June 23, 2003
Job Changes
Wow, when it rains it pours.
For the longest time I have had a rough go of it professionally, for the last three years in a row I had been laid off, and over the last few months I have not had the best success in finding suitable employment to replace my current job. (Which by the way I am still employed by)
Then my company asked me to go to Shelton, CT to help with the integration/training for the new Customer Service team for the first 2, possibly three weeks. They were certain that the process would not take longer than that. Hah! And I say again, hah! This is my 9th week here, and it is beginning to look like they may want us to stay longer than this. Not a problem for me though. I'll keep on talking and let you know.
Back in February I had interviewed for and inside sales position within my company. For the longest time there was no word on the status of the position and it seemed like it might never come through. During this time, not only did they let go many of my friends in Customer Care, but there were other layoffs within the company.
In the meantime I found out about another great sales opportunity with a company called Viacord which I pursued and then subsequently interviewed for. The company sold a service by which they could store the umbilical cord blood and stem cells for future use in treating diseases for the child/family involved. It is a great company and great opportunity.
Also as a last minute option, last week I was asked to interview for a position within the product management team of our Biopharma business unit. This was not a position I was aware of, but it is something I was definitely interested in. I spent some time with both Viacord and the product management team from PerkinElmer on Tuesday.
While I thought that I had done well at all of the recent interviews, I in no way expected what happened next. On Tuesday after my interview with Viacord, they offered me a position on the spot.
Bam.
On Wednesday I was told that the product group enjoyed meeting with me and would probably get back to me on Thursday.
Bam.
On Thursday morning I received word from the original sales job that the position had finally been approved and that I should hear from them soon.
By Thursday lunchtime I received three offer letters all within a 24 hour period. All of whom wanted an answer from me immediately, and all of which were great opportunities. I spent a lot of time Thursday night mulling it all over and hanging out with some friends. I think I called almost everyone in the phonebook on my cell phone and probably killed all of my minutes for this month, but it was worth it.
So what did I finally decide? It was a tough decision but I am positive that I made the right one for me. I am now an Associate Product Manager for the PerkinElmer Biopharma BU. I start officially on Monday and I am really excited. I will be working on the managing the radioactive/reagent product lines with a great team of people. The work seems that it will be very challenging and they have already agreed to stand behind my desire to obtain my Six Sigma green belt. (If you want to know more about Six Sigma, email me.)
Anyway, I am finally going to have a little more stability for the first time in over 9 months, and it feels good.
Comments
Congrats Dave, I'm really glad that you officially landed something. I don't know if I told you or not, but I got hired on full time here about a month and a half ago. It's a great job, but I have to admit that I miss Boston, and I especially miss everyone at PE. I don't think I'll ever be surrounded by such a group again. Doing the suburban thing in New Jersey leads to a few major problems...
a) No Hidden Kitchen. And it's impossible to find a place to eat when I don't feel like dropping 12 bucks at Chiles
b) No Clery's or Clery-like establishments. Nor is there convenient public transportation to get you home after having far too much to drink. How do people socialize in a non-urban environment?
c) Even if socialization was more frequent, the quality, both physically and mentally, mostly physically, of people, mostly females, in my office is about 3% of what Perkin Elmer offered.
Enough venting, any word on what everyone else is up to?
Hey Ryan! Thanks for the post!
Way to go Dave!