The Perception of the Job Offer

So this is the inspiration of the blog: A 22 year old named Sophie with a job offer, complete with a certain salary, and a whole lot of uncertainty as to what she could make work.

It's sooooo low, she says. 

Admittedly, Sophie's expectations were a bit high. Within the last two years (before the economy tanked, I might add) her boyfriend-of-the-moment had received an offer (in a much more expensive city) unheard of for the average undergraduate (or post-graduate, for that matter) looking for a first full time job. All in all, it's fair to say her benchmark was a bit high to begin with... 

It makes me feel like crap, she finishes.

The words rolled through me.... makes... me ... feel.  

Wait. Feel?

It occurred to me - it wasn't actually the number that mattered. In fact, Sophie hadn't sat down to put pen to paper on what that number meant. She just knew it was far less than she was expecting. So it wasn't the actual number that was bothering her, it was her perception of the number and herperception of what that meant for how much they wanted her.

So before we talked about the math, the budgeting, the nitty gritty; we spent some time talking about the more important things.

• Did you like the people?
• Did you like your future boss man?
• Did you get a good feel for your future peers?
• Is the job what you want to do?
• Can you see yourself working there?
• Can you see yourself living  in that city?
• Does the job build your resume? Give you growth opportunities? Give you a foundation for your career?
• Before you heard the number, were you excited?

Her answer, across the board (the lucky duck), was yes. And so we proceeded to define the real issue: no longer was it about a specific number, but instead about the tradeoffs she'd have to make in order to make that number work, and whether those tradeoffs were worth it to her to be in a job where she felt at home.