My New Job!!

Yup, that's right, I finally got a new job!!  As most of you know, my time here at L-3 has been rocky at times.  Though I get great reviews each year and enjoy and get along with most of my colleagues, HR here has had it out for me since the get-go.  The boss that hired me had to fight tooth and nail to get me on board since I don't have an accounting degree, and HR has never let me forget it.  She told me to my face last year they never should have hired me, though when I ask her for specific complaints or if I'm not excelling at any part of my job, there are no legit complaints.  However, since HR gets final say on raises and promotions, etc, it's clear to me there is nowhere to go here.  Career-wise, perhaps I should have moved on earlier but I loved the every-other-Fridays-off and my day to day routine is pretty likeable.  But now with this industry the way it is, and me knowing there is not enough work to go around in our four person team, it became clear it was time to move on.

I am very bad at job-searching because it is time-consuming and disheartening, especially in this economy, because I know a lot of companies are getting more picky about their requirements because they can.  Happily, there are a ton of recruiters here that do most of the heavy lifting and they all believe I have a strong skill set despite my lack of accounting degree.  Recently, I had aced some interviews for a company about 30 minutes away but the pay was about what I was making and the commute was going to be horrendous.  I thought long and hard about it; it was not my first choice but I was anxious to leave L3 on my own terms instead of waiting until the next round of layoffs to find out if my job was secure or not.  I eventually told the recruiter I was not interested, but had felt a little uneasy ever since.

Then, about two weeks ago, one of my recruiters called me about a Senior Accountant job one town over from our house that was paying a lot more.  I asked him to toss my name in the hat, but was not particularly hopeful since it seemed too good to be true.  About an hour later he called back saying they loved me and wanted to bring me in, then he revealed to me it was his own company.  I felt flattered because I would think a recruiting agency would have stacks of more qualified people at their disposal!  It took awhile to arrange a time for the interview, but I finally got in on a Friday morning to meet with the CFO.  The interview went well and I felt great about it.  I think he sounded like a great guy to work for, and he unexpectedly brought in one of the other people on the team to get a feel for me.  She is the other Senior Accountant there, and I loved her right off the bat.  She said this CFO is probably the best boss she's ever had and that's always great to hear, especially coming off a rash of sub-par ones here at L-3.  They said they were meeting with a couple more people that day, but they were looking to move very quickly on this role.  (They all say that and I have found that never seems to actually be the case!)

However, three days later, on the following Monday, the recruiter called and offered me the job!!  He said they loved me and they had it down to two candidates at the end of Friday but they felt I'd be the better fit!!!  I was only too happy to accept, and the pay was even higher than I originally thought they'd offer me!

Back at L-3, it was review time and my manager was dragging his feet even though raises had been assigned and the paperwork was all done.  I was trying to wait to meet with him all at once to make sure there were no random (good!) surprises in my review, but he was making that hard.  Because I process payroll, I actually found at my raise that way and though it's convoluted to explain, they were actually going to be paying me less than year even though I did get a raise.  That made my decision much easier so I marched right in to give my notice!

Now I know everyone is dispensable and I'm sure I think my knowledge base here is more important to them than they think it is, but still, I've been very surprised at my manager's lack of interest in spending any time with me before I leave.  After I gave my notice, he agreed to sit down with my review, though it was now moot, and "talk over the next couple days."  He covered my review in great detail (all good things, yay) but then really didn't say anything about cross-training.  The Senior Accountant here is going on maternity leave in June, and I had been cross-training with her for the past two months, so he will now need to cover that and that seems to be the only thing he's concerned with at this point.  It is a mandatory step, but she will be here for the next two months and I won't.  He has yet to ask me for any files or instructions or set up any time to meet, so I'm a little concerned about how that's going to work when I'm gone.  Granted, it's their problem, not mine, but I do like to do everything I can to make the transition smooth for everyone.  I rushed through my month-end last week to make sure my last week would be free to clean up, sit with people, go over things, etc, but now I'm just sitting here very very bored.

Again, that's not my problem so I'm not really stressing about it.  It is making it very easy to move on and feel I made the right choice.  I have had other offers before during my time here, but they never felt right and I always felt like I had to hype myself up about them, but this one I'm legitimately ready and excited for.  I will miss the friends I've made here, as I always do.  And I do love the level of comfort that comes with being at a job and a company for any length of time - you know what's expected, you know all the informal workings (dress codes, working hours, etc), you know everyone's name, etc.  That's all part of a new job though, and I know I couldn't stay at L3 forever.

I am really looking for a company I can make a career at.  I was very hopeful at the outset that L-3 would be that company, but it turns out I'm not as big a fan of government accounting as I'd hoped I'd be! :)  Here's hoping Randstad can be my home for at least the next several years.  The commute is wonderful, the raise is more than expected, the title is a great step up in my career, and I think I'm really going to like the team there.  Fingers crossed!!!