[Saul Good]

So...

I got a call from the recruiter for the new potential employer yesterday. He said that they are interested and will make me an offer. He told me that they need me to fill out a formal application and list what my salary requirements would be. (He knows what that is, but it needs to be official.)

My requirement is significantly higher than what they originally said they were willing to pay. I asked the recruiter if he had told the new company the range that I was looking for. He said that he had. I asked him if he thought that they could get there. He said that he thinks they can. This would be a sizable raise as well as a signing bonus somewhere in the $10K range.

If they agree to my terms or come close enough that it's a legit starting point for a negotiation, I'm going to ask to observe them for a while. I may even try to just give them a window of a couple of days and tell them that I will be stopping in at some point during that period of time. I really want to see what the dynamics are when it's not planned. (I want real life, not a dog and pony show.) If everything seems cool from there, I'm going to take a queue from rageeumr in post 27 and take the offer to my current employer just to show them what my market value is. I won't make demands, but I want to see if they make a play to keep me.

Here's the thing. Most of the people on here seem to be encouraging me to stay where I am. What's more is that most of my friends say the same thing. I understand why people give that advice, but I didn't expect it to be so one-sided in favor of staying where I am while leaving a lot of money on the table.

I'd like to think that everyone else is just a bunch of pussies afraid of sacking up and getting paid and that I know better, but I know that this isn't necessarily the case. I'm going to have to make a decision by the end of March, and I really don't know what I am going to do.