what to do what to do....

These are some of my notes on the job in France... i have been thinking very hard...

Frenchjob

Had the interview today for the job in France.  It went well but I am definitely more contemplative about it tonight, a little less psyched.  I think this as expected because before you talk about the details of the job you have a picture in your head about all the good things... then when you get into the details some of the things that are so rosy are less so.  This is ok though - Erin thought that this makes us optimists and I agree!

The first bit that was interesting was that we were both looking at this job from a different perspective.  I looked this as an opportunity for a new job at my current company, that I would leave the team I was on and go work on this project with this team.  I had known of other people who only went over for two weeks at a time, but since my understanding was that my committment would be longer and travel would be more extensive I thought this was a different job.   They were looking at this as a loan - I would continue on with the department and the team I am on now and I would be on "loan" for this project.  I knew going into it that my boss would be less likely to approve that, that she wanted the opportunity to backfill my position if I was going to work on this project.   Secondly, given the amount of work that is needed I think they can do with a full-time employee, but they felt that this job was not a FT job... this was my first indication that things were not all rosy.  Let me break it down into the different parts, move onto a discussion of pro/cons and then discuss what the answer would be depending on what my motive is.

The Work:  The actual work itself sounds great.  Content translation and delivery for a variety of media sources from a variety of channels and departments.  The position requires the development and implementation of work flows for a variety of external third party vendors and review committees, a careful detailed eye, the ability to cataloged and maintain knowledge of all document that have been translated and in what revision they are in.  Because of my background this job is quite perfect for me.  In addition, the job requires the ability to balance the difficult task of keeping the queues full for a variety of content channel so that staffing can stay consistent - something I am familiar with from my time working for HMCO with the India team.

The Life:   Its a hotel not an apartment.  The hotel is nice, but not great and there is no way to "settle in" to the rooms (no fridge, no restaurant after 7PM, no efficiency amenities)  I could make it work but this is on my con list.  I am 35 not 25 and less in love with "roughing it" alot.

The Travel:  I can set this schedule as I see fit.  I would need to be over there quite a bit in the beginning but once the project gets going I could set my own travel schedule.  I let them know I have a variety of dates I need to be in the US for and they were fine with that.  

The people:  They are all very nice, everyone seems to be ready to get to work on this project and it would be a good group to work with.

The Offer:  As I said they didn't come to this expecting that this was a position that would need to be offered to me, they felt they would just borrow me, so we didn't make it very far today.  Depending on what happens with that will depend on what happens here.  They can tell me that they want me and here is the offere, they can tell me they found a team for me and they are going to move me to that team and then loan me from there, they could tell me there is nothing they can do.  In the first two scenarios they would tell me the money is the same (lateral move), or that it is a promotional oppurtonity or that the are going to bonus me.  I had originally gone down there today thinking that I would not do it for the money I am making now.  It is a different job and has a set of responsibilities and requirements that would cause me to need to spend money and I have a bit of a rule not to take a job that costs me money.   Not to mention that the job carries a greater sense of responsiblity and "ass on the lineness" than I have today.  On the other hand it is a great oppurtonity, but I think you have to go back to why you are doing this (more about that later).    That all being said they may feel that my current salary is plenty for the work, they may even be right, but I can only make decisions based on what my gut tells me.

Today my gut told me to make a pro/con list.. so here it is

Pro
1.  Its Paris
2. Great visibility at Health Dialog
3. Frequent flier miles
4. Save on food and expenses
5. Able to travel
6. Re acclimate to language
7. Experience/ professional
8. Great on resume
9. Matt could visit, we could travel
10.Set my own travel schedule
11. work from home

Cons
1. Separation from Matt at onset of relationship
2. Would have to back burner photography
3. Would miss Hailey and Riley
4. Gone three weeks at a time
5. Cali
6. Matt would move in to early/wrong reasons
7. Less work/life balance
8. Lose the ability to renovate the downstairs
9. No routine
10.No garden
11. No vacation
12. Weight Gain
13. Possible death

As you can see I have more cons than pros - but they need to be weighted and I need to sleep on this a bit.   So given this I guess you have to look at the reason for going to help you make a decision... so why go/why am I going?  Keeping in mind that they actual work sounds great to me, the work they would like me to do is good stuff for me.

1.To travel in France

2.To beef up resume/climb ladder at job

3.To be fluent in french

4.To make more money

So I guess if you were going to do this for reason #1 what you have to ask yourself is how much can I travel?  From what was laid out to me today they often meet on weekends and the day in France is 9AM to 7PM.  If the big wigs are in town on weekends they we work or meet quite a bit and as the project ramps up more then we will likely be in town on weekends meeting.  So I am not sure how much of #1 I could do, probably not a good reason to do it.

Number #2 is a good reason and this job would certainly do that.  Now if I could just figure out what it would get me overall... do I want to climb the ladder?  I thought my next job was out of this place, my next job was photography.  I need to think on that because if I am committed to my next job being photography then this seems irrelevant.. am I trying to simultaneously plan for a career and a business?  As Einstein said "You can't simultaneously plan for and prevent a war"

Number #3 is not a bad reason and I could certainly get this done... I would love to be able to speak French quickly and fluently and this job would get that done.. but then I need to compare that goal against my list of cons... more thinking

Number #4 is a bad reason because money doesn't bring you happiness but in this case money would make the difficulties of this trip a bit easier.  Maybe what it is is that I love the work, I would love the job, but loving it isn't enough to overcome my list of cons.  Money would allow me to fly Matt over a bit more, money would allow me to pay contractors to renovate my downstairs so I could be sure to get it done this year, money would make up for the revenue I will lose from not having a photography business this year.  I have to spend money to make money so if #2 is a priority then maybe this is OK.  I want to make a choice that says at the end of this I will be better off for having taken it and I that I have served what has been giving to me in terms of gifts in this life.  It is not just my life that is getting altered in this scenario, its Matt's as well, he would need to give up his apartment, move into suburbia, give up his position on the water board, change what he thought he was doing - that is no small request to make and if I can make that sacrifice easier but allowing him to live here and flying him over once and a while that I want to be able to do that.  I am not sure being separated and taking an income hit on my photography is worth the same money.  I know what I make now and how much goes into that - i have a solid work/life balance.  This would upset that apple cart and put me much more in work mode.. what does that cost?

So that is where I am right now, these are the things I am pondering... stay tuned tomorrow for more thoughts on this process...