Let me try to summarize what's going on. I have such MIXED feelings about what's going on and just need to put this down and see what you guys think.. First, this is NOT the first time that another company/employer have tried to entice me away from where I'm currently working BUT this is the FIRST TIME I'M SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING IT.
It IS FLATTERING to know that people WANTS me to work for them BUT at the same time it's causing me MORE STRESS and I just don't know what to do!!
About a month ago, this company contacted me about having me be in a short clip on their website and I was interviewed over the video phone for this. To my surprise, one of the interviewers was a long lost good friend of mine who is now the director of PR/marketing for that company.
After working with them on this video clip, I received an email from this friend/director (Let's call him Jack) putting "feelers" out about an unofficial job position (Jack added a line at the end saying "Want to move back home for this?" kinda joking I thought) and I replied saying I'd see if I could find any qualified candidates for him (I work with employers to set up interviews, etc).
At that time I got real busy coordinating a big job fair so I didn't reply to another email from Jack following up on this. He called me up and when I apologized and promised I'd see if I could find some candidates after the fair, he looked at me and said "Pamela, remember I asked if you wanted to move back home? I was NOT joking.. We are interested in YOU for this. We have heard so much about you and everyone recommended you highly to us. Will YOU consider this opportunity?? I even spoke to our Vice President of Marketing about YOU and she's interested in meeting you."
I about fell out of my chair- I guess I was just so stressed and focused on the fair that I didn't see this coming. I told Jack I was open to opportunities BUT that I couldn't discuss it at that time since I was very busy with the fair and asked if we could discuss it further after the fair which was last week. He agreed and asked me to email him my resume and my salary range.
Exactly TWO DAYS after the fair, Jack emailed me to follow up so I emailed him my resume and salary range. Sunday, he emailed me and said he wanted to fly me out to interview me ASAP at their expense.
I wasn't expecting this to be happening so FAST! I agreed and I will be flying out Sunday evening and be interviewed on Monday then fly back Mon night.
I started getting more mixed feelings about the whole thing so I called a good friend of mine (let's call him Tim) who works at that company but in a different department and asked him what he thought. He gave me some good information about the company then when I mentioned that Jane (Vice President of Marketing) will be interviewing me with Jack, Tim said "Pamela, the job's obviously yours!" Tim explained when Jack wants something, he goes after it and it's OBVIOUS that Jack wants me to work for them ESPECIALLY since Jack has gotten Jane involved in the interview process. Normally, Jack will just interview the candidate with a few of his people under him and it's RARE that Jane would be involved. Tim said it's pretty obvious that I will have the job and the interview is just a formality. I about pulled my hair out when he said that because that made me start thinking about all the logistics (moving cross country from Maryland to Utah with six cats, how to tell my boss, how to wrap things up at work, etc). I did NOT want to hear this!
Jack called me today to give me more details and I was informed that I will also meet with the CEO of the company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I about died inside when he mentioned that!! I DID not need more pressure!! I asked if that was normal for the CEO to be involved with the interviewing process. Jack said in the beginning when the CEO was setting up the company over 10-15 years ago, he was involved with the interviewing process but since the company has grown so much and now there are thousands of people working for him, he has stopped that a long time ago. He does like to keep in the loop with the PR department, apparently heard about me and wants to meet and chat for a while. I am very flattered and excited about this but at the same time I am SCARED AND TERRIFIED AND .......... Tim about FLIPPED out when I called him later and told him about the CEO wanting to meet me. He said that was extremely rare.
I mean, part of me would be thrilled to move back home and be near my family finally along with childhood friends. Part of me is terrified to leave my current job cuz I LOVE the job. I do not have many close friends here (most of my close friends are out west). There's really nothing holding me here except my job to be honest. I'm scared that if I do get this job and I move back that I'd regret it and will not be able to get my current job back. (There are not many jobs like what I have now). I also am feeling guilty about thinking about leaving my co workers- we have been through so much, we've fought to get more staff and now are FINALLY getting more positions so we can hire people. I am also one of the KEY people in my department. I HATE to say this but I KNOW if I leave, it'll be TOUGH for the department since I do so much for the department. My wonderful boss keep telling me how amazing I am and that he couldn't do without me. At the recent fair, he was talking with some employers and when they complimented him on everything related to the fair, he pointed to me and said "Pamela did it all. She deserves all the credit." I told him that was not true and that I couldn't have done it without him or the team. At that point, he said "Pamela, you did 95% of the work and it was amazing."
I recently spoke with a friend of mine about this and she knows a co worker of mine and she said "Oh boy, from what I've heard from your co worker, your department will really struggle without you since you do so much and you are pivotal to your department." That really hit me hard because this co worker does not give out compliments lightly and she has never really complimented me to my face about work. I told her that everyone CAN be replaced and that maybe someone better qualified will replace me... Who knows?
My current boss is a WONDERFUL BOSS and I feel guilty for thinking of leaving this job if I do get this job offer. I LOVE my job but I do have to admit that it is getting OLD that I have to bring work home to catch up on often, that I have to stay at work LATE often and I have a hard time taking a few days off because I keep thinking of work that need to be done.
I am also TERRIFIED that I will not be happy living in Utah because of the environment there. (People there are OBSESSED with marriage and I am HAPPILY SINGLE). I am TERRIFIED that I will feel more LEFT OUT with my family if I'm there with them (long and complex story that I won't go into!).
Am I wrong for feeling this way? Has any of you gone through something like this? If so, how do you handle all the mixed feelings and making a TOUGH decision like this??
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!! I'm so sorry this is so long!! Thank you for your patience if you've read down this far!