It’s funny how the view of managers can be similar to those of parents and to the decisions of the children. In checking a reference on a recent recruit (only 3 years in the business on now looking for job number 3) I was speaking with his first manager. He went on about how talented the candidate was his value to the organization and of course how he completely screwed up by leaving (simply for money).

So there you have the stereotypical idea among managers when their Jr. to Mid level employees leave that it’s only for money. Is it accurate? Anecdotally yes as almost all of them receive significantly more money when they go, but money usually isn’t the driving force behind their departure. They include:

Greater opportunity for advancement
Ability to increase pace of technical growth
Better work environment (Management style, co-workers, mentoring, etc.)
Length of commute
Benefits (they know enough about 401K’s to value this today)
So did my candidate make a mistake by moving for money? No. He in fact took a lateral dollar move to get the opportunity for advancement and technical growth, and in his time there he has received training and become proficient in several new technologies. Unfortunately, because he took a lateral move and has only increased his market value (with no further increase in his pay) he is now considering taking his skills back to the open market and finally leveraging them for greater financial return.

Please check out all of my blog posts at www.thevoiceofit.com as well as my company site with all of our IT job postings at www.martineaurecruiting.com