Last week I (finally) got a formal offer of a new higher-paying part-time job at the
FDIC. I applied for this job back in December, had an interview in February, a second interview in March, and then an informal offer (although they didn't let me know the salary) a week later. Then it took 2 months to get the salary offer approved. So that's why I say finally. Despite the delay in getting the offer, I'm excited about the new opportunity. I'll be working in the division of insurance and research doing banking and regulatory policy work and looking at new bank applications. I've been assured by a former co-worker who I'll be working with that the HR problems are confined to HR and that the FDIC is a great place to work. They even let me work part time even though the posting was a full time position. I'll be working more hours though because I told them I was willing to work 3 days in the office. So my new schedule will be MWTh in the office and then TF teleworking 3 hours each day. I start on June 9th.
I've been at the Treasury Department for almost 7 years and had been keeping my eye open for other jobs since right before Martin and I got engaged. Not that I didn't like my job, I just wanted to do something different and get some more experience. Life events and no real opportunities and great co-workers kept me at my job this long. I felt like I need to get something else on my resume before quitting work to stay home full time (the current plan is to do that in 3 years) so that I'll have more experiences to stand on when I try to re-enter the work force after a stint at home. Yes, I'm planning for something like 20 years down the line. That's how I operate. :)
I'm also hoping that working part time at a different agency might open up some other part time opportunities for other women. I'm not exactly precedent setting but it's still not very common at the FDIC.
Other perks of the new job - in house gym that's cheap (like $1 per week) that has lunchtime ab classes, extra retirement fund with an additional 5% matching over the 5% matching in the Federal Gov's TSP retirement fund, own office (no window though), and a subsidized cafeteria with good food. My new office location is 15th and F NW so it's not far from where I am now. I think the commute might be a little longer since I'll be walking more (more exercise!) from the metro to the office. It's one metro stop closer than my current office.
So that's the update. I think I've told most of you about this but I couldn't blog about it until it was official. Oh, so I told my boss last Thursday, which some of you know I was stressing over. I guess it went as well as I could have expected but it was a rough day. I heard from my boss and co-workers "we're disappointed," and "I wish you would have told us you were unhappy." In the end I got the half-hearted pleasantries and now I think they've gotten over the shock and are talking to be again but yeah, that day was rough. It was a hard decision to leave because I feel so vested in the department and my co-workers but I really needed a change. I think they'll be fine without me.
This is Kelly who gets to do all the credit union work that I left to her. 
Ann (left) was in the prayer group that I was in at Treasury starting my first week on the job. That group was such a blessing to me, particularly in the early days. Leslie (left) and I were the only women in my office for most of the time I was at Treasury so we talked a lot. 
Gerry, Phil, Charles, Mario and Tim. Mario is telling a story about his latest travels. All these guys except Charles were in my office. 
Here's Mario presenting me with the Secretary's Honor Award. Mario wrote a lot of meaningful acclamations about my work in the citation that came with the award. 
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