Disconcerting Discerning

Attn Readers: for the record I haven’t made a decision yet. Any rumors that may be floating around that I’m leaving my job aren’t true. Hello! Still discerning! Haven’t made a decision yet! Sometimes I hate this place – the rumor mill is insane.

Okay back to this job thing…maybe I need to stop talking to people. The advice and discussion is great, but I’m now up to 3 options instead of 2 (which really doesn't help the decision process):

Stay at the InfoDesk
Move to CLI
Stay at the InfoDesk and continue to discern my career path for the next year, then make a change.

One friend said, shouldn't this be an easy decision - if it's so hard then maybe it isn't right. The problem is that in the discerning process I’m realizing more and more that this is not just a job change, this is a career change. If it was just a job change then it wouldn't be that big of a deal...but it's so much more than that. If I move to CLI, I’m saying to myself and others that I’m looking for a career in administration and that I’ll be here probably a goodly chunk of time (I don’t think they’d appreciate if I take the job and then leave in 8 months or a year). If I stay at the ID, I’m saying I want a job in events OR that I’m still discerning my future and will be here for at least another year before I make a change.

Both positions have their good points – they both have building blocks from which to grow. In CLI it’s building the position and the WMC to perhaps more that it could be than it is. In Events it’s building the department and working with catering to build a better correlation between the two to help create the department that I think really could be prominent, and maybe bring our department to the head of the game of event planning on campus. Staying in events and helping to build the department is a great way to build my resume for if/when I move on to another event office. Of course moving to CLI and helping to build that program would also be great for my resume if/when I leave here.

So it kind of comes down to where do I want to be in 5 years, or where do I see myself if 5 years. I’ve never been good at this part of life – looking ahead to where I want to be, to what I want to do. I’ve always fallen into my jobs – Arby’s Crew Leader (well, I sought that one out but I needed the cash and knew they would be more than happy to take me on since they wouldn’t have to completely train in a new person); my teaching gig (the school was in a bind and I was available); and all my positions here…they’ve fallen into my lap and have been convenient but I don’t know that they have been really things I’ve looked at as a future career. But now I’m in this one and I do enjoy the job…but is this where I see myself in 5 years? (well, not at the desk, but in events?)