A Whirlwind of Life Changes....OMG!!!

So, I'll start this the same way I told my friend Kelly.  "Who is the last person in the world you thought would move to NYC?"  Yeah, that's right ME!!!!  It happened so quickly I thought I was in a dream. 

If you have been around for the last few months you have heard me complain about my position at work.  Not that my team is bad, or the actual work is horrible, it was just that I am over qualified for what I am doing and I needed to move on.  Not to mention, my supervisor and I are at extreme ends of the universe when it comes to running the project.  I loved my team, they are the most talented and amazing group of people I have ever worked with in the corporate world.  The problem was that I didn't have the ability to run the team in the managerial style I am accustomed.  More on that later.  Needless to say, I resigned last Tuesday after this whirlwind became a reality.

So, due the reasons above I put my resume out on Monster and have been constantly talking to recruiters and telephone interviewing and even being flown up and down the east coast to interview in person.  Well, on Tuesday, the 23rd of October I received a phone call from a recruiter in New Jersey and like I have done a thousand times, I listened as she introduced the project and the company to me.  It sounded very interesting as a lot of them have, so I said "Yes, please submit me."  She said if I was offered the opportunity would I be available to relocate up to New York/New Jersey area.  I said,"Hell yeah, it is only my favorite place in the world."  So began the process.  Three hours later she calls me and asks if I would be available the next day for a phone interview and we set a time.  The phone rang right at 4:30 pm Wednesday, the 24th.  Ken from the company I was interviewing for, proceeded to grill me on my knowledge of Project Management.  There were very few questions about what I have done, it was very intense 35 minute test on my technical knowledge.  At the conclusion I really did not know what to think.

The following morning, at 9am Anna, my recruiter, calls me and asks me how it went and I explained to her that I answered the questions the best I could and that is all I could do.  I felt confident about my answeres but could not tell by the tone of the interviewers voice what he was thinking.  She explained that they thought I was very knowledgeable and it could only come from experience and training AND that they would like me to fly up for a personal interview.  She then continued to tell me that her confidence had risen greatly because only 1 in 15 had passed the first interview.  At this point my heart started to race.  Can this really be happening?  Then she mentioned the pay and even though she couldn't tell, my mouth was on the ground.  I said that would be sufficent and we made arrangements for me to fly to Newark on Monday.

Monday, was stressful, I needed to be at the airport at 5am in order to get on the plane and land in Newark by 10:30 for my noon interview.  I just have to express as a side note, I really hate flights with layovers.  It made a quick flight to Newark and back a 15 hour inconvenience. 

I got to the office building of NYK Logistics and NYK Lines.  This Nippon Yusen Kaisha Logistics company is one of the largest transportation companies in the world. They have more cargo ships than I can count, there own cruise line, and their own airline not to mention several partnerships with major airlines to move goods all over the world.  They have offices all over the world including New Jersey, Seatle, and Tokyo.  Tokyo being the world headquarters. 

Well, I sat in this beautiful glass conference room across the table from seven...yes that's right...seven project managers.  They drilled me, and drilled me....and when they were done drilling me, they drilled me again.  All on project management and how I would handle certain situations.  The end of the interview did not bolster my confidence.  I did, of course, dig into my acting capablilities and at least made them believe I was confident in my answers.  One of the last questions came from the head of the Project Managment Office.  He asked me, "What is your management style?"  My answer went something like this.  I told him that my answer might just make or break the interview but I would not compromise how I managed a project.  If I told him what I thought he wanted to hear, then I if I started and we didn't agree on my specific management style then it wouldn't be good for either me or the company.  I told them that in my world and view, the client was not my number one concern.  My team was my priority.  If my team was taken care of and they knew whatever happened I had their back, then they would be more productive and by default the customer would be ecstatic as well.  If I needed a little more effort or hours then my team, knowing I would do anything for them would in turn have no questions if I asked them for a little extra they would give it...no question.  This was my experience and I never ever had to kill a project or ever came in over budget or behind schedule. 

There was a couple more question and at 1pm they led me out of the building.  I grabbed a cab and I was very leary about the results of the interview.  I booted up my laptop to find Anna's number, called Kim and told her not to worry I didn't think this was going to happen.  At 1:15pm as I am just about to find Anna's number she calls.  I told her I was not confident and I apologized for making her pay for a ticket up to Newark just to have me fail  at impressing the Project Management team.  She said, "Well, that;s funny they just told me they really liked you and they wanted to make sure you were interested before they sent the paperwork to Japan."  I guess they didn't want to expend the effort if I wasn't going to accept the offer.  You can guess my reaction.  I was shocked.  We talked about when I could start and she said she would get back to me the following day.  The rest of the day was good, I had lunch with Sean and then went back to the airport to catch a 430 plane, which was delayed by an hour and then delayed another 45 minutes on the tarmack.  I got to Atlanta just in time to catch my connection but of course that was delayed to.  Another side note...Air Tran....not impressed.  I arrived home around 1045 and crashed.

The next morning, Anna calls and verifies I still am interested in the job and says that NYK is finishing the paperwork to send to Japan and I should have an offer by the end of the day.  I couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth, but all of the sudden, I was asking for more money!!!  I was thinking am I really doing this, am I re-negotiating.  I was asking for another bump for just a few months to take care of relocation since they needed me up there so fast.  Anna told me they would not just do a three month bump, and that if she going in to renegotiate then it would be a total contract increase not just for three months becuase they did not work that way.  We decided mutually to cut the request by 25% and go request it.  I told her this was not a show stopper, but it would help.  Two hours later she comes back and tells me it was accepted and I should have a contract the following day.  I was floored.  They didn't even think twice and just gave me even more money.  After doing some quick calculations, I realized that I would be making over 2.5 times my salary!!! Oh JEEZ!!  How could I say no?  So, I didn't. 
Maybe your thinking, but your not really in NYC your in New Jersey.  Ok, well, let me just tell you that from my office to times square by taxi was less than 20 minutes, and from Penn Station to Newark by train was just about the same.  I am planning on living in Weehawken which is 10 minutes to the office and 10 minutes to mid town, so in my opinion I might as well, be living in the city but it is not as expensive. 

So, I am off to NYC/or NJ whichever you want to call it.  I start working on the 14th of November and I will be back after Thanksgiving most weekends. Probably until the end of February.  I need to do a lot of work on my house so I can turn it into a vacation villa or a snow bird's paradise.  With the real estate market the way it is, I will not be able to sell it.

So that's it.  I am moving to NYC and I am really excited.  I will catch you all up next time on Whorehouse and some of the shows I have seen.  Not to mention, some of the connections I have already made in NYC.

Love, Life, Success and Happiness!!!