365 #5 - Monday, Jan 9

Today I am thankful for a million things that God has thrown at me in the last 20 years.  He sent me to Japan to serve a mission, which sharpened my work ethic, communication skills, and taught me Japanese.  He gave me the chance to be a full-time interpreter, which was my dream job when I was 15.  He sent me a wonderful lady to marry, and then gave me a dang good job.  He gave me health and energy and drive to succeed, and a boss who was willing to take risks with me and my independent streak.  I kept that boss for 11 years.  Frankly, he's one of the best things about my former company.  The company gave me challenging assignments, and I saw a career direction I might enjoy.  Then God gave me the chance to charge ahead with education.

And now, after all that, I am not really very qualified to go work on a golf course and mow greens.  I'm much more qualified to manage a team of engineers.  As a kid, I never dreamed of such a job.

Today, I interviewed for a couple of these jobs.  One is in upstate NY.  I talked with my new boss there for an hour on the phone, and at the end we agreed that I would head out there next week to interview with the full team.  I was excited for that result, and sat down to relax.  The phone rang.  It was a headhunter.  I had been trying to get in to interview for a few other local positions since November, but the managers had been too busy to see me.  They had time in 90 minutes.  So I got ready and headed out the door.  We (the headhunter and I) expected the conversation to last 10-20 minutes.  I talked with them for 90 minutes.  At the end of it, the manager asked to make sure to talk to them again before I accepted an offer in NY.  He's considering me for several positions - the issue there is that the team isn't sure where to put me, but there are several opportunities.

There are certainly pluses and minuses to both companies, locations, and management teams.  But there is opportunity out there for the right candidate.