So, I'm starting a new job

It's all happened pretty quickly too....kind of.

Last year during the spring when it was getting close to Alene quitting her job and us having a baby, I had started to kind of think about how we were going to live financially without Alene's income. On paper, we were able to pay the mortgage and the bills, but there was nothing left over for stuff like food, gas, and living expenses. When we sold our old home we paid off ALL our credit cards and both loans we had on our cars. The only debt payments we had left over was our Student loans and our mortgage, so that felt somewhat good. Still, it wasn't going to work.

Luckily we put some money in savings to keep us afloat for at least 4 months or so, but come January our savings pretty much dwindled down to $1000, which had us scared.

Alene knew all along, or at least we were pretty sure that her old job wanted her to come back and work part time, so we knew that was an option. She makes pretty good money there, so it was better than me working a menial pt job at $10 an hour somewhere.

So, back to last spring...as I'm pondering what I'm going to do, I am referred to this job with one of the largest banks in America, that pretty much fits the description of what I do, but with more responsibility. I was stoked for it. I applied and received a phone call to interview in person, with the supervisor of this area. The job consists of basically managing 60+ properties for this bank throughout the state of Utah. My boss is located in another state, so it's a self-managed position (for the most part). The interview went really well and after that I had phone interviews with her boss and with a person from HR. They told me I was a final candidate and I was feeling pretty good......then....nothing.

I waited a month and finally e-mailed her. She said they were still waiting. I continued to email once a month to inquire about it and she continued to tell me they were still deciding. Finally November came (6 months) and I asked how things were going and whether I was still a candidate or not. She told me that I had a great interview and I was definitely qualified, but they decided to "go in a different direction". I was fine with it and moved on.

December came, money was getting slim, so I started looking around a lot for part time jobs. Alene wasn't quite sure what her company was going to do. We thought there was a slim chance they wouldn't want her so we wanted to be prepared for me to work a second job. Luckily they still wanted her and we arranged so that she would work a couple of nights a week, which would require us to leave bailey with a sitter for just a couple of hours a week as well until I could pick her up after work.

So a few weeks ago I get a phone call from a gentleman from this same company I had interviewed with stating that he understood I had applied for the job and asked if I was still interested. I said I was but explained to him that I was already turned down for the job. He said they have decided they do need to fill the position and he wanted to interview me. He flew out here and I learned he has just taken over the region and would be my boss. The interview lasted 2.5 hrs and I thought it went really well. In the mean time, I told my boss about my intentions of interviewing and she was really supportive, which was really nice. Within a couple of days of interviewing I get a phone call to do an interview with another person in the same position as my future boss. That phone interview went really well also (as I was told by the lady I interviewed with).

A couple of hours later I get a phone call from my future boss with a great offer (over 20% more than I make right now and in the interview I had asked for something in the range of 10%-15% more than what I was making so they maxed out what I wanted). I told him I needed the weekend to think it over, then I would call him back.

Everything happened so quickly and I wanted to be sure this was what I wanted to do. I didn't want to do this "just for the money" as much as we needed it. The job itself seemed like a no-brainer to take because it truly was the "next step" in my career field. At my current job, I'm VERY self-managed with a flexible schedule enough to allow me to take time off during the day (if needed) for school, or a family event. My boss doesn't micro-manage and during the fall, she allows me to leave work a little earlier so I can coach HS football. It's all great, but I've been doing it for 10+ years and there is no chance of me being able to get promoted.

With this current job I will still have a lot of that kind of flexibility, but I get the feeling I will be more closely managed, which isn't a bad thing. I won't be able to coach HS football (which I really had to think strongly about over the weekend), but I know I can still coach Caiden's teams, which is probably most important anyway. I spent the entire weekend pondering it. I could not get it off my mind. As the weekend grew to an end, I felt better and better about this job. It's a job that is a step up in responsibility and experience. It's something I need to advance my career. I know it's right for me, even if I have to give up some perks from my old job.

The only other downside to this is the vacation time, which is still OK by me. I'll be getting 3 weeks paid instead of 4, but I get 6 paid sick days on top of that, so it pretty much evens out (as long as I get sick of course). Lastly, since I'm starting off new, they pro-rate the vacation time, which only leaves me with 8 days for the full year after I start. That sucks, but in the long run it will be worth it.

I'm feeling better and better about this as it gets nearer. I'll miss my old job, but I look forward to the responsibility and experience I'll get from my new job. I am a person that doesn't like to jump from one job to the next. I like consistency and I really hope to put in some good years with this company. They are a very stable company that is doing good compared to most banks. My loyalty at my job has always lied first with those I work closely with and I anticipate it will be this way with my new company.

Mostly, I'm happy that I know that if Alene wanted to quit her job, she could and we would live just fine off my paycheck. Right now we have decided for her to keep her job so we can put a lot of money toward our student loans. When she is ready to have another baby (we don't know when, but we know we'll want another one) she will quit her job and we on her not have to worry about working again. Her job consists of a few nights a week, and a Saturday every once in a while. So long as either of us can be with the kids, or that they have to have little time with a sitter, we feel good about it. We are getting out of that student loan debt and saving money at the same time.

I feel very blessed. Some may say I'm lucky, but I honestly feel blessed. I have a good wife, two wonderful kids, and the future looks bright for my career. I don't have much I should complain about, and if anyone hears me doing it, tell me to shut up.