Moving to high CoL area...thoughts?

[LearnMS]

I am in the middle of switching jobs. I am considering a job near Natick/Framingham, MA. I will be moving from MKE, WI and I am currently in 2 BR apt, married, no kids.

Now I see that if I had to move and rent in MA, the cost of living is way too high (35% - 48% higher) in Natick area. For someone who earns 50k in WI, will need 68k in Natick area. The rents are def. higher. I am not sure if new employer is considering the cost of living increase when offering the job.

The next low CoL area in MA is Leominster, but it is almost an hour journey from Natick. Spending 2 hours in traffic daily is not something I would like to do.

What are my options?
- Ask employer to offer salary bump to meet same/similar standard of living in MA (35-48% increase).
- Choose low CoL town and do 2 hr commute daily.
- Forget it, and find some other job.

Thanks.

 

[heavenlyjane]

My daughter was in this position just a few months ago. She moved from Madison, WI to Boston and was asked what salary she wanted. She hadn't done any homework and was too young at age 22 to think about cost-of-living differentials so she gave herself a modest salary bump.

I showed her the cost-of-living calculators on the internet and told her she had to address this issue with her new employers. She needed another $15K to just break even. I coached her on what to say and assured her that the worst that could happen would be they's safe no - there was no way they'd rescind her offer. I said more likely the company would respect her for advocating for herself.

She contacted them, show them the calculator results and explained that she hadn't done her homework properly and now realized she needed $15K more to maintain her same standard of living. The company responded by increasing the offer by $18K. It was a powerful lesson for her. She also feels a whole lot of loyalty because they treated her well.

Advice: do not give up on this job until you at least asking for more month based on the CoL in Natick. If you accept this current salary offer, everyone who knows your salary (bosses/HR) might think you're a sucker.

 

[Saphira2021]

My daughter was in this position just a few months ago. She moved from Madison, WI to Boston and was asked what salary she wanted. She hadn't done any homework and was too young at age 22 to think about cost-of-living differentials so she gave herself a modest salary bump.

I showed her the cost-of-living calculators on the internet and told her she had to address this issue with her new employers. She needed another $15K to just break even. I coached her on what to say and assured her that the worst that could happen would be they's safe no - there was not way they'd rescind her offer. I said more likely the company would respect her for advocating for herself.

She contacted them, show them the calculator results and explained that she hadn't done her homework properly and now realized she needed $15K more to maintain her same standard of living. The company responded by increasing the offer by $18K. It was a powerful lesson for her. She also feels a whole lot of loyalty because they treated her well.

Advice: do not give up on this job until you at least asking for more month based on the CoL in Natick. If you accept this current salary offer, everyone who knows your salary (bosses/HR) might think you're a sucker.

I would say your daughter got very lucky. it all depends on a company and how much they want particular candidate. i know that this would never fly at the company i used to work for.
so yes, you can try, but be prepared with other options.

 

[heavenlyjane]

I would say your daughter got very lucky. it all depends on a company and how much they want particular candidate. i know that this would never fly at the company i used to work for.
so yes, you can try, but be prepared with other options.

Maybe it worked because she was a kid and she didn't know to prepare a desired salary requirement at the very first interview. Or because the salary she asked for was inadequate for Boston and they knew it. Or because it was a huge multinational company and another $15k wouldn't break their bottom line. Or because they really wanted her. Who knows.

 

[LearnMS]

Maybe it worked because she was a kid and she didn't know to prepare a desired salary requirement at the very first interview. Or because the salary she asked for was inadequate for Boston and they knew it. Or because it was a huge multinational company and another $15k wouldn't break their bottom line. Or because they really wanted her. Who knows.

Thanks @heavenlyjane.

I am no kid, but did the same mistake. The thing is that the job posted 2 locations and one of them was in MA. I will know in a couple of days what they would offer based on what I mentioned. Typically, they will try to lowball me. But as it may happen, if they really want me, they can go for that extra mile. If not, it would seem like I am a sucker for this job.

This is a new place acquired by the company, so there are no data points on glassdoor or payscale sites for this job position or area. The online CoL calculators show the min CoL increase by 35%. I am trying to see if I can salvage the situation from this point on.

 

[Dandan]

The biggest raise you can get is when you switch jobs. Have them make an initial offer, make sure it is substantially higher (I would estimate the cost of living in the Boston area to be 2x that of WI). Bargain a bit, when you are happy with the salary, ask about yearly bonus, relo package, sign on bonus, 401k match, RSUs, insurance. Those are "nice to have", when you are not happy with your salary, keep negotiating. Remember, they need you as much as you need them. In my field, I would get $5k for finding a suitable coworker. And we have 2 openings. Since July of last year.
One more word of advice: your emotions work against you. Start negotiating after they make you an offer. It is a skill you can master.

 

[LearnMS]

The biggest raise you can get is when you switch jobs. Have them make an initial offer, make sure it is substantially higher (I would estimate the cost of living in the Boston area to be 2x that of WI). Bargain a bit, when you are happy with the salary, ask about yearly bonus, relo package, sign on bonus, 401k match, RSUs, insurance. Those are "nice to have", when you are not happy with your salary, keep negotiating. Remember, they need you as much as you need them. In my field, I would get $5k for finding a suitable coworker. And we have 2 openings. Since July of last year.
One more word of advice: your emotions work against you. Start negotiating after they make you an offer. It is a skill you can master.

Yes, I agree. But I realized the mistake after I spilled the beans about the range I am looking for. I will negotiate anyway...

The way I look at it as the salary should be twice when I am moving to Boston area. so 100k in WI will be 200k in MA. But I don't have enough hope that the employer will agree to this bump.

Btw, do you negotiate all this with the recruiter or with the hiring manager?

 

[projectx]

She contacted them, show them the calculator results and explained that she hadn't done her homework properly and now realized she needed $15K more to maintain her same standard of living. The company responded by increasing the offer by $18K. It was a powerful lesson for her. She also feels a whole lot of loyalty because they treated her well.

Good for her for standing up for herself and succeeding. But why didn't they offer it up front? Obviously they felt she was worth the extra $18k, and they had it in the budget to give it to her... otherwise they wouldn't have changed the offer. It sounds to me like they initially tried to take advantage of the situation and lowballed the original offer.

 

[heavenlyjane]

Good for her for standing up for herself and succeeding. But why didn't they offer it up front? Obviously they felt she was worth the extra $18k, and they had it in the budget to give it to her... otherwise they wouldn't have changed the offer. It sounds to me like they initially tried to take advantage of the situation and low-balled the original offer.

I think her initial salary was at the very edge of the lower range for her job category so they thought they could legitimately save money. She's young enough that this could have been viewed as an entry-level job. But she had a 1+ year's experience under her belt and was eligible to be treated as a person with experience. However it required her advocating for herself.

It proved to be an excellent life lesson for her. She tends to be shy but has see the tangible result of being more assertive. She will *never* make this mistake again.

 

[LearnMS]

I think her initial salary was at the very edge of the lower range for her job category so they thought they could legitimately save money. She's young enough that this could have been viewed as an entry-level job. But she had a 1+ year's experience under her belt and was eligible to be treated as a person with experience. However it required her advocating for herself.

It proved to be an excellent life lesson for her. She tends to be shy but has see the tangible result of being more assertive. She will *never* make this mistake again.

That's great!
Something to learn there....

 

[Cytraveler]

I'm a business owner and negotiate with people all the time on job offers. When we offer a lower salary than what we ultimately might pay, it's not that we're trying to take advantage per se. We are negotiating just like the employee is; do you think the potential employee is taking advantage because they ask for a higher salary than they're ultimately willing to take?

There are a lot of factors that come into play. In our case, many of our employees are working for a client where we have negotiated the rate already, and some where we are still negotiating the rate. If someone asks for WAY too much, or they come back to us and say they didn't think it through and asks for twice what they did before, that's a red flag to me. But if they come back and say they didn't think things through, and here's why, I will consider it and offer something higher if I can.

I'm on the other side too; negotiating with the clients. We often bid lower than what we think our competitors are bidding, even when we know the client prefers us, because we know we can't get too comfortable; we need to always offer our clients very good value because there's always someone else willing to come in. They need to see us as providing good service at a good price.

Anyway, I echo what others have said, that it doesn't hurt to ask, as long as you explain, and aren't demanding but respectful and laying out the reasons. I would NOT ask for double the salary you have now, if you didn't before. I don't think the cost of living justifies that kind of increase, and that could make them think poorly of you.