Friday, March 23, 2007

Decisions, Decisions

Not too many weeks ago, I was complaining about how slow the job search was going. Well, I now have four job offers and need a little help in deciding which one to take:

Behind Door #1: Is a small firm (40 peeps) with a main office in Atlanta and one in Durham. The culture is awesome - wear jeans to work, bring your dog to work - and the people are truly awesome. I would get to do a lot of international traveling (which I love!) and the salary is great. I would be doing market research, which is something I wasn't exactly looking for, although it could be interesting to try out. I would basically be a niche consultant, working with a broad spectrum of clients.

Behind Door #2: Is a much larger firm (25,000 peeps) that specializes in doing lab testing. I would be working in their IT area, acting as a liason between the IT people and the lab people, discovering needs and concerns and coming up with strategies to solve them. Sort of like an internal consultant. Corporate culture with very nice people. I would have about a 50 minute commute each way.

Behind Door #3: Is an insurance company (4,000 peeps) where I would be doing segmentation marketing and figuring out which segments are profitable and how to target and communicate with that segment. Corporate culture with nice people.

Behind Door #4: Is a small company that specializes in all-natural cosmetics (I won't say the name of the company as it might bias you to pick this company). Cool culture with laid-back attitude and a focus on the environment (it's one of America's most socially-responsible brands). The marketing job would be mostly tactical, implementing marketing programs and working closely with the brand managers.

All great companies, and each has it's own pros and cons. So I need your help! Which door would you pick, if you had to choose?

5 comments:

Losing my Mind said...

Hmm...if you have no kids and can travel right now I'd pick the first one- the last one however I think may be aveda and I hear they are great to work for. I work in insurance and would warn against corporate culture- your creative freedom will go to waste.

Good luck! :)
and thanks for stopping by you caught me as I was surfing along

k e r r y said...

door # 1 sounds like a winner if you like to travel - if you don't have children, now is the time. Market research can be fun and is certainly a good thing to add to your resume.

door #2 also sounds interesting. Working for a well-known company is ALWAYS good for your resume.

Congratualtions on the 4 opportunities! It's nice to be wanted!

J. Powers said...

I have absolutely no right to offer my opinion (and wouldn't), except that you commented on my blog, and I wanted to return the favor. :)

Doors 1 or 4, since the companies are smaller. You'll get better experience (wearing more hats and being higher up on the decision-making food chain) in a smaller organization.

pogonip said...

Hey, door#1 had me at jeans and dog friendly! But I love the idea of a responsible cosmetic company too. I think it's important to like where you are as much as what you are doing--so factor in the location of each. They all have wonderful possibilites and it's so nice to know you have choices! How can you lose?!

X Curmudgeon said...

Congrats on all the offers--the great thing is that you really can't go wrong!

That said, Door #1 seems to fit you best, just by the way you wrote it up. Go with what your subconscious is telling you!