Job Hunting - The Wait

I like my current job. I like the people I work with. They are quite literally the smartest people I have ever known. And the companies that we work with are the cream of the crop. But I find myself chasing another job.

I have applied to Georgia Southern University for the position of Assistant Director of Information Systems. I sent my application right after New Year's Day, and came to find out three weeks later that they never received it. I sent it again, via fax, and have been waiting ever since. Several circumstances have conspired to make the application process a very slow one. For starters, I have heard through the grapevine that the entire IS department at GSU is new. So perhaps they aren't as certain about what to do or who they want as an established department would be. Also, they are using a committee to screen the applications, and as everyone who has ever been a part of a committee know, they move at a snail's pace.

So if I'm happy with my current job, and the application process for the new job is so slow, why am I chasing it? Several reasons. One is that I am from Bulloch County, where GSU is located, and I simply want to go home. I miss my home, I miss my parents, I miss my family, and I miss living where I feel like I belong. I'm a country boy, and the city just isn't for me.

Another reason stems from the fact that my in-laws moved from the area to Florida back in October. When they were here, we could go see them on the weekend, and it felt like I had family close. Now I have no family within 200 miles.

Finally, I think it would be a good career move. I really don't want to be a programmer for the rest of my life. I want to move into management, and that's probably not going to happen in my current job. If I can switch jobs into a management position, even if there isn't a pay increase, it would be a good career move.

I have some good references: The Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at GSU, the Acting Chair of the Information Systems Department of the College of Business Administration at GSU, and one of the employees of the Engineering Department. I have plenty of management experience, but no title that would suggest that. I hope that I get the opportunity to interview, because I think my interview would be what would convince them that I am the right person for the job.

I just have to wait. And as Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part".