Job offer dilemma!

petegossett wrote:

EricM wrote: I got my Dream Job at NCSA (www.ncsa.uiuc.edu) and worked there for 2 years or so. then the Director of NCSA took some heat on how he was spending money from the National Sciene Foundation. He told 40 of us, Sorry, but I want to get a larger grant on some other project so you all have to go so I look good to the NSF. It was not performance based, and it was a job I LOVED. I am still bitter. Keep in mind that I am bitter but I would go with the sure thing. Good luck either way.

Wow Eric, I didn't know that! Did you find another job?

Yes, I got one almost immediatly at AITS, still within the University System. It actually pays more, but is Mind numbingly boaring and very corporate in compairison.

I will not complain about having employment thougha s I know many people would gladly take a boaring job over none at all. :)

Aaaargh! It got tougher! The initial phone interview with the automotive owner went very well and I am definitely in the running, so push the odds to 1/5 or so of the dream job.

Do I ignore a potentially awesome career at a growing business in an industry I love or do I take the safe road with my new career path and see what happens in 11 months?

Read the contract. It has to have some provision for both parties to end it. If it doesn't ask if they can add one(?) Otherwise how would they get rid of you if you sucked?

"live by your heart, not your head"

It's gotten me into trouble at times but I don't have as many "what if's" in my life as I used too. And the "what if's" will eat you up if you let them.

And while not the most honest (actually a complete lie) can you tell the contract job that you have a family emergency you have to deal with and see if that will buy you a week?

I know nobody like liars but in a extreme case where a matter of a week can determine the next couple of years of your life, it may be understandable.

They could get rid of me or I could leave, but it wouldn't look too good. I guess I should call them, huh?

Who cares if it doesn't look good? If your potential dream employer understands, then so be it.

My advice: think of where you'll be in eleven months once the "safe, predictable" contract is over (and that's not a very long time!) Will you be kicking yourself for not persuing the other job? That should give you your answer right there.

I dropped everything and moved across the ocean on less than a month's notice when an incredible opportunity popped up at the end of 2007. I'm still here and, even though my job hasn't turned out 100% perfect, I'm totally happy I went for it. The only things I've ever really regretted in life are opportunities I didn't take.

J

Did you mention your quandry to the owner of company x?

I did mention my quandary, and he was very receptive of it.

Can you continue surviving as you are right now for a couple months in the event that you go with your heart and don't get it?

From what i remember, you've been "unemployed" for awhile now, and you seem to be doing ok. If you can keep going the way you are now, then go for the dream job. If you're at the end, need money and stability RIGHT NOW, then go with the contract job and keep waiting for the dream job.

That's just what makes sense to me. Although if i were in your shoes, i'd go for the dream job. I have a hard time taking my own advice.

My dream job is getting ready for bankruptcy right now ;)

My dream job is in a field that is making more and more money now!

That's right. My dream job is that of a bartender.

You know, I could keep getting by for another couple of months easily. It's just hard to walk away from guaranteed income, you know?

P71 wrote: You know, I could keep getting by for another couple of months easily. It's just hard to walk away from guaranteed income, you know?

Guaranteed income jobs that aren't your dream will always pop up. Today, they might be a little more few and far between than we might want, but they're always out there. I've been still applying for 5 jobs a week as a habit over the last few months, and had 2 offers in the last two months, both of which i turned down.

If you can survive until the next guaranteed income job comes around, then go for the dream job.

Possibility of dream job FAR outweighs the possibility of 11 months on a job that you could come to hate, when you don't seem entirely unhappy with your current situation, and can survive easily on it. I'd go with the guaranteed income option in a job that you may not like for 11 months only if you had no other choice. You have two choices that i might consider outweigh this one.

Dream job FTW.

The guaranteed job isn't unlikeable though. It actually looks like a really cool deal and I will be able to help people out and start up a brand new program in my county. I'd be working with civic leaders and a lot of non-profits as wells banks and credit unions. I'd make a lot of contacts plus there's a very good chance of a permanent, well-payed position at the end. It's just in business and finance (my degree fields) instead of automotive (my joy).

Keith wrote: Who cares if it doesn't look good? If your potential dream employer understands, then so be it.

I agree with Keith, who cares if it doesn't look good? And who will be looking? If you're worried about having this on your resume, just don't put it on. Will future potential-employers hire a private eye to research your previous positions and find this skeleton in your closet? I doubt it.

Will it 'not look good' or will you just feel guilty doing it? If you take the guaranteed job and then leave 2 weeks later to work at the dream job, your manager at the guaranteed job will be inconvenienced for about 20 minutes while he calls up his second choice and offers him the job. Don't feel guilty about it. I learned long ago not to feel guilty leaving a company - the company wouldn't feel guilty throwing you out on your butt.

If there is no 'out' in the contract, take the guaranteed job and then just stop showing up when you get the dream job! If you can't leave and they can't fire you, then you've got two incomes!

Bob

Wow, tough choice. Take a certain and potentially great job in your degree field or pursue your passion. I say even though the safety job could really be the prefect job in your field, go for the passion. I'd be very upfront about the situation with the safety job though, seems like the kind of thing where you don't want to burn a bridge.

Do you really want to take your passion and twist it into a 9-5? Then again, how badly are those "what if"s gonna bug you?

yea, I'm not much help am I

But I'm excited to see what decision you make!

I took the safe job. I'm a conservative when it comes to career choice. Hopefully I can stay in contact with the dream job and see what happens in 11 months.

I sometimes wonder if I would lose the passion if I worked on cars daily, making your hobby a job can spoil the hobby.

However I am a risk taker and would probably have gone for the dream job.

Hope your choice works out for you mate.

Steve

P71 wrote: I took the safe job. I'm a conservative when it comes to career choice. Hopefully I can stay in contact with the dream job and see what happens in 11 months.

good luck! do your best!

Congrats on the job! It's easy to armchair quarterback this one and say go for the dream job but you obviously have your stuff together and know what you are doing. Keep in touch with the dream job though, go for some visits and get to know the people there and who knows you may get that one too!

aussiesmg wrote: I sometimes wonder if I would lose the passion if I worked on cars daily, making your hobby a job can spoil the hobby.

I work in the auto industry, but it's different working a plant that makes mini-vans than working on a project in my garage. So, it's kind of like a happy medium.

My father-in-law was real into small planes so he got a job as an airplane mechanic at a local airport for a couple years. Seems to have kind of killed his interest in planes.

Either way, congrats on the job. The job market's tough right now.

P71, you never know when the company will have another opening, so if they could use you now, chances are they will be able to use you later. Send them a thank you card and you never know if they'll call you later... One of my interviewers recited a few lines from one I sent after an interview and said it was the best one she has received from anyone all year.

P71 I wouold go with contact. I have had "dream job" befor working in body shops. But hine sight I am glad that I'm not in that feild eny more.