Since November of 2009 I have worked for a Company called Sextant Technical Services, Sextant for short. We are a small company that today has a total of 7 people working for it. It's owned by one of the best bosses that anyone could ever ask for, I can't emphasize how well Dale treated each and every one of his employees. He was not only our employer, he was our friend and it has been an absolute honor working for the man.
Earlier this year due to budget cuts,my employment and coverage was put in real jeopardy. I have worked on the Research Contract, which was the largest of the ten NETL contracts but it expired a couple of years and they have still not awarded the new solicitation as of yet. All of my work was specifically working specifically on the Carbon Storage Task which we have won a few major awards including a Blue Pencil award for the 2012 effort. However since March I have had a grand total of 16 billable hours a month or two days a month worth of work due to significant cuts in funding.
Since March I have been in the job market, I have been contacted about employment or have had interviews with Rice Energy, Crown Castle and NiSource for jobs in Pennsylvania. In West Virginia there was EQT and there were other jobs outside of the state with assorted companies. The big one was going to be in Atlanta where they were going to fly me down for the interview. Also in the mix were jobs in Virginia, North Carolina, Columbus Ohio, Kentucky and Washington DC and those are just the jobs that I was contacted about and took interest in. There were numerous others around the country that I just didn't feel were in my interest. About a Month ago I turned down an opportunity to work in Washington DC, but at a significant reduction in Salary. There have been days that I have gotten as many as 17 phone calls from head hunters about about jobs that they were interested in representing me in. It got to the point where I was just getting frustrated every time the phone rang as nothing turned into an offer.
At NETL I was actually preparing to open up my own small business to address another project that was not Research related and more our specific site related. I had the needed skillset and the work was coming, so it was a potential opportunity. I have tons of paperwork filled out and ready to submit and was actually contemplating becoming an LLC and even put the infancy stages of the website up as I had purchased the domain HallGeospatialServices.com.
To say that I was getting frustrated, especially in the past few weeks was an understatement.
Well that is the back story as to what has been happening since March. Now for the big Announcement.
After a few weeks of interviewing and applying, I was formally offered a position with the company that is three years running voted as Fortune Magazines most admired Company and I have informally accepted the offer of employment with AECOM. My official start date will be August 7th as it takes time for the hiring process. Background checks, HSPD-12 badge and the general drug screen and everything that goes with new employment as well as closing things out and transferring equipment with my current employer. Of all of the companies that I interviewed with, this was the most idea situation as far as location, and the oh so important issue of terms of financial compensation (Money and Benefits).
I'm excited about not only this offer, but the work I will be doing on the Site Operations Services Contract. My job title I think is going to be Engineer (I have not seen the official offer letter yet) as I will be brought in to do all the Geospatial Work (my background) for the site.
This was the most ideal situation for me, I get to stay here, I'm making the same type of money and compensation that I previously made and I get to work with some people on the other side that have always had my back. I light even be working with a number of people from my old Sterling Faucet Days, but more of an administrative role.
I'm very grateful for all who have helped make this ideal situation happen and to my current employer for being the best boss anyone would ever want to have worked for.
I have not said much or anything about it in my blog, I'm sure if I would have given my daily thoughts that everyone would have thought I was crazy. There were a lot of highs, lows and frustration, but it's now over.
I'll start updating all my professional information including my resume in the next few weeks to reflect everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment