For those of you who don't really know me, I realize that I probably fall under the category of "douche-bags who own a Viper".
But those who do know me know that I've struggled pretty hard in the past 18 months, even to the point of listing the Viper on eBay before my wife found out and canceled the auction.
In May of 2012 we learned we were expecting our first child. It was totally unplanned. The following week I approached my employer, asking them to make good on a promise dating back to November of 2010 for a $5,000 pay increase. I was told I'd receive it early 2013. Instead, I was given a pay cut in October of 2012, and only last month - July of 2013 - our incomes were restored by the company that bought out my employer.
I've had a number of job interviews since last year, but none of them were offering any chance to increase my income. In fact, by factoring in longer commutes and higher healthcare costs, most of these jobs would serve as a pay cut, and so I had to decline each of them.
Last week I was contacted for an interview for a position about 30 minutes from our house. As I waited for the phone interview, I tried researching the position online to see if I could learn more in preparation for the interview. In the process, I found a job listing right here in Canonsburg. I applied, but was only able to submit a resume. Knowing that internet resume submissions are next to worthless, I hit "submit" with zero expectations, and instantly forgot about it. I was surprised when, after my phone interview and subsequent break for lunch, I had a reply from the Canonsburg job listing. They wanted to interview me.
I interviewed last Thursday with Wood Group Mustang. Their office is 1/2 mile from my current office, and actually sits closer to my house (I already only have a 2.4 mile commute, and it's all residential backroads until I hit the business complex!) The interview was very casual, and honestly I didn't expect them to offer me even as much money as I was already earning.
They contacted me monday to ask about my desired rate. I told them, and the HR woman said, "That should be fine!" She sent me some paperwork, including benefits information, which I reviewed that evening. I realized that their health insurance would again be more expensive, so I took a gamble and called her back on Tuesday to see if I could increase my rate by a measly $1,000 to compensate for the additional healthcare costs. "Oh," she said, "I already put you in for an extra $2,000 and they approved it..."
Oh!!!
As I was typing this, the offer letter hit my inbox. I'm excited, nervous, anxious, but most of all relieved. It's not a HUGE increase in income, but it certainly relieves some stress from our finances, and hopefully will enable me to dig out of the extra bit of credit card debt we've amassed since October.
There's no real moral to this story, but I just wanted to share some good news. There's certainly enough bad news going around these days!!!
Thanks to my friends here on CC.C who have supported me and and encouraged me over the past 18 months.
