It’s no real secret that I haven’t been happy with my work situation for a while. I started actively looking for a new job the last few months of 2018. I had a few hits but nothing really materialized. I ended up being laid off from my job mid January. The week leading up to the layoff, I started getting recruiters reaching out to me and phone interviews etc. Almost every day, that week I was talking with recruiters or hiring managers. When I started actively looking for new jobs my wife and I talked about what we were looking for in the next job. We came up with the biggest priorities being more money, a better work schedule (more time with the kids), less stress etc. Near the beginning of the first week after being laid, while I was praying I felt like God told me that I better create a spreadsheet to track all jobs and the status of each and create a calendar. So I created an excel spreadsheet and started putting all the job I applied for and the current status of each. The next several weeks I feel like I was busier than actually being at work. I had several calls almost everyday and the spreadsheet really helped me stay on top of everything.
I started getting contacted for jobs that were significantly more money and even what I had thought to be my dream job (like double my salary, executive title, equity, etc.) This started making the opportunities that still met the criteria we discussed like still more money and especially less stress and more time with my family get pushed a little out of focus. Due to the interest from these higher roles, I bumped up the salary range I was looking for. Partly because of this, I got a reply from one job saying that I was over qualified and I was a bit out of their range. After reading this reply I got a huge fire in my spirit. It just felt like something was wrong and I felt compelled to write a long rebuttal email stating why I was perfect for the job. I even shared this with my wife before sending it and she didn’t agree with it initially but after I shared with her how I was feeling about it she agreed to it. (note: this is the job I ended up taking). They replied with setting up phone interviews. The executive job was initially out of state. I was supposed to fly out for the interview and I started feeling like I didn’t want to go. We didn’t want to move away from San Diego so I just didn’t want to travel and waste time. I ended up going and right away found out that I would be able to stay in San Diego long term and would just have to fly back and forth for the short term. This opportunity became the front runner. I had calls with the board and got great feedback but this door ended up closing. I had multiple other interviews for other jobs and again got great feedback. I was told an offer was coming but the doors ended up closing.
About 5 weeks after being laid off, almost all of the great opportunities that I once had and thought were going well, the doors had been closed for one reason or another. We started getting a little worried as our financial situation became very thin. I remember crying out to God trying to understand what was happening reminding Him of his promises to provide for us and asking Him what he wanted me to do. I don’t recall exactly what He said but just to stay faithful. I had one of the last opportunities telling me that an offer was coming but it didn’t come. I called and followed up and they said they were still waiting for all the approvals and would get back to me. The last opportunity I had at the time was a role on the east coast. With not much else happening, I scheduled to fly out and interview for the role. The role was for good money and a good title but would be very high stress and little time for family, and we would have to move to the east coast. A day or 2 before flying out, I finally received an offer for the job in San Diego. I went ahead with the interview and everything went very well but ended up letting them know that I needed an answer right away or I was taking this other job. They weren’t ready for an offer so that door closed too.
The offer I received in San Diego was for about 25% increase in salary, 5 times more shares of restricted stock than I expected and I was able to negotiate a signing bonus. All of that is great but the greatest thing is that the role is a much less stressful job and provides a schedule that will give me the time with my family that we identified as being so important. It was a roller coaster but God made sure all the boxes were checked.
Special things to note:
- We had been in the Faith series and I finally got the difference between hope and real faith about a week before being laid off. It completely transformed my relationship with God.
- Ashley and I were at peace during this time and had faith not just hope that God had everything under control.
- I listened to God and created a spreadsheet to track everything that if I hadn’t, it would have been very difficult to keep up.
- When I was rejected as overqualified and out of range, God made sure to light the fire in my spirit to jump a little out of my comfort zone and send the email. If I hadn’t who knows if/when I would have gotten another job.
- I got distracted by high paying and prestigious opportunities that wouldn’t have provided the work life balance that we decided was at the top of our priorities.
- God showed me that, yes I am qualified for those higher roles but that is not what we need right now in our life.
- God started closing doors even though all the feedback was good and it didn’t really make sense in the natural.
- Getting laid off and having to be home and spend time with my family helped me appreciate them on a different level and realign my priorities.
- God had made sure that we had enough money to make it through this time and when it got short and tested our faith, we turned to Him and He came through.
- My wife is happy with staying in San Diego and me coming home from work at a decent time.
Chris