Career Advice

My company recently announced they were closing the part of the facility that I work in at the end of September. I was offered a position in a different part of the company (moving from operations to finance side) - I was hesitant to even interview for it but decided to. My brain tells me it was an obvious decision to take the job - it is slightly more $ then I make now, I won’t have to job hunt in a few months and I keep my seniority with vacation/401K. I don’t know for sure why but my gut told me not to take the job (and partly my heart - even though I’m not leaving the company, I will be “jumping ship” early from my current work family which makes me sad) . My head tells me my gut is crazy - take this or you get to put yourself under even more stress with even more unknowns in a few months. I did accept (everyone else was also telling me this was the obvious decision as well)

I accepted the job a few days ago and still can’t stop thinking about if this is what I really want for my career. I really think I’d like to stay on the operations/DC warehouse side but I have no way of knowing if I’ll be able to find the exact type of job I want. If I didn’t accept (at this point I don’t know what they would do if I unaccept) I would have gotten about 5.5 months severance at the end. I’m also not the type of person to job hop, so yes I know if I don’t like this job I can find a different one but unfortunately I’m unlikely to do that even if I don’t like the job and I would be doing so without the added benefit of severance.
In the mean time, everyone is super happy for me (and a little jealous) while I’m pretty sad about it. Thoughts?

It sounds like your work defines you. I’d say to you what I’ve said to anyone who’s ever worked for me:

  • Every job you ever have will be a dim memory someday
  • Your job pays for your life, is isn’t your life

Maybe it’s time to save up some money and try a whole new gig, or no gig at all, go travel and explore.

If it is making you sad, I’d say try to find another job. I worked in IT for 12 years before I joined the army. I moved from job to job always thinking that it was the company I didn’t like before I finally realized it is the work. Now I’m out of the army and doing research, and as much as I enjoyed the army this is definitely my life’s passion. I’m not say quit today of course, you have to pay the bills and such, but I’d start looking for something you love. You have to work for a large percentage of your life, it is nice for it to be something you enjoy.

If you’re right, and once you’re on the job you’re unlikely to be motivated to switch, even if you dislike it, then I think you’re a fool for doing this.

You’ve just given yourself a life sentence at a job you already feel off about! If you know you lack what it takes to make a change later, then at least have the wisdom to NOT make a foolish choice now.

Especially not because your peers think it’s right for you, all the while ignoring every fibre of your being screaming otherwise. Ignoring your own intellect and wisdom never turns out well, in my experience.

Im gonna wish you heaps of Good Luck, I think you’ll need it!

I don’t know, man. The way I see it, you are trying to decide if you should or should not look for a job in six months. The only question is whether you decide to take a chance of being unemployed while doing so.

Yes, you’ll be away from your “work family”, but that will also happen if you don’t accept the offer.

From what I understand, you haven’t tried the finance job yet. What makes you think it will be so horrible? Are you unqualified? Do you know that there are horrible people in that office?

The part I don’t get is where you’re certain that you will remain in the finance job even if you don’t like it. Why is that? Do you dislike/fear shopping for jobs?

Do the opposite of what I say.

My gut feeling is that the finance job is a good opportunity to add some new skills to your resume. I’d stick with it.