effort should go. If you cannot count on a future full-time job there, you should begin your search for your next job now. Letting the headhunter and other folks know what kind of pay would make more sense to you is an important part of packaging and marketing yourself.
Good luck,
Steve
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