new

In about a week, I expect to get a call with a job offer in NY. I will have about 1 week from when I get the offer to decide. It would mean my 8th apartment in 4.5 years. My third city in 1 year. Picking up and starting all over…again. It would also be a good career move. I have no idea what to do.

If I say no, i’ll have about 5 months before I get laid off to go find another job. Also, I’ll get a nice severance package. Finding a new job shouldn’t be a problem, since I’ve already had several headhunters call, and I haven’t even really made the effort to job-hunt.

When I was a senior in college, I took this job because they came to the job fair, offered a good salary, and basically did enough to convince me to sign up. I never really looked anywhere else. I know now that it was a good move, but I basically took the first job that fell into my lap. My worry is that if I take the NY job, i’ll be doing the same thing. It’ll be a career move, when I don’t even know if this is what I want as my career.

I love my job. But, what I have to figure out is why. I get along really well with my boss, and my co-workers. I think that plays a bigger role than what I actually do on a day-to-day basis. If you took the exact same job, but replaced the people, would I still like it? If I take the NY job who knows what my co-workers will be like.

Part of me feels that I haven’t really given LA a chance. I’ve only been here 6 months, of course I am not going to know a lot of people or always have tons of social activities going on. However, I do feel that I would find more people with common interests if I went back east. Maybe not though. Maybe I should just stay here and find some roots. Get myself integrated and settled. I think a lot of the problems I’ve run into are common for people in my position, who are transitioning from college life to work life. It’s harder to meet people. There isn’t that common party scene. You have way less free time, and everyone is busier.

If I stay in LA, there will be a few co-workers who stay in the city and find new jobs. I will know a handful of people. But I probably won’t see them much, since we won’t be working together. I will meet new people through a new job though.

If I go to NY I have family there, and my Dad and sis are in other east coast cities, so I’d see everyone in the fam a whole lot more. But I don’t know anyone my age in NY, outside of the couple of co-workers who might also take the job out there with me.

I don’t think there is anything I would do in NY that I can’t do here in LA. I think i’ve been overemphasizing location. I can play soccer here, I just haven’t been. I can go hiking and snowboarding here, I just haven’t.

The idea of going through the uncertainty and unpredictability of a job hunt does scare me. Taking the NY job is safe and easy, kinda like taking this job was for me when I was in school. I’m probably letting this fear restrict my options considerably.

My thought are a jumble of emotions, fears, and rationalizations. This torrent is coming to a head, and soon my next big decision in life faces me. I just hope I have some answers by then.