My husband has interviews, money or happiness.
I am sooo very glad my husband got three interviews. He was excited about the first one but we don't think he got the job since they were supposed to have made a selection by now. Bummer. It would have been a slightly higher range than he is now.
The second interview was today. It is for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources which is where I work. It is a much lower level position than his now. It would be a huge pay cut and he already makes less than I do now. We would feel pretty broke! There are many upsides to this position however. First, it is with really, really nice people! That would be a great change after the lousy leadership and managers he has had lately.
It also has a great view with big windows on the 12th floor looking at the mountains nearby and I think that would be great for him after being stuck in a windowless basement for 2.5 years! In Alaska that means going to work in the dark and then going home in the dark and never seeing the sun at all!! In the summer it means missing out on the gorgeous summer. It is also depressing being in a tinted glass box looking at monitors inside and prisoners in cells on the other side.
Finally, this job at DNR is known as the training position since it deals with a little bit of everything. He would learn about mining, water, land sales, permits, park and rec, forestry, agriculture and everything DNR is involved in. Every person in these jobs gets recruited for higher level positions in DNR. It is kind of expected and encouraged. So, he would not be there forever. He would be able to move up.
However, it could take years for him to move up to the level of pay he already has let alone a higher level like he wanted. He would be starting at the very bottom in a whole new line of work. He is torn since it will be a huge pay cut and he is worried about our financial situation.
I want him to get out of his current position even if it does mean a pay cut. We don't know if he will be able to find a job at a higher level somewhere else. The job market is super completive here however and he has applied for many jobs and never even gotten an interview sometimes.
The third interview he has is for the permanent version of his current job which is non-permanent. His current position will be ending shortly and we don't know if he will be selected for the permanent job due to the corruption and nepotism I discussed earlier. I want him to be able to get away from that environment even if it means a pay cut. We just didn't realize how big of a pay cut the DNR job would be. I am a Range 18 and he is currently a Range 15 with the state. He would be starting at a range 10 with the DNR job and it would become a Range 12 after 6 months of training. He already meets the minimum qualifications for a Range 14 (where I started) so with this experience I think he could get a Range 14 in 6 months to a year. So, a year from now he may be a Range 14, still lower than the Range 15 he has currently. Then it takes 2 years as a Range 14 to move up or a year of graduate school. Maybe he will go back to a plan we discussed where he does graduate school online.
In any case, it is a decision between money and happiness. He also has very close friends where he works now that he will be sad to leave. He says he is really interested in getting into Natural Resources though so if he is happy I will totally support the move.
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Boy, that's a tough call. If you are a family of faith, leave it in gods hands. He will lead him to what is best. That's what I believe. Good article! Thank you
Rene'
I usually say that happiness takes precedence over money, but these days I am pretty inclined to go for money first in an effort to relieve the stress of the situation we are in.
That said, if you can manage to get by while pursuing happiness, then happiness wins.
It's unfortunate that anyone should ever have to choose between being happy or making a decent living. That's why we all need WA.
Yes, thanks Craig! I am just afraid if he stays where he is the corruption there could make things even worse. They already wrote up a letter of reprimand and gave him a bad performance eval once (the eval was finally pulled a year later) due to the problem employee. I am afraid if that sort of thing happens again he could find himself without a job at all and with a bad eval... then it would be hard to find any job and we would be worse off than we are now.
I would like him to just get out of there no matter what at this point. The money won't be worth much if he ends up in a lawsuit etc.
But, it is so scary to go backwards too, knowing it could take years to catch back up! Very rough on him.
I hope your search results in something soon.
Unfortunately most outdoor positions allow for the great environment by cutting salary benefits. I was able to get over this by working for the forestry in my youth!
Yes. This is strictly an indoor position with great benefits. We got lots of leave and retirement and health care etc. He misses an outdoor position sometimes though.
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When I started brewing commercially I took a 65% pay cut. Since then, it has led me to some very interesting places and gained me a reputation in certain countries. Sometimes starting at the bottom again is the first step to greater heights