First offer

A day to remember. May 22, 2008. Today. They day when I got my first full-time offer in the U.S. I was actually ding my weekly laundry when I got a call from an HR person. She told me that she had been “authorized” to extend me an offer. After two long months and 6 or 7 interviews, after providing past professional references and after some uncertainty, I got it.

It is funny but I am not super excited. On the one hand I am proud of this accomplishment, it’s been a lot of work to get this and now I look back and I am struck by the amount of networking, interning and so forth invested so far in this. But on the other hand it is hard to take that the sports industry pays this bad. It is something I already knew and expected, but still…

Anyway, I am better off than two hours ago, when I had nothing yet. I have not accepted the offer straight away and I have asked for just a few days to make up my mind and to perform some calculations as to whether I can afford to take a job that would be a lot of fun and that I am sure that I would enjoy, but that pays so badly. At the same time, I am waiting for some final responses from a couple of companies I am interviewing with, in particular one of the TV sector where I am close to the finish line (actually it is just me or one other candidate). It would be a great opportunity in terms of career development and well paid.

I was talking to a couple of friends a while ago and they had very different views about taking or not the job I have been offered: (a) do not take it, the pay is too low and you should not move in at that price after completing the MBA; (b) take it and keep looking in the meantime. If something better comes along you can always take it. I am not sure about any of them.
I feel like I am being to innocent. I somehow tell myself not to take a job if I know that there is a decent chance that I will be leaving in a few months. I wanna be true to whatever company hires me. At the same time, it is obvious that companies look after themselves and they do nt hesitate when it comes to keeping salaries low, firing people and so forth. People in the US are not as change-averse as we are in my country. Here people behave like companies: do whatever you have to do at any single point in time. Maybe I should follow this since I am in the US. If at some point I am willing to leave for somewhere else whatever company may always try to retain me, right? I gotta think about this thoroughly…

By the way, today I also got my authorization (called OPT) to work in the US for an extra year. It is a formality since MBAs almost always get it but I was scared of not having met all of the application requirements. It’s an extra step, an important one.

Now it all comes down to deciding about jobs. Damn, let’s go out celebrate that, for the first time in this process, I can choose!!!!!