Life Between 0 and 1

It’s happened, a recruiter has finally placed a potential position in front of me that is too good to not invest some time exploring. The last thing I wanted to do was to start looking for a new job let alone think about switching companies and starting over again with a whole new corporate dynamic. In this case though, the job description, requirements, salary, benefits, and bonus package are, well, really good and my interest is overpowering my urge to stay put. Adding to all these goodies is, amazingly, this job is only 15 minutes from my home cutting my one-way daily commute in half… again.

The last few jobs I’ve taken and excelled with were essentially lateral moves. Jobs that had no more or less responsibility and didn’t advance my career all that much, but did provide other skills and knowledge that have led me to this current moment. This new position is a Director level position and would entail managing people again, something I said that I probably wasn’t going to ever do again. It isn’t that I was a bad manager, in fact, my directs in my previous position often would tell me how much they appreciated my style as a manager. Laid back, hands off, and appropriate blunt and aggressive when the situation required it. I also would lay on my own sword to protect them, deflect the negative comments, and allow them to use it as a lessons learned opportunity.

My problem though, is that my previous management experience, while over a year in length, was nothing close to what a Director is required to do or be in charge of. Stepping up would be an absolute necessity on my part and I truly am not sure if that kind of responsibility is in my wheelhouse or not. I know that I’m technically capable of doing the job, however, the personal side of the job is sort of shaky and up in the air. I’m having a fight in my own head over whether this job would be a good move for me or not, which is a conversation I have every time I start looking or contemplating a new position. I’m technically capable of being a manager of people as my personality is such that I’m rarely considered a friend to anyone at work, manager or not. My radar is always on while at work and I’m constantly observing and processing the environment around me. At Director level though, the game starts to change and I’ve yet to experience that game personally.

I’m scheduled to have a phone call with the head hunter this week, to talk about the prospect. This is the equivalent of the HR screening call where they review resume details, listen to how I speak of my past, what I’m looking for in a company, etc. I already know the salary is there and its much closer to home, but the discussion later will determine my next step. I just hope that I’ll be okay with all the next steps in 6 months to a year regardless of the resulting decision.