To Be Or Not To Be

Early Thursday morning Margot called the medical support company but missed the HR person.  Left a message.  About 11:00am the HR person called again and offered Margot the job---$35,000, three weeks vacation, 401(k) with match, full medical, three blocks away.  Perfect.  Margot said "Let me think about it."  "How long?"  "Tomorrow?"  Ok but the HR person was not happy. 

In a bit of unbelievable timing, the HR lady from the ad agency called at 11:30am and offered Margot the job there.  That was a quick turnaround.  Margot was now in a bind but a good kind of bind having two job offers.  Margot again asked for some time to think about it saying she wanted to talk to me.  I was pretty proud of that until I figured I may have been more of a convenient excuse than a wise sage that Margot had to counsel with prior to any major decision.   

I was out and didn't get Margot's message until early evening.  Called and we did the old MBA thing--get out a piece of paper, in this case, two pieces of paper.  Make two columns titled Pro and Con.  First, the medical support job.  Lots of pros--money, vacation, retirement plan, short commute, would look good on her resume.  Cons--dull.  Maybe not but Margot wasn't doing cartwheels after any of the interviews. 

Ok, let's do the ad agency.  Margot said no.  Why not?  "It only pays minumum wage." she squeaked.  I have to admit I was taken aback.  How could they get away with paying a college graduate $7 an hour?  Margot explained--the job was a six month internship at which time you were either offered a full time job or shown the door.  This thing was starting to make sense--the deal offered the agency some pretty good talent at a rock bottom price, no health plan cost, no 401(k) cost, no vacation cost and an easy out at the end of six months if the person is a bust.  No messy firings just sorry, it isn't working.  No harm, no foul.

Also, somewhat of a tradition in the ad and talent agency business.  In many agencies, especially in old Hollywood, the newbies started in the mail room no matter who they were or what the future expectations were for that agent or star.  The theory was to hit the ego with a bit of humility to see how they handled it as well as having the newbie learn the organization by delivering the mail.   

So, a good deal for the agency but not so great a deal for Margot, in the short run anyway, as she had another rent payment coming up.

"So, what are you going to do?" I asked.  "You tell me." Margot shot back.  "No, you tell me." I said.  And back and forth, back and forth.  Finally, she said "I'm going with the agency." and I replied, "Right answer."

Not the right answer for my checkbook as we were now subsidizing the agency but the right answer for Margot and her career as

1)  if Margot turned down the agency job she would question that decision the rest of her life,

2)  the medical job paid well but only in the short run.  The future earnings potential in the agency far outweigh  the potential in the medical company.  I have no empirical evidence but could probably prove it if I had to.

3)  the ad agency sounded like fun.  Young people doing fun things.  I'm sure there are all kinds of politics and petty jealousies but there are in any organization.  I had a friend recently describe a co-worker as the type of the guy that will stab you in the front.  It's everywhere and the only counter is to work hard and don't get dragged into the pettiness.

So that's it.  Margot is in her third month on the job and things seem to be going well.  She's working really hard but the time flies.  One of the worst things in life is a job where time crawls.

Comments

[The Assetman]

You are a good man-- and I think you are right in support of your daughter.

Catilin is right-- Margot needs to take this chance because it's the best time in her life to do it. I think she'll do well.

I took the biggest chance of my career two years ago-- and it didn't turn out well at all. I failed, both professionally and financially. But I have very little to regret becuase (a) I landed on my feet and am in a much better position to advance my career; and (b) I created a blog that has allowed me to talk to other bloggers with similar interests.

Anyway, best of luck to Margot in her new venture!

[Caitlin]

Sometimes we have to take calculated risks to get where we want to go, and most of the time it's easier to do when we are younger. I often think I played it TOO safe in my younger years despite the risks I DID choose to take. Sounds like a good and interesting choice for her...brava!