and now I have two within a month.
So I was working as a temp receptionist at a major government contractor. 2-4 week gig. Then someone tells me the receptionist position is open.
I'm doing a good job, staying on top of things and generally being a good employee so I get recommended for the job. Apparently the office I work at and another office close by share phone lines. So the receptionist over there asks me to send her my resume. I do, think nothing of it.
I get a job at another company that's a consulting firm, asking me to come in for an interview. I come in, interview and it goes well because they offer me the position. Not having anything better (it was 10+ thousand more than the receptionist job), I signed the offer. The position is called Emergency Management Exercise Analyst.
Well today, I got a call from the government contractor, essentially offering me a position. Only not for the reception position that I thought. Its for the Facilities Operations Manager position. I was kind of surprised and then ... well ... now I don't know what to do.
I've had a few threads on job searching and everyone asks me what I want to do. I honestly don't care. However, I did come up with 4 "dream jobs"
1. Be the starting shortstop, catcher or closer for the Washington Nationals. Will never happen.
2. Federal law enforcement. Actually been a desire of mine for a while. But, the federal government isn't really hiring. When they do take applications, its only for a small time window and its usually a lot of more applicants than they thought.
3. Any job that gets me a 7+ figure salary and won't result in me getting a disease or thrown in prison
4. Operations center work. I love them. Did them in the Marine Corps. Then I discovered that in the civilian world you actually get an equal number of days off for the days you work (4 days on, 4 days off). I pulled 12+ hour shifts every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So with that in mind, these are the two job break downs
Consulting Firm (Emergency Management Exercise Analyst)
Very much a sit down job. It's a contract for Dept of Homeland Security. Would be a lot of sitting down and and working at a computer. Would get to design exercises for DHS and state governments, primarily their ops centers
+ EM work with DHS could be very career enhancing
+ Got the impression from the interview that they are expecting me to rise quickly and take on a different billet. This has been confirmed in post interview emails and talks ("we have big plans for you")
-/+ Shirt and tie type of place (this doesn't bother me as much as I thought, but I'm betting it could get old)
- Less money (by at least 10k)
- Hour long commute (each way) that would be at least 6 bucks a day to ride Metro. Driving there and parking would take longer and cost more
Defense Contractor (Operations Facilities Manager)
Essentially running day to day type stuff. Making sure maintenance gets done, supplies are ordered and delivered and handling moving of offices and personnel. Would also supervise facility leads and administrative staff. If you're familiar with the Marine Corps, this is essentially they type of position a Company Gunny would be. A lot of mix and match type jobs. A lot of improvising and moving around
+ More money (again, by at least 10k)
+ Company is much larger than the consulting firm. A lot of opportunities to move up. Always a lot of new contracts coming in too
+ Much shorter commute (20 minutes)
+ Great people. Liked working there when I was the receptionist. Fun and laid back
+ Casual dress code. My supervisor there wore blue jeans and a company polo shirt
-/+ Clearance. Not sure if it would be renewed or activated since the position doesn't technically require it
- Would have to bail on a job I've accepted
- Would end up with a lot of odd ball jobs that no one else wanted to do
- Not sure if I would be able to get back in to an operations center type environment
So ... what should I do?