I said yes

I called the association that offered me the part time job and yesterday I accepted their offer. We agreed that I would start the second week of September (once my littlest guy starts kindergarten), and that we'd work out the details between now and then.

I'm pretty excited about the possibilities, but now have to start making lists of things I need to do before I jump in. First, I need to sort out a new cell phone. Mine is very old, at least three years, and doesn't get email. I will definitely need email, especially for the 45 minute commute in each direction. And I don't want to use webmail at the office, because I've heard a lot of horror stories about companies having the right to read all my email if I access it over their servers, even if it's an outside account. And I need to decide which two days I'll give up to office life. And I need new clothes. I don't have the wardrobe for a job, even at two days a week. Do you think I can wear jeans at least once a week?

This is a big step, but hopefully it's the right one, and a right one in the right direction to offering me more of the security I'm missing as a freelancer, without giving up the freedom and the opportunities I love as a freelancer.

When I called the VP to say I'd take the offer, he was very, very happy, and made me feel welcomed right away. And the office manager emailed the same day too to start talking about what I'll need for office space, admin help, etc. Those things really helped make me feel I'd made the right choice.

The other clincher was my kids. My older son, the seven year old, spent last night at a sleepover, something he only recently felt old enough to do. And my younger guy, now out of daycare as of last week, spent his first day at camp, at the same program that runs after-school care at his soon-to-be school, and when I picked him up, he seemed older, more mature. I took both those facts as signs my kids are moving on, and this is therefore the right time for this kind of change.

I guess 40 really is a watershed year for me, and my whole family.

The downside of taking this job

I have a few more days to consider this job offer, and while there are a lot of pluses, there are also negatives, and I'd like to consider them.

Devoting half my work week, plus commuting time, to the job, might be pretty consuming. I'm sure I'll still be able to do other work, but will I still have time to look for other work? Will I be able to network, go for coffees, go to events? Those are usually pretty useful in the long run to get me more business, and if I'm not doing them, will my incoming work dry up? It would be pretty easy to let a half time job fill my whole week, what with the whole home and family thing on top of it.

And what about the whole home and family thing? Will I have to shop for groceries on Saturday afternoon with all the other working moms? Will I have to do laundry in the evenings? Will I be exhausted every night racing home on the bus to make dinner? Will I have any time left to exercise?

I know it sounds like I'm being lazy, giving up my days at home and having to enter the work world, and it does seem a lot like that. Hopefully with only two days a week in their offices, I'll be able to overcome it.

My other worries are about reentering the office life. It's been about three years since I worked in an office. All the politics, the other people. It's easy to be businesslike and nice when you only have the odd meeting, but when it's all day, that's a lot tougher. And it's hard to go back and forth from the home office to the office office. And then there's the wardrobe. I don't have the clothes for it, even two days a week. And I hate shopping.

And then there's the commute. Their office is clear across town, which I'm pretty sure is two transfers from home, for about 45 minutes each way. I could possibly bike, but I know when it's cold and raining, I don't think so.

On the bright side, I'd need to access my emails on the go, so it's an excuse to buy a new cell phone.

If this is the answer to my worries, why am I still worried?

A job offer -- part time

Back in April I wrote about having lunch with a couple senior women in my field who suggested I try to find a part time job. They said it was a good way to gain the stability I'm seeking without giving up my freelance freedoms altogether. They also both thought I should find an employer who had been looking for someone less experienced than me, but full time, and convince them to hire me part time for the same money.

The day after my second of those lunches, the woman I'd met ran into someone in exactly that position. His association had been trying to hire someone full time, because consultants weren't working for them -- they wanted someone in house. But after looking they were having trouble finding anyone with enough experience and hadn't hired. She recommended me.

I heard from this association the next day, asking if I was interested. I told the guy I might be, but then didn't hear again. Then last month, I got an email from his colleague asking again was I interested. I said I was. We arranged a phone call to explore how it might work and whether there was a fit. Then a couple weeks went by with no word. Then last week they asked to meet me to discuss it more.

Now, at this point my freelancing is going pretty well. Turns out I had a pretty good year financially after all, and with the new informal partnership going well, I'm feeling a bit more secure about the near future. But this option still intrigues me.

And today they made me an offer. The money is not bad, certainly better than half of a full time job. Their offices are not terribly close, and it would be a 45 minute commute on the bus or bike each way, but they're only asking me to do two days a week in their office, with some additional time at home for them. Their area of business, while not sexy or exciting, interests me and touches on a lot of hot political topics that I like. I'd still be able to take freelance work, I'd just need to look for less of it. And they're telling me they'll be plenty flexible about it all.

So did I find my magic bullet, a way to survive the next 25 years of work? Keep the stability in part time work, keep the freelance in the rest?

I don't know. I've got a lot to consider here. I'll post more later this week while I hash out more details in my head. Opinions?

Part time job options

There seem to be a lot of jobs advertised in my market lately looking for someone in my field with 5-7 years experience. This is recruiter code for an intermediate level employee. You know, not the kid fresh from university with no experience, but someone who has worked a few years, learned a bit, but not so much that they'd want to be paid well.

I am of course over-qualified for these jobs, and don't bother even considering them. But there are lots and lots of them in the past months, and some I see advertised more than once -- as if they didn't find anyone and are trying again to find someone. I don't know where are the people with 5-7 years experience are, but they don't seem to be job hunting very much.

Last week, two different senior women in my profession, each of whom I met for lunch as part of my questioning, said the same thing to me in regards to these jobs. They suggested that if the company can't find an intermediate to work full time, why wouldn't they hire a senior person to do the same job part time. Or even as a consultant. And why didn't I think about going after a job posted as full time for an intermediate and try to write my own ticket doing the job part time or through consulting.

It's an interesting proposition. I'd get a steady wage, albeit not a huge one, but if they had XX dollars for a full timer, it might not be so minimal for part time work. I'd have stability, which if you're reading my blog you know I crave. And I'd still be able to consult on other projects, keeping a variety of work going. I'd also likely keep a good deal of flexibility, which I really want given my two young kids.

Is it that simple, just call up the person advertising a job and suggest they rethink their entire proposition in favour of hiring me on my terms? I can easily picture the negotiations part and how I'd do that, but the cold contact part seems like a bigger leap.

Contract jobs

I've been wondering if the current trend in working is more people working for themselves or more people working as employees. If the labour shortage is so bad, is that because everyone has given up corporate life for self-employment, or is it because everyone is taking jobs and there just aren't enough people left for the vacancies?

A recent article in the Globe and Mail caught my eye on this topic. It's all about the trend of contract work, where an agency places you in a company for a temporary, albeit full-time gig. The article talked mainly about finance, law, and tech contracts -- I know of only one agency in my area that deals in communications, my field, and it's mainly junior jobs or design work, not my thing. But it got me thinking.

Would a full-time, short term project be preferable to many clients? I guess it comes down to variety and flexibility. The nice thing about freelancing for many clients is that I can schedule my own time. Of course, the nice thing about a full time contract is the stability of income for a longer time period than freelancing, but would the client be as understanding if I wanted to take the morning off to go on a field trip with my kid's school?

Timing the job market, post Olympics?

A friend told me this week she thinks that the job market will freeze up in my province after the 2010 Olympics are over. There's been so much hype about job creation and business booming because Vancouver is hosting the Winter Olympics, that I found her comments surprising. But she makes a good argument.

In the buildup to the big event, everyone is optimistic, spending money, staffing up. Then for a month or so we all work and play full out during the event (well, events plural, really, because the Paralympics are also coming here). But after that, all those people whose jobs revolved around some aspect of the games then become out of work. And suddenly the labour market gets overrun with people looking for jobs.

I had seen it differently. I thought that between the much-talked-about labour shortage and the boom in business from the Olympics and resulting economic development, the job market would stay constant before, during and after the games.

If my friend is right, perhaps I should think about finding a job sinecure before the fall of 2009, because after that I might find it harder to land a job. Or maybe not...

Monday morning up and at 'em!

It's been a relaxing weekend with the family and very little work stress, which means I need to get off my duff and get some work going now. Starting the day in my home office, once the hubby and kids are out of the house, takes one of two tones with me:

1. I'm right to the computer and digging into a project straight away, and barely pick my head up until my stomach grumbles for lunch; or

2. I make another cup of tea, read the newspaper, scan the blogs, and try to drag my brain into work mode.

This approach seemed to be pretty constant whether I worked at home or in an office. I remember one job where a co-worker would start and finish early, so when I came in he'd been there for an hour, but almost never seemed to have moved far beyond the tea and newspaper stage. In his defense though, we did work in media relations so we needed to read papers as part of our job, but not the lifestyle section.

Do you find the Monday morning get-up-and-go is any different if you're at a workplace or a home office?

Downside to taking a job?

I was at a work-type reception last night where I did some great networking as well as catching up with some friends/colleagues. One woman who does what I do and is also a freelancer, was surprised that I was considering taking a 9-to-5 job in the near future, and when I got home that night, found she had sent me this article on How to Suck Up to Your Boss. Her comment was "Consider this before jumping to the salaried world."

Funny that this was her first reaction. She's one of the first freelancers I've talked to about the possibility of job hunting, and if this article reflects her reaction to moving from freelance to a job, maybe I should give this idea more thought. My favourite part of the article:

The larger issue at hand is respecting the boss' position. This is a new concept to many people, particularly those employees who are right out of school and are used to working independently. You might try saying something like, "I have these ideas, but I will defer to your decision."

If all this feels icky, just hold your nose and remember it's about career advancement. And that's something most people can support.

I know it's a big adjustment to move from freelance to a job, but is it really this bad?

Who do you ask for career advice?

Via the Globe and Mail, I read a news blurb that said that for most people, their spouse is the preferred person to offer career counsel.

Who's the first person you'd go to for guidance on a career change? Your spouse, a survey finds.

Forty six per cent of 150 senior executives said they'd turn first to a spouse or significant other when evaluating a potential job change, up from 42 per cent when asked five years early, the survey by staffing service Accountemps finds.

Next up: a mentor, chosen by 41 per cent, up from 28 per cent in 2002.

After that, the executives opted for a co-worker or other family member, chosen by 4 per cent each, then a friend, selected by 3 per cent, or someone else, at 2 per cent.

I don't know if that's true in my case. I talk things like over a lot with my husband, but he doesn't work in my field at all, so has no idea what I'm talking about when I discuss my options. Of course, asking the blogosphere for advice is probably not the best thing either, is it?

I guess by making my list of women in my profession who I admire and picking their brains one at a time, I'm consulting mentor types. Who do you ask?http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

When is it too late to change careers?

When is it too late to change careers?

Via U-Turn Ahead, I found an interesting website called Life Two, which is all about mid-life crises, personal and professional. Some of it hit home.

I like this article about when to change careers. It quotes from a newspaper article that says essentially, if you're going to change, do it before 50, because after that you're too old.

I guess I'm not alone then in thinking that career goals seem to extend only as far as middle age. We grow up with a focus on the first 20 work years -- get a job, build a career, earn good money, then settle in and keep it up for the next 20 years. That's the part I find unsatisfying. There must be more to it for the second half of work life.

When is it too late to find new career goals?

Another take on agencies

I had lunch last week with another senior woman at a different PR agency. She's been with them for more than a decade, and is even in charge of recruitment for the agency now. This lunch wasn't quite as flattering as the last one. She didn't think there was a place at a PR agency for someone over 40, and was steering me more towards a corporate job.

I asked her what was my best bet to sustain a career into my latter decades, and she went right for the full-time, corporate gig. Basically, take a full-time job, work it for a couple years, then either convince the employer to relax my hours for more work-life balance, or take what I learned on the job, contacts and all, and go back to freelancing.

Not what I really wanted to hear, but it's certainly an opinion I've expected.

On a brighter note, however, she did say that my career to date isn't really missing anything I'd need to get that kind of job. She gave me a real pep talk about finding the right fit if I do take a job.

I do realize a full-time job is in my near future, but I'd like to put it off for a while if I can. My youngest kid starts kindergarten next year, and I'd really like to freelance for a few more years to have more time for the kids if I can.

But when do you become "too old" to be hired for a job like that? Do I have more opportunities at 40 than I would at 44 or 48?

Agency work vs entrepreneur

I had lunch this week with a friend who has a very senior role at a PR agency. We discussed my career exploration a lot, and she had some interesting things to say.

First, her agency seems to be populated primarily with 20- and 30-somethings. There are a few people under 45 in senior roles, but no one in their 50s. We discussed whether there is a role for someone in their latter two working decades at an agency like hers, and her best answer is "I don't know.", which is interesting given she's nearly 45. In her experience, agencies can have regular relationships with senior consultants in their 50s and 60s, but because of the economics, only uses contractors like there sparingly, preferring to hire someone in-house if there's enough work for a full-time staffer. And these people tend to have narrow specialties, like media trainer or speech writer.

So this lunch didn't answer any questions, but it was still helpful to understand. And the best part of it was she flattered me. I asked for her advice on what it would take for an agency to hire me, if I later chose to trade the freedom of my self-employment for the security of an agency salary. She seemed to think that my career lacked nothing in that regard, and that if I wanted an agency job I could probably find one now. She even hinted at salary figures for someone at my level, as a senior manager, and I gotta say they were much higher than I would have expected.

The down side to her description of agency work, besides the long hours in a downtown office, is that the constant need to find new business wouldn't go away if I had an agency job. She told me that every employee beyond the very junior is expected to bring in new business. In other words, trolling for work wouldn't go away, but perhaps the intense pressure I feel as an entrepreneur might lessen.

Things to think about...