As my readers from way-back-when will remember, I quit my first post-college job doing internet ad operations and found one in web development that makes me much happier. (I had meant to write about the new job, but I was afraid of jinxing it.)
Four months and one glowing performance review later, I can safely say the new job is going well.
But it didn’t look like smooth sailing four and a half months ago. I had received the offer from my current employer, and I had even negotiated a higher starting salary. The counter-offer was much better than the initial offer, but it still wasn’t quite what I was making whoring my soul doing online advertising. (OK, so actually if you factor in the 401k, better health insurance and saner hours, it probably did match my old job, but I love cold, hard cash.)
What’s a boy to do in such a sticky situation? I really wanted to take the job, but I didn’t want to take a pay cut. The boss really wanted to hire me, but was nervous about hiring a millennial employee for what he considered an experienced-hire position. And of course he didn’t want to waste cash on me if I couldn’t handle the rigors of the position.
The compromise
I agreed to be placed on job probation, for lack of a better word. The boss agreed to grant me an early performance review after four or five months. Assuming things went well, I would receive a raise and increased responsibility. If things weren’t going well… well, we never discussed that, but I doubt it would have led to sunshine and puppies.
The result
My performance review was scheduled for two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the boss had to fly out of town for a week to meet a client. The next week I didn’t want to mention my review because I hadn’t hit my target number of billable hours, and even though I wasn’t in trouble, it didn’t seem like the most auspicious time.
But my boss caught me off guard. Walking down the hallway, he saw me working late on a project (because we millennials have strange schedules) and he sprung the review on me!
Of course, I had been obsessing about the review for weeks. I had already come up with some answers to some pretty standard performance review questions:
- What do you think you’re doing best in this position?
- What do you need to work on?
- What’s your favorite thing about your position?
- What’s your least favorite aspect about your position?
- How do you think you can grow in the company?
- Can you think of anything the company needs to do to help you grow into your position?
Before I knew it, the performance review was over. It was way easier than I had imagined, and I was pleased with the feedback from my boss. But I was even more pleased with the salary bump!
Final Thoughts
Would I recommend this ‘probation’ strategy? It depends.
It worked for me. It worked out for my employer. But it might not work for you. I tried to assume the worst and hoped for the best. If the raise never materialized, I would have felt disappointed, but the starting salary wasn’t so low that I’d be destitute. I knew I could survive on the lower salary and I felt pretty confident that I could perform well enough to earn a salary bump.
I know this sounds a lot like paying your dues, an unpopular topic with millennials. Paying dues is about being the bottom of the totem pole simply because you’re the new guy—probation is also for unproven employees, but it’s based on merit, not on the amount of time you’ve been working.
I viewed the probation as a calculated risk. Besides, it was only for a few months and I had the performance review promised to me in writing. (Always get it in writing!)
Would I have put up with that for a whole year? Doubtful. I’m too impatient, and I don’t think it takes a whole year to demonstrate that you can do your job well. But I get the sense from talking to my cohorts that an unofficial six month probation isn’t uncommon for Gen Y-ers. It might not be called a ‘probation’ per se, but the same prove-your-mettle attitude applies.
What are your experiences with paying dues and proving your merit? Would you ever agree to job and/or salary probation?
I only stayed at my job for a year due to grad school, but I think it’s safe to say that I was never on true “probation.” Of course, I had extenuating circumstances - there were 2 other people in my department and one was going on vacation and then maternity leave. Sink or swim, miss Corinne.
I don’t think I would have agreed to salary probation because I made so little - and looking back, yes, I got overtime, but they whored me out in a number of ways. Telling me that I physically cannot leave until they make “the number” for the month? Sorry, call me naive and unmotivated, but I really refuse to be at work till 10 p.m. after coming at 7:30 a.m. It would be one thing if my job was easy and cushy (I’m not implying anything - I’m directing this toward a friend’s job where he watches Wedding Crashers all day while flying paper airplanes - seriously.) But it wasn’t, it was very physically and mentally demanding.
Wow, I really didn’t mean to write this much!
I would do a job probation, given the opportunity.
It’s like the going on a few dates with the company before becoming “official.” (I think “Facebook Offical” is the correct term…)
So yes, I would do it. But I would expect to satisfy my boss. What would you have done if he said, “Well AJ… You did a good job, but not quite as good as I had expected. We’ll keep you on, but you won’t get that raise.”
Then what? I’d be pissed. And curious about when my next review would be. And I feel like a majority of Millennials would feel entitled to the raise, simply because the opportunity was there… Just my thoughts.
Thanks for the link!
The probation angle is one I’m going to look into at some point, if I have a hard time finding a job based on my formal work experience. Or some type of intern/assistantship like you mentioned in our conversation the other day.
I’d rather be fully accepted, but I’m willing to prove I can do the work.
I work in higher education, not the corporate world, so my experience is a bit different. However, my current employer has a mandatory 6-month probationary period for all new hires - basically during that time they need very little cause to fire you. After that, it becomes very difficult to get rid of someone due to HR policies, due process, etc.
I accepted the probation because it was mandatory; however I probably would have thought differently if it were a case-by-case situation. My feeling is they either want me or they don’t - probation is a way of hedging their bets which just doesn’t seem right.