Over the past week, I have been reviewing the process of getting two job offers, and then making a decision . . .
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
At the end of my last post, I had 1 job offer that was not ideal, but offered some security for myself and my family. The other option was to stay on hourly and wait for something better. I was looking for some wisdom to make the right decision.
Since I had been open and honest with my hourly employer from the beginning through the entire process, I thought he and another coworker would be good sources of wisdom, so I asked them to set aside lunch to chat with me . . .
Instead, without me knowing, the two of them went off to a local restaurant and talked it over, apparently calling back to the office to ask financial questions several times . . . All this in order to offer me a full-time job.
In hindsight, this may have appeared to be presumptuous on my part, as if I was trying to force the issue with a threat to leave. This was in no way the case. I was honestly looking for insight and wisdom.
At any rate, just before lunch, they called me and asked me to meet them at the restaurant where they gave me the verbal offer before I even had an opportunity to ask my questions. Quite simply, the work I had done in the past month as an hourly employee made me valuable enough to them to take a small risk not to lose me.
Quite frankly, the base salary was slightly lower, but the cost of commuting would more than make up for that. The financial benefits were also slightly lower. So, the real decision was much more than financial.
One of my friends recently suggested that my aggressiveness probably helped me. In fact, it almost cost me this job before I got it. A couple of long-term employees almost rebelled at them offering me a job. Bottom line is a quote I came across recently: “At first, the line between confidence and arrogance appears quite thin. Time and teachability reveal the difference.” As time goes on, I think those employees will understand the decision that was made and will enjoy having me around.
But, in the end, being “the total package” I mentioned in my previous posts won out over any personal difficulties. They said, “There is just nobody else like him on the market right now.” In an industry with 17.8% unemployment? I’m quite surprised to hear that, but that is what they said.
The real deciding factor for me was that I had been open and honest with this employer about our ultimate desires and goals in moving to the Towson area. This employer not only will allow a certain level of flexibility for us to do these things, there are some things in the works within the office that will actually make it even easier.
I believe the work profile is a better match, the business organization is more in line with what I was looking for, I feel like I have made friends quickly with several employees, and several other more personal aspects of this job made the decision quite easy.
So, I made the decision, and am now working full-time as a Project Architect for Curry Architects in Baltimore, Maryland.
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