[quote=an][quote=deadzone]Do you use Indeed and Linkedin to find candidates?[/quote]Yes when I was Head of Engineering at an early stage startup. But now, the recruiting team is responsible for that. But I do mobilize my LinkedIn network to point them to the job postings.
[quote=deadzone]Looking back at last year, my company provided less than 2% for COLA. I guess they got that number from some questionable government figures but we all know cost of living is rising way more quickly than that, especially in SD. With that small of COLA raise our salaries are going down in real terms big time.[/quote]
COLA is pointless in engineering IMHO. At least in my entire career experience. If you’re only giving COLA, the good one will leave.[/quote]
i just went through this last month with my team. Theres this one engineer whose performance was bad that i was about to PIP him because a bunch of people had so many issues with his work for so long even before I was here. I ended up talking to HR and execs, and theres some twisted HR policy that basically prevents me for giving him a 0% raise even if his performance was lousy…So instead of a standard 2% cola raise, I was advised to give him a 1.5% raise to “send him a message”…WTF… But my best performers…i could send them a “token of appreciation” by giving them a 2.5% raise…..
I was laughing my ass off at this suggestion because i was like …hmmm… if i was still an engineer and my choices were be (1l rockstar engineer and earn 2.5% or (2) be a flaky engineer and earn 1.5%…..I’d be the flaky engineer that earns 1.5%, and use my free time to moonlight in real estate or a side business…Since shit, its not like my employer is going out of their way to reward me for a stellar performance or providing a fabulois growth opportunity…or going to drastically punish me for less than stellar performance..Id hit the red easy button and do the bare minimum just to collect a paycheck to pay the bills while i would spend considerable time and energy figuring out how i should really make my net worth grow since my job wasnt going to be key and i was only doing it because its easy. that or i would be looking for a new job…or both..
In fact, there were times i was tempted to do just that… Park at a slow moving government job. i mean, the base pay might suck, but there are a lot of perks too…like great medical and dental benefits that is more important when you are older and in poorer health..
and much chiller work hours…and possibilly just easier work…
i wouldnt want to park at a job in the defense industry though. pay not good unless you are in sales, highly bureaucractic, very inflexible work structure, very little ability to move up or around unless peple above you retire or die because people in this industry tend not to move around a lot, in part because some people in this industry still have a pension carrot to keep them at the same employer for some time. oh and i dont want to be the collateral damage next time US and China gets into a pissing match and dont want to be a Taiwanese with a security clearance that falsely gets accused of espionage because thr average idiot American cant tell the difference between chinese and taiwanese and ends up fvking both of us over when they feel like it…. pass on the entire defense industry or any job requiring a security clearance….Theres one things about the defense industry…If you dont quit and move into another industry within the first 3-4 years of your career, chances you have a really high pain tolerance for getting kicked around a lot by people who are probably less qualified than you (IE bean counting program managers)…and then theres a high probability you will end up a “lifer” who will continue to work in this industry for the next 20+years for the easy job and decent benefits..Theres nothing wrong with that too, since some people hate confrontation and dont mind going with the easy flow and like i said if one had more free time, they can invest that time doing something more productive for themselves. my parents were one of them…But it took me only 2 summer internships to realize there was no way in hell the defense industry was right for me.
