At around noon a couple of Fridays ago, as I scrambled to get my work done by the start of the weekend, I got a phone call from a consultant at another office in the same organization in which I work. She asked if I was available that day (at 3:00 PM) for a “chat”.

Not knowing really what it was about, I agreed because I did know that it had something to do with some new positions that have cropped up due to some job changes at work.

I drove to her site that afternoon for the meeting at 3 PM. When I got there, she brought me into a boardroom with another consultant at the same site to talk about the job at that site. I’d never met this consultant, but she is somewhat known to me because we work in the same department. I work closely with some of her colleagues, and also some of his.

They sat me down and asked me a few questions, after which essentially tried to “sell” themselves to me. They told me that, most likely, I would have to chose between two jobs; the one at the site that I’m currently at, and the one there. They were telling me all about the good things there and the opportunities that might arise by “choosing” their job.

Originally, I had thought that I wanted the job at my site, but I didn’t know these other consultants, and I didn’t know what sort of opportunities were available to me. So when I got both job offers, I had a decision to make.

Because I’m super planner, I had my decision made already because of a nifty pros/cons list I had made. I chose the job that wasn’t at my work site.

Because the job I am currently doing is temporary and part-time, it’s a HUGE change and it will be my first real, permanent employment (because I don’t consider retail a real job, ha) and it coincides almost perfectly from when I graduate.

So, here are the specs:

Salary

In the interest of not being tacky, I won’t tell you what I make in dollar figures, but I can tell you that because I will be working 30% more than I was before, I will be making 30% more than I was before.

Pension

I already have pretty decent benefits with my temporary job, but one of the biggest bonuses of this new, permanent, REAL job is pension.

Now, most people don’t think the pension will be around for forever, but at least I will be able to utilize it for the foreseeable future. The organization I work for would never go bankrupt, so they can’t just take it away from me.

So, they contribute 9% of my salary into the pension, and I contribute 6%. With this in mind, it will be as if I am making 39% more than I was before.

I am very excited about this, but it doesn’t mean I will stop saving for retirement myself.

Benefits 

As I had mentioned, I do have benefits with my temporary job but they are actually going to cut them sooner rather than later. We currently have the best in industry benefits in BC, but they are bringing them down to industry standard (which is still really good). Right now, we have massage therapy benefits, acupuncture, naturopathic doctors, and some other cool stuff.

I also get life insurance through my work with this new job. If I pass away from something not self-inflicted, my beneficiary will receive 3x my annual salary.

Vacation

I am excited about it all, but probably the most exciting thing is the vacation time.

I start out with four weeks of vacation time a year (paid), and can earn an extra week by increasing my work hours for a small period of time.

I don’t mind five weeks of vacation a year . It should come in handy when we visit Europe next year!

New Challenges

My portfolio in my new job will be the largest in my department. I will be supporting two consultant’s portfolios, plus supporting the manager.

Most other people in my job support one or two consultants, and their portfolios are not as large as mine will be.

This is fabulous, because supporting a manager will allow me much more opportunities to show my skill set, expand it, work on projects that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to work on, and overall dazzle people with my awesome-ness (yes, I will be doing lots of that).

 

Overall, this job is exactly what I wanted to do, for the company I had always wanted to work for, and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to chose between two jobs when so many people are struggling to find even one.

I start on August 27th and am beyond excited. Now, I have to avoid spending all of my money on cute shoes. Like Havaianas!

Wish me luck!