Workplace Job Advice Needed Please!

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ladyivorypale

Member
Sep 21, 2009
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#1
I was recently offered a part time position with a start up company. Basically I'll do about 10 hours of work per week for them. When I applied for the position, I didn't realize it was unpaid. They are still in the process of trying to get funding, which they say they expect to get in 2 to 3 months. After which, they said that they will want me to work full time.

So today, they told me that I should expect 30-40k salary and some benefits to start when I change to full time; and there is some profit sharing. My job with them is pretty much administrative, accounting, managing people once we start hiring, contacting investors, helping them coordinate with the companies in China ( I speak Chinese fluently), and whatever else they need me to do. I'm kind of okay with not getting paid now, since I realize it's a start up and I can use the experience, but the salary sort of makes me hesitate, I feel like it's a bit low considering all of the responsibilities. The owner reassures me that I will be "well off" once the company gets going, but I'm beginning to doubt his definition of being "well off".

So I'm kind of wondering if they are just trying to take advantage of the situation or if this is normal? Any feedback would be awesome.
 
#3
ladyivorypale said:
I was recently offered a part time position with a start up company. Basically I'll do about 10 hours of work per week for them. When I applied for the position, I didn't realize it was unpaid. They are still in the process of trying to get funding, which they say they expect to get in 2 to 3 months. After which, they said that they will want me to work full time.

So today, they told me that I should expect 30-40k salary and some benefits to start when I change to full time; and there is some profit sharing. My job with them is pretty much administrative, accounting, managing people once we start hiring, contacting investors, helping them coordinate with the companies in China ( I speak Chinese fluently), and whatever else they need me to do. I'm kind of okay with not getting paid now, since I realize it's a start up and I can use the experience, but the salary sort of makes me hesitate, I feel like it's a bit low considering all of the responsibilities. The owner reassures me that I will be "well off" once the company gets going, but I'm beginning to doubt his definition of being "well off".

So I'm kind of wondering if they are just trying to take advantage of the situation or if this is normal? Any feedback would be awesome.
Click to expand...

As a manager myself 30-40K is not low as it sounds like an administrative position not a management position, and you're learning on the job.

Did they tell you in the interview is was unpaid? I certainly would not for work for no money. What if it takes 6 months for funding? I would sit down with the manager and ask him if you will be retro paid for the unpaid hrs once the funding comes through, and tell him that you weren't told it was unpaid prior to taking the position. Something is fishy here if they didn't tell you everything before you started. Why would they hire an employee with no funding yet?

Lastly get "everything" in writing from him pertaining to the job duties, salary, benefits, full time, and as a salaried employee will you receive overtime pay.
If he refuses to give you anything in writing just walk away from the job.
 
#4
I don't think she's accepted yet. It sounds like they gave her all of the salary info during the offer.

What was said above about only doing it if you love it and think the experience would be worth it was good advice. I have done the start up thing and I always make sure to get great compensation aside from stock options and profit sharing. My last set of stock options is worth negative thousands if I was dumb enough to exercise them.

I interviewed at a start-up in 2000 and they offered me 66% of the salary I wanted but said the stock options would make up for it. I balked and went elsewhere. The start-up was purchased by a major media conglomerate for $160 million a few years later. The start-up is now a pretty successful division of the conglomerate. I work for the conglomerate. A year or so after the start-up was purchased I came in to manage one of the departments of the new division that was formerly the start-up. Several of my employees are from the old days. The lucky ones ended up trading in their stock options and getting enough to buy a modest car, the unlucky ones maybe got enough for a nice vacation. At the time of the buy-out their salaries were still woefully under market and had been for 7 years. The only ones that got rich from the buy-out were the former owners. Three years after the buy-out I'm still trying to get some salaries up to market, I can only increase them by so much at a time. The lost salary is probably 10 times what they got from their stock options. So financially it probably wasn't worth it, but a few of them love the company and would probably do it over again if given the chance. I hope that wasn't too confusing, I don't want to mention company names on here.
 
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