Career advice wanted

[telephus44]

My job description is changing and I need some advice.

I have been a customer service rep at an manufacturing facility for a long time. I've been in the position at this employer for 5 years.

After my maternity leave was over (and they were very generous, I got 10 weeks at full pay) I came back and got all my accounts back except the largest one. At first I was a little concerned. However, after a week they approached me with the role of doing some purchasing.

The history of purchasing here is: several years ago they had a 3 person purchasing dept. Two people were let go, and one person retired. They took the basic purchasing duties and gave them over to our production control department. The first person who handled it left for greener pastures, and now there's one person who took over the duties. Officially her title is Supply Chain Supervisor.

They've left the major purchasing stuff with her - raw materials. I've gotten all of the other stuff - when we're too busy and outsource orders to other vendors, and misc stuff that we buy and mark up. They've also just expanded my role in the last 2 days to include printed rolls (I work for an envelope manufacturer) and while this other person still purchases printed sheets, the goal is to have me take over that function as well.

I'm not sure if she's on her way out the door - but they didn't tell her that I was taking over some of her duties, and I was specifically told not to go to her if I needed help or had questions (I was directed to go elsewhere). OTOH, purchasing raw materials requires more work and is a lot more dollars than what I'm dealing with.

But here's my questions, there's really 3.
1. At what point should I start asking for some sort of review/title change/pay increase to reflect my new duties? Six months? A year? This is a small company and they aren't good about reviews, I had to ask for my last one, and I know I'll have to ask for this one. Last time I waited until I'd been here 4 years to ask but I got a 5% increase.
2. How do I figure out if I'm any good at this? Obviously they aren't happy with the other person, but I don't know why. I don't know what I'm being measured on or what they're looking for.
3. I've never really done purchasing before, and I never took business classes or anything related in college. I'd really like to look into some sort of class I can take at a local community college or something. Does it come under accounting? What kinds of classes should I be looking for?

[Tennesseer]

And?

[Colleenz]

Do not open a produce store.

[Deleted]

Stay?
Leave?
Put up with it?
Ask for more money?

Did you have any specifics in mind?

[lynnerself]

Sept 12, 2012 16:23:49 GMT -5 Colleenz said:

Do not open a produce store.

[zibazinski]

Will you have to pee in a cup? That's a deal breaker you know...

[Tiny]

Do you have to write the new job description yourself? If so use LOTS of weasel words.

[telephus44]

Sorry, I can't post new threads from my computer since my version of IE is outdated, so I did a placeholder type post from my iPad.


See updated OP.

[Tennesseer]

#3 I cannot help you with that.

#2-Does your employer conduct annual performance evaluations? If yes, ask to see one specific to your new role. You might get some clues as to what is expected of you. If there is an actual job description, ask to see it.

#1-in discussing your new role, ask if there is a salary increase due to your expanded job responsibilities. Simply ask.

[Colleenz]

You would probably find the best classes in a business school. I know I took several classes in negotiation, value proposition, etc. while I was getting my MBA. Strategic sourcing positions can be very well compensated (much more than CS). I would say go for it. What would you like your title to be?

[telephus44]

I'm hoping to move into production control. I'd like to do either production planning or scheduling. Purchasing isn't really up my alley, but it's a step closer to where I want to be.

Usually people in my position move from customer service into sales. I know I don't want to go into sales.

[Colleenz]

Purchasing also helps you build a strong network in your industry if you ever need to look for another job. Best of luck to you!

[tskeeter]

Telephus, you definitely do not want an accounting program. You want supply chain management. Or certification classes from APICS. APICS is the professional society for operations management professionals. Production planners, purchasing specialists, inventory specialists, materials managers, and the like. It's the society that supply chain management professionals join. The supply chain equivalent of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). And APICS has very good training classes.

As far as compensation goes, I'd negotiate that up front. Compensation changes are much harder to negotiate after you've been doing the job for less money for many months than it is to negotiate before your take on lots of new responsibilities. I'd point out how much more impact your new role has on whether or not the customer is going to be happy with their decision to purchase from your employer. That direct customer impact comes with a much higher level of responsibility and it has a much more direct impact on the profitability of the company. (A bad purchasing decision that shuts the place down certainly carries some responsibility, would affect customer relationships, and would impact profitability.) For the additional responsibility and the ability to influence company profitability, you should be paid more.

By the way, the new role will probably not be as much of a 9 - 5 job as you are used to. You will need to jump through hoops when things go wrong, or when a sales person makes impossible promises. You'll find that you sometimes will need to resolve problems from home, go back in to work, and work well into the evening or on weekends to keep things going. That requirement makes an expanded job role worth more money, too.

And I'd ask for the employer to pay for any classes I had to take to improve my skills at the new job responsibilities.

How do you know what the right level of compensation is for the job? Check out several web sites that provide compensation information. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics would be a place to get some basic information. Then monster.com and salary.com, as well as any others you find. The information you find can be used to negotiate with your boss. You can say, "here is compensation information for the types of job responsibilities you are asking me to accept". Since you don't have experience, you'd be at the lower end of the range, but you won't sell your services for less than you should get.

If your boss claims they can't afford to pay you what you want, then negotiate for a compensation review tied to specific objectives at a certain point in time. Meet or exceed the objectives, you get more money. I'm thinking about stuff like reducing inventory levels, reducing the purchase cost of the materials, finding a new material that reduces waste in the plant, figuring out a way to reduce the amount of material you need to buy (if you reduce the amount that an envelope flap overlaps the body of the envelope by 1/16th of an inch, how many fewer feet of material will you need to buy), etc. Basically, with this type of approach, the money you save the company pays for your pay increase. In total, the boss saves more money than you pay increase costs, so the boss comes out ahead on this deal.

Regardless of what your boss says about your compensation request, I'd negotiate for regular (annual) performance and compensation reviews. Based on his past behavior, your boss isn't interested in giving you a raise any more often than he absolutely has to. And the fact that he gave you 5% after four years tells me that, unless he thinks he has to pay you quite a bit more money to keep you from leaving, he's going to try to pay you as little as possible. (With your 5% raise, you actually had less buying power after your raise than you did the day you started working for that company. Inflation reduced the buying power of your pay check by 8.31% from 2007 to 2010.) Yeah, things were tough during that period of time. Things are better now, and it's time to pay market level, or close to market level, compensation. After all you're going to be such a valuable employee, that whatever they pay you will be a bargain.

[Peace77]

Have you already started your new duties? I would ask for a raise to coincide with the start of the new duties.

How long has it been since your raise? If it has been a year or more and you have already started the additional uties, I would request a meeting with your boss ASAP to discuss your new role, title and salary.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Karma for TSkeeter. Excellent career advice!



ETA: sorry to ruin your milestone.