Yakezie.com

When not taking care of her three children, Melissa spends her time writing and blogging at Mom’s Plans where she documents her family’s attempts to learn to live a fulfilling life on less.  She also blogs at Dining Out Challenge where the motto is, “Never pay full price to dine out again.”

The Beginning

Long ago, after I graduated with a B.A. in English (which is essentially useless unless you are planning to continue your studies), I worked at a janitorial supply store.  I helped maintenance men pick the best floor waxes and toilet bowl cleaners.  I worked with four salesmen and helped them place orders and interacted with their clients.  While I liked the people I worked with, the job was, um, less than mentally stimulating.  On the side, I began tutoring second language speakers, and I loved it.

Shortly thereafter, I went to grad school to get an M.A. and was lucky enough to find a full-time community college tenure track teaching position within one year of graduating.  I was excited to teach full-time, but my enthusiasm soon waned.  As typically happens, I had to battle administration from the beginning, most notably in the form of my chair who warned us three new faculty members that the administration was just looking for ways to fire us so we had better be on our toes at all time.

Meanwhile, she expected us to be her minions; community lunch was mandatory, and she got upset with me more than a few times because I wouldn’t share her tuna fish sandwich.  (I wish I was joking, but I am not.)  When another man who was hired at the same time as me abandoned the required community lunches because his wife was in the hospital suffering from diabetes complications, he was scolded by the chair.

The Joys and Difficulties Read More

Last year I was offered a tempting opportunity to join another firm. They offered a 50% pay raise, and guaranteed money for two years. The job was with a start up that was trying to make a big splash.  In the end, I decided to stay with my existing company of over a decade because I was comfortable with my position, enjoyed working with my colleagues, and developed a lot of goodwill.  Besides feeling pretty happy, I was afraid to take any more risk in an otherwise nascent recovery.

As the economy gets better (questionable now), I’m sure many of you will also find new and enticing job opportunities which you’ll stress over.  I went through some serious deliberation for five months before making my decision.  In the following post, I jot down some tips and thought exercises on how to make the right decision that you’ll feel good about. After turning down the sweet offer, I never once felt like it was the wrong choice.  However, I will admittedly always wonder how it would have been.

THE CONSIDERATIONS ONE MUST MAKE BEFORE CHANGING JOBS Read More