Joe Engineer has just graduated from the University at Buffalo. He earned a 3.8 GPA for his master of engineering degree. Before he finished all academic work, he sent out numerous job applications and received three specific job offers. A, B, and C. All of them require him to make a decision for acceptance or rejection within one week.
Company A has an annual sales revenue of 5 billion dollars and is located in New York City. The job of "engineer" pays $95,000 a year, plus full benefit (e.g., 401 (k), health insurance, four weeks vacation for year, education assistance, and relocation assistance). The city living is, of course, exciting and fun, but very expensive. The company has structured a training program for new employees to become familiar with its operations. His future boss is friendly and acts professionally. Joe believes that he can get along well with him. The work is in line with his basic technical training. As it is typically the case with big companies, other employees in the department are all quite smart and the internal competition among coworkers is relatively strong. He envisions that he maybe be able to get a promotion th the next level in five years' time. New York city is huge. And there are at least five competitors to company A offering similar products/services in the city. Another potential benefit of working in New York City is that Joe maybe able to meet a lot of interesting young people and find a future spouse.
Company B is a $500 million midsize company located in Rochester, New York.The job of "engineer" pays $80,000 a year plus full benefits, which are similar to that of Company A. Rochester is a midsize city with some cultural and entertainment activities. Its cost of living is reasonable. Rochester is close to the Finger Lakes region, a well-known recreational area. The next large city is Toronto, which is about two hours away by car. The future boss is quite enthusiastic about Joe's employment at the company and is eager to welcome him. The work is of a technical nature, but offers some managerial development opportunities that Joe likes. Joe believes that he could be promoted in the next three years and allowed to assume a higher level of responsibilities thereafter. The city has a only few large companies, such a Xerox and Kodak, but no company that competes directly against Company B. Joe thinks it may be a bit more difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to meet a lot of interesting young people in Rochester.
Company C is a $50 million small company located in Buffalo, New York, where Joe did some summer work during his school years. The job of "engineer" pays $70,000 a year and offers some benefits. The benefits are no so as good as in either Company A or B. Buffalo is slightly larger than Rochester, but is still way behind New York City in terms of culture and entertainment activities. Like Rochester, Buffalo suffers from a declining industrial base. There have been no new companies relocating into the Buffalo or the Rochester areas in recent years. Company C has no competitors operating in Buffalo or nearby regions. Joe knows his future boss because of his early summer work at the site. The work is quite exciting, as the future boss views Joe as one of the bright new star and shows a significant willingness to personally train Joe for the higher levels roles and responsibilities. Begin in a small company, Joe understand that he needs to face up to the challenges of getting involved quickly in many disciplines beyond the principal one that forms the basis of his master's degree. Because Buffalo is also a regional city, Joe believes that it could be hard for him to meet a lot of interesting young people and subsequently find a mate. Which job would you select to accept? Explain the detailed decision-making methodologies and reasons that you used to arrive at your decision.