Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by unqueued 1153 days ago
My biggest mistake after being laid off was to not be discerning enough about my next job. You need to be willing to say no to a crummy job offer, even as the bills pile up.
4 comments

It's like blackjack: do you want to stay or double down?

Either way, you can win or lose.

But as with gambling, bankroll management is of essence. You don't want to lose more than you can.

I mean you can accept it and still be on the hunt for a better job offer, no? You wouldn't lose any opportunities from accepting the offer.
Sure. Some may even hold multiple jobs (Overemployed movement).
Nit: you're never in that position in blackjack. You only double when you have 9, 10, or 11, but you'll always hit that anyway. Some bizarre casino could theoretically let you double Ace-10, but that's just getting greedy.

Anyway, you meant stay or hit.

That's true but better something than nothing, you can accept the crummy job offer, and then accept an even better one a short while later.
A temporary consulting gig is better than a bad job offer. It also doesn't stain your CV (Consultant doing something for a client vs Working at this horrible place) even if it's the same client.
I would disagree. Consulting work exposes you to more liability than being an employee. If you drop a consulting job midstream to take a great job offer, you're likely to get sued.
As someone who was contracting we always had notice periods in contracts. Let’s not forget it works both ways and contractors are more often than not the first to go.
Sounds more like a temporary employee than a contractor then. Maybe splitting hairs.
When I was freelancing, I would have a Master Service Agreement that spelled out the "rules of engagement" and the actual work was in a Statement Of Work that lasted roughly 3 months. Gave each party the ability to pull the rip cord
I’ve done consulting; you have control about how you write your contract. If they want to lock you up for a long period they should be willing to pay for it.
Could you elaborate on that? I would think maybe in the very short term if you have minimal expenses and some savings, you have a bit of time to be picky, but not if you've got major expenses, dependants, or just very few offers coming in.

Like don't go agreeing to an obviously terrible offer, but this isn't a seller's market anymore.

Well maybe. You can consider taking a less-than-ideal job to give yourself a longer runway, while you keep looking for a good/great job.

As long as it's an "at will" job (as almost all are) you can quit in two weeks, two months, or six months if a better opportunity comes along.