April 1, 2008

I feel like I am being pulled in so many different directions right now, with an underlying sense of (job) insecurity and flux just enough to keep me off-kilter and unable to make reasoned decisions. The basic situation, as most (all three of you, heh heh) know, is that I currently have a job that lasts through June 30. The job is good, great even (good pay, autonomy, great but far away colleagues, work from home), but probably not sustainable in my remote location from HQ plus it is a type of work that I have done before I got my PhD. And in my mind, apparently that is a con. I am ready for something different. I just started applying to jobs to test the waters - one locally, 3 out of state - and the local one just offered me the job. They are even willing to wait until July when I am done with my current obligation. It's a state job, which typically pay about 15% less than the private sector - major con. Other potential con is that I'm not sure how interesting the work would be -- seems to involve evaluating welfare programs, as in TANF and foodstamps and medicaid and such. Big pro is that I could stay here!

The same day I get this offer, I get asked by some former colleagues (where I was a doctoral fellow last year) if I'm interested in some short-term work helping them evaluate a super-cool project designed to get more local citizens to donate to non-profits. This would be from April to September.

And then, these out-of-state jobs are out there, which I may never hear from - they're with big entities with recruiters and stuff -- but the jobs themselves are really interesting and focused on subject matter that I actually have studied and could see myself working on for years to come. Those type of jobs could take 3-4 months to pan out, if at all.

I am not a risk-taker, so you see the dilemma. I know I am lucky to be getting offers of any kind; it's just never as straightforward as I'd like it to be. I will have to decide on the local job pretty soon, before I have anything else lined up.