Tuesday, March 02, 2010

It is Written (in a Frightful Hurry)

So, you remember the verbal offer, right? After some delay on K's part (he was interviewing all of lat week after all), he sent his budget on Monday evening and the written offer one came today, not by old-fashioned snail mail, but my email.

And they gave K a deadline to respond. Yeah, exactly what we feared, a deadline.

Now... guess what the deadline was?

........................

.......................

two. days.

Isn't that crazeeee?

We know that this means they really want K to go there that's why they're putting the pressure on, but it also doesn't give him any room whatsoever to hear back from elite school, which is still interviewing, at least until the end of this week, maybe into next week. Sigh.

K's contacting the other two universities right away, of course. And he's going to contact that dept. head tomorrow to ask for two things: (1) a slight hike in pay; (2) one more week to give an answer because he wants to take our family there.* That's reasonable, right?

Breathe deeply. The roller coaster continues, my friends!

* we'll go next week on Tuesday, after the boys' music lesson (Kelvin's 8th birthday, BTW!) -- we can't go this weekend b/c K's youngest brother-in-law & his wife are coming to visit from Canada + the BIL from Maryland & his family.

2 comments:

Oonie said...

Wow. Keep in mind it's two days to you but two weeks for them! Remind them of the snow, etc.
Still, should be reasonable and if he can tell them a deadline (ie, "We're hoping to visit on Tuesday and I will be able to tell you by Thursday") they might bite. But it also gives him a good reason to pressure the other places for a decision!

ArticulateDad said...

A few thoughts come to mind. The way you write about this job offer, and about K's interview at the Ivy League school to my mind focus too much on how things look from the outside rather than how they appear from within. It sounds like taking the job in VA would be a disappointing consolation prize to something bigger and better that might or might not be.

K's decision on the existing offer should be made on its own merits, rather than in comparison to hypotheticals. If by accepting the offer, K would view his choice second-rate, he shouldn't even consider the offer, regardless of whether he receives another. If he had no other interviews, or winds up with no other offers, would he want the job?

Advice I've been given: "if you want to be a big fish, choose your pond carefully". Greater prestige may be nice at a cocktail party, but it doesn't necessarily translate into greater satisfaction, or greater accomplishment.

Putting aside the way things appear, what are the opportunities that present themselves? What are the factors that would conspire to make a job ideal or less than ideal for K? Whatever his choice, it should emerge from the world he wishes to make, not the one that others see.