After about 7 months of unemployment - and just after she received her final unemployment check - Alpaca has landed a new job. I sort of let the cat out of the bag in a twitter posting last week, but now it's official, today she received and signed the offer. This is a very welcome development. The current job market is nothing short of demoralizing for job seekers. Jobs are few and far between, but at least in our case the story has a happy ending.
A few interesting pieces of information to share about this new job. First, the compensation package is a good one. Alpaca's salary will actually be about 10% higher than in her last full time position (which was over a year ago). Given the rotten job market, I was mentally bracing for a pay cut.
The company she will be joining is a public one, and they offer a range of benefits, including an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). For those who are unfamiliar with the term, an ESPP is a program by which employees can purchase company stock for a discount - typically 15% - without any obligation to hold onto the stock. Previously when Alpaca participated in such plans, we sold the shares immediately after they were purchased, in essence getting a 15% boost on the amount invested. I am all for immediate and guaranteed returns... who isn't? We plan to use the same strategy.
Also, while my start-up offers medical coverage for my family, the cost of this coverage to me is about $200 per pay period or $400 a month. Being able to remove Alpaca from this plan will save us some cash, and depending on the cost of insuring the kids through Alpaca's company, there may be some additional savings possible.
Another interesting thing about this job: Alpaca landed it through... wait for it... an online job posting. No networking involved whatsoever. After all my talk and preaching about networking, it turns out that the lowly and much maligned online job board can actually help you land a job. Who would have thunk it? To be fair, Alpaca did a lot of networking, and even I was able to land a hand on a small number of occasions, helping her get some interviews. In the end, the swing that connected was a random job post response. It just goes to show you, in your search for a job you have to fire with every gun in your arsenal, and not rule out any options in advance.
Alpaca's first day of work is this Thursday. She is reporting a lot of nervousness about getting back to work and about having to prove herself in a brand new place. I can report that my stress level has gone down dramatically. While my company is financially solid for a few more months, we are a start-up, and are always reliant on fund raising to finance our operations. There are never guarantees that our investors will pony up the cash. Now, at least, the prospect of both my wife and I being unemployed simultaneously, seems to be more remote. Happy, happy, joy, joy!
5 comments:
Congrats to Alpaca! Things are looking up!
Congratultions to Alpaca! My SO has two interviews this week. Fingers crossed.
Thank you both for the kind words. Today was Alpaca's first day on the job, I am looking forward to hearing how it all went. :-)
I send my congrats as well.
Looks like I got carried away with my comments and exceeded the 4,096 character limit! I'll email Shadox and perhaps he'll feature my 'guest post.'
Well, to be fair to you, you did explicitly state that you were not bashing the regular job search in that post. :)
Many congrats to Alpaca for landing a good position with a good comp package!
I remain in limbo, but am thrilled that Alpaca's swing finally connected.
Post a Comment