A Tale of Two Campuses

Had a great lunch w/ the gal to whom I would be directly reporting if I go back to TCNJ to head up the communication piece of a campus-wide software implementation. Liked her a lot. Could totally see myself loving working on a team with her, and I know that I already like some of the other folks SC has brought on board as well. But the job still isn't posted, and the fact that I can't technically be considered an inside candidate means that they have to go through a full-on search, which would probably take at least a month even if the posting went up tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there's the small matter of a meeting with the Head at a K12 independent school tomorrow. The situations have some similarities: both potential bosses are family-friendly and have demonstrated a historically strong commitment to professional development. But the jobs themselves are pretty different. The TCNJ one is 8:30-4:30, 12-months, and technically temporary (for the duration of the implementation, which is supposed to take at least three years). (That last part doesn't bother me, because if I was there for three years they'd figure out a way to keep me around.) It looks like intellectually challenging/satisfying work, with decent amounts of public speaking and writing, although not about something I'm particularly passionate about. Good visibility, pretty good autonomy. Hard to say what the pay scale would be since it hasn't been posted yet, but presumably they wouldn't insult me, since they can easily access my previous compensation information.

The K12 independent school is a different gig. Still working with a small team of professionals, but with the main focus of my work being counselling rather than translating tech-speak and English into each other and back. A chance to teach. A very high-energy environment within a community that values the arts and technology (two things the school is particularly known for). Shorter work days (even with the slightly longer commute), and LOTS more time off. (E.g. winter break, Yom Kippur, Presidents' Day, Easter w/e, etc. etc. as well as a big chunk of the summer.) Hard to say what the pay scale will be because I haven't talked to the Head yet... that's 12 hours from now! Yikes, better get some quality shut-eye... stay tuned, folks!