Making Decisions 2

The second thing that a major decision like taking a new job brings up comes after they make you the offer. Do you accept it or not. At first, that sounds like a no-brainer but there are a number of factors involved. One of course is whether the offer is what you would have expected. Salary is the big issue, of course. But there's more.

One of the biggest is whether, after the interview, you feel as if this is a place you would want to work. Now that is not always an easy thing to know from an interview, but over the years I have discovered that there is that something that is intangible yet real. I was fortunate in the recent interview to be interviewed by a number of people who I will be working with. There wasn't an HR person in sight.

What I saw was a really positive camaraderie among them. They were comfortable with each other and, beyond my qualifications, they were very clearly looking to see if they could be comfortable with me as one of them. Every place you work- churches included- has its own unique environment. Some people fit; some don't. Churches don't like to hear this, of course, since they're supposed to be open to all people. But that doesn't work. We have to be comfortable together to work with each other. We may not always agree on everything but we have to be able to respect each other's opinions as long as they don't end up way out in left field.

As I said I was fortunate. I could tell that from the interview. Going through this took me back to a previous interview a number of years ago at a non-churched institution. I hadn't consciously sensed it at the time- and I wasn't offered the position- but there was a tension in the room among the interviewers. Was it about me? Was it that they didn't think I would "fit" the culture and environment? Well, I will never know, but I have only now realized that it probably was a good thing that I didn't get the job.

The other part of accepting a job is whether I was ready to leave the job I was in. Just because one is looking doesn't necessarily mean is leaving. To take a new job is to decide to leave an old one. That is not necessarily easy. I had made friends that I enjoyed working with. But it my particular case moving was to allow my wife to stop a long commute and to be away from home three nights a week. It also meant new opportunities for me.

One of the things I know about myself is that I have to be "busy." I guard my vacations and time off zealously! But I like to be busy. I like different things each day; I like new people; I like a variety. This new job offered that in many ways.

So I put all of these together and it became a go. I had not expected that. But in the pleasant surprise that was the interview and the opportunities offered by the job it would have been difficult not to take it. So I did.