<p>Here’s the thing though - her boss is obviously negotiating right now at the new company. He is going to have to let them know he wants to bring OP and negotiate her place there in this same process. He will give notice only once he is satisfied with the deal he has cut either for both of them or just himself. The whole thing does put OP in a difficult situation.</p>
<p>So you are saying that your current position and commission income is tied to your actual current boss. You don’t just keep your same job if he leaves–it is possible you won’t even have one. Or you mention you might work for lesser producers and your commission is tied to your bosses higher sales generation so your income goes down. What if you get offered something else that doesn’t have comission and you might make less. So you are not just wondering should you stay or go, you are in a precarious position anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t see any reason not to talk to this new company and see what you think of them. You have only been where you are one year so it is a bit early to move but the scenario you create means to me that you have to keep your options open. And you’d want some idea ahead if you are going to like to move. Also you have some leverage here if the boss wants you to come so much and get your base or commission higher. He doesn’t want to train someone new at his new job. He needs you. You need to ask for that–maybe after they are feeling comfortable having met you.</p>
<p>I think you are right he is naive if he thinks it is going to be casual and cordial, esp if he is planning to take clients–that move has gotta be obvious. In sales position or other sensitive where people have access to clients, you are usually out the door immediately. Why doesn’t he know that?</p>
<p>I agree, I think you have no choice but to talk to the new company. Otherwise you run the risk of him hiring another assistant and you finding our there is no alternate position for you at the old company.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the input and things to consider. It is tricky. If I stay - I could easily earn less if I am given the position of assisting one lower level producer, but maybe I could juggle two people and actually earn more. Or, they might offer me a position on the operations side of things that is strictly salaried with no commission. Or, they might have nothing for me. Hard to predict, which is why I am keeping my options open. </p>
<p>Boss and I are having lunch together tomorrow to discuss. I believe he really wants me to come with him, so curious to see what he offers. He would have a lot of control over my offer from new company.</p>
<p>I am hoping that if gives notice on Monday or Tuesday, that I could get an indication of my chances to remain at existing employer pretty quickly. If it does not look good, then I tell boss I’m going with him and arrange to meet appropriate folks at new company. He would have complete say in the hiring of his assstant, so as long as he wants me to accompany him, I’ll have a job there.</p>
<p>Just hating the uncertainty. Want to fast forward two weeks and have this resolved.</p>
<p>If he’s a jerk and not well liked at your current employer, what’s to say he won’t be viewed the same way at the new employer. If he feels disrespected at the new job, could he leave for another job a year from now. Where would that leave you then? </p>
<p>It does seem that you’re being diligent in thinking this through. What decision will let you sleep at night?</p>
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<p>This is a reasonable question, but if the answer is that it would leave you an a materially better organization, then it might be a good reason to go with him and make the switch. Some firms are a lot better than others. If the quality of the organizations is more comparable, then its a bit of a tougher call. If you’re going to be moving to a “lessor” organization, then I don’t like the idea of going with him. My 2 cents. </p>
<p>The fact that he is willing to negotiate a place for you in the new organization shows that he values and perhaps even needs you. You should weigh whether you will have that same scenario if you stay but work for someone else. Some people like to do a lot more of their own admin work because they don’t fully trust support staff or simply have more time to do so. Your job is more secure with someone like your current boss who needs you to keep him organized.</p>
<p>"…level producer, but maybe I could juggle two people and actually earn more"</p>
<p>If you eventually decide that your best bet is to stay put and start researching and working that route, I suggest bringing this up in your conversations with your current company, because they might not even think about this scenario. Bring it up sort of casually - it does sound like it would mean savings for the employer via having one assistant for two sales positions. </p>
<p>I agree. I think he has changed jobs frequently - with little insight as to why he is not well-regarded. I think most people, if they felt that no one liked or valued them at their job, would ask someone for feedback. He thinks he is just awesome. Clueless! And yes, that is one if the reasons I hesitate to move with him.</p>
<p>I am leaning towards staying put if offered a comparable position, and going with him if they have nothing for me.</p>
<p>“He thinks he is just awesome”.</p>
<p>And that is precisely why he is so successful!!</p>
<p>Still dangling in suspense. Boss still talks about leaving - but has not given notice yet - meanwhile - people are becoming suspicious due to a marked drop in his business activity this month. Our operations manager confronted me today and asked if he was looking/leaving. I played dumb, but it was very awkward. Based on that, I have asked to meet with her tomorrow. My concern is that if people suspect he is leaving, I don’t want them to assume I am going with him. I believe I need to put out some feelers now that I want to stay, regardless of his decision. I hate playing games - I don’t want to get caught going behind his back - but I think at this point I need to let the appropriate people know that I want to remain with present employer. So hoping this gamble does not backfire!</p>
<p>Tell them that their questions have made YOU concerned about what OTHER PEOPLE may know, and that you just want assurance that you’ll have a job no matter what. </p>
<p>I’ll repeat what I said upthread: if he is leaving with a GROUP of salespeople, and revenues decline sharply, that isn’t looking too good for your future no matter what assurances you get. </p>
<p>I think your employer would want to immediately put precautions in place once they get the idea he might be leaving. So my bet is your boss will know you told them since who else knows of his intentions? Do you think that would jeopardize your relationship with him?</p>
<p>nottelling - he would be leaving as an individual and while he is one of the top producers - his departure will not adversely impact the company.</p>
<p>HarvestMoon - that has been a concern - but now that someone else has come to me and voiced their suspicions - I think the jig is up - regardless of what I do or do not say. All anyone has to do is look at his numbers for this month - and it is obvious that something is up. My hope is to have this meeting tomorrow - make it clear I want to stay - while trying not to have boss find out what I have done. I want to preserve both options if I can, but not sure if that will be possible. But I don’t want senior mgmt to conclude I am leaving with him and fire both of us as a preemptive strike before we can copy records, etc. So, tomorrow may be the day to pick a side.</p>
<p>Don’t be copying records without consulting with your own atty!! There are many laws that cover this especially in the financial services world. I am not going to give you legal advice other than to say, consult with counsel. </p>
<p>I agree and that’s another reason why I want to speak with mgmt tomorrow. I drew a line in the sand between printing out some fairly legitimate requests for him vs. going in with a flash drive and copying entire files! But the whole thing is getting to be ridiculous. I’m not going to risk being fired to protect him. </p>
<p>Oh gosh, please don’t copy the records yourself either way. I think you need to make the decision without trying to play both sides and I don’t think you can get assurances that mean anything from him or your current company. At the end of the day it doesn’t mean a hill of beans to the company if he’s a total a-hole, what matters is what he produces, which is pretty much the world of most sales.</p>
<p>I have changed 9 jobs. It never ever was for the worse, Sometime I missed out, it simply did not work out, and sometime I won to be at the great place. However, somehow it all led me to my current position, which is by far the best of them all. There is no guarantee, but if you want to be miserable at your current place, so stay put, if you want to try out, apply to a new. I obtained my last position in my late 50s. I was told that my resume was the best by far. I wonder why, is it possible because I had such a wide range of experiences that one of them was a close match and adding some aspects of others made my resume the best, just gussing here. However, all along, I have learned a ton of new things, reassured myself that I can learn at the new place and learn on my own, created a great network for myself which enable me to obtain positions from the ads at the local newspaper (roughly 30% of them), they said that success rate of this approach is about 2% (not me), but no matter where I walked in, sombody would know me at the place, since I have been to so many, and could give me a personal reference, nothing will beat this. Looking back, I am very satisfied and can assess my current position in comparison to all others.
Whatever you do, will fit you personally. Whatever I did was perfect for me.</p>
<p>Agree–I would NOT copy any files for boss. I would also consult with counsel if I was planning to leave my job to be sure I wasn’t violating any contracts, especially not to compete.</p>
<p>Had a great meeting with senior mgmt today and they would like me to stay, although details need to be worked out. Apparently the fact that my boss is about to leave is the worst kept secret in the office. So, I did not have to reveal anything he has told me in confidence - they already suspected. I think this might actually work out.</p>