Where to Work? An Update

It has been been about a month since my first post and since then the situation I described has been resolved... I was offered the job at the other company!!! AND it pays way more than expecting (more than $2 an hour more than the highest I was expecting to see)!!!

This is truly incredible to me, and naturally my decision was to... Reject the job... Wait what? The pay was a whole $9 per hour more than I was making at my current job - why would I turn that (plus benefits and almost a month of paid vacation every year) down?!?

The answer is simple:

-Earning Potential

-Career > Job

Although the job pays even more than what I was hoping to see in my first year out of school there are two big reasons I rejected the offer. The first reason is that the earning potential is much lower. At my current job if I work my ass off my earning potential is infinite. In other words the only limit to my income is my own willingness to put in the work.

The second reason I chose to reject this spectacular job is that... well... It's just that: a job. The job would entail me doing a large portion of the accounting work for another local company and although that's in my wheelhouse of being analytical it's not where my career to go.

As for the money issue I was able to use the job offer as an opportunity to get a 30% raise effective immediately at my current job. Although the pay still comes in a little below what I was offered by the second company it still meets my short-term financial needs - and the infinite earning potential will allow me to meet my future needs.

In the end - there are more important things than money, but it doesn't hurt to ask for more.