Careful What You Wish For

For weeks I've been begging the Universe to send me a job. Then what happens? The Universe sends me two in one day. What a sense of humor. Very funny Universe.

Both the foster care place and the at risk youth place want me. I agonized all day Friday trying to figure out how to maneuver the two offers without losing either of them. The foster care place was direct with their offer whereas the job at risk youth place, the one I have met with 3 times already, is contingent on me wowing their #1 board member on Tuesday at noon.

When the foster care place called first thing Friday morning, I delayed in returning the call thinking I could push them off with a clever game of phone tag so that they would be forced to make the formal offer on Monday thus allowing me to ask for a day to consider it. But the clever woman left her cell phone number and a job offer on her second message so there was no avoiding it. All afternoon I fretted. Especially after the Executive Director from the at risk place called me on her day off to spell out that I was their number one choice and basically hand-fed me helpful information for the meeting with their very rich, very connected Board member. If I don't wow her, I am not in. Plus, she wants me to be prepared with a "major gift ask" which, truth be told, I loathe doing. It would be half of my job and well, that's on my mind for sure. Oh yeah, and I have to wear some sort of power suit. Me? Power suit? They've made this Board member out to be such trouble, I wonder if, after I meet her, I won't want the job? I've had my share of Board drama. I am not looking for a repeat performance with new scenery.

Of course I have made a list. The pros and cons of each job along with a list of all the benefits included. They are pretty comparable in the bennies department and in their organizational missions but they differ greatly on office atmosphere, type of work and pay scale.

I spent 20 minutes talking to my potentially new boss at the foster care place and was almost ready to just say, "I'll take it!" She is so easy to talk to. Very cool. About my age. Has worked in HIV/AIDS doing volunteer coordination for years before moving over to work there. She's a straight forward, honest person and we get along great. I felt that way about the other two key department members there as well. It would be an easy commute, livable wage, and meaningful work. But, I'd just be doing volunteer stuff with the occasional events-related duties instead of the other way around. I thought I wanted to stay in development so I can make my way to being an Executive Director someday. The bad part about wanting that is you have to do all the financial/donor stuff. And that stuff just does not excite me.

The other job with the at risk youth would be a challenge as well as a move up for me. I'd be in charge of all the events as well as individual donors. It's a very small office with only 8 staff and fairly new- only 3 years old. The boss is new too since arriving from NY in January. She's very straightforward and direct and I like that about her. And the Deputy Director is sweet and we get along great (we should after 3 very long interviews) but she is a few months pregnant and will be on leave for some time right about the time I'd be getting into the thick of it. Plus, their office is very messy. Chaotic. Piles of boxes and papers and stuff everywhere. I have trouble concentrating when I am in there. But the pay could be significantly higher than the other job (and my previous job in California) and it would look good on my resume for my supposed "career path."

There are worse situations than this, for sure. But I am agonizing nonetheless.