I’m currently an I.T. Project Manager for a company who’s been purchased by a Fortune 500 company here in Southern California. Our parent company has offered me a position (promotion) as the department manager for a very technical and highly visible project. On the surface it appears to be a career springboard because of the project’s importance and due to the fact that the department was created in January of this year and needs leadership and direction. This environment seems to be perfect for an innovator to be successful. Of course I believe if successful, the manager would reap huge rewards. But there is a catch. After analyzing the scope of the job, I realized the responsibility, workload, commitment level and degree of resource management exceeds the scope of my current position. Although I’m capable of handling this new assignment and have proven so in the past, I have mixed feelings about the position. My primary concern is salary. I’ve been offered a lateral move but realistically the commute is further, the work hours will be longer, my direct reports (people) have doubled, and there is a very steep learning curve associated with the project technology. Looking at the assumed ROI, I’m less than excited. And I know I can get much more as a PM at a different company. So after saying all of that, here’s my question. How do you approach salary vs. potential career opportunity? On one hand I feel the job would potentially be a good career move, but on the other hand I feel like I’m being taken advantage of.

-- Greg Hall (ghall@lbfc.com), April 24, 2001