At Long Last...A New Job

Finally. I have been waiting to make a post like this ever since I started this blog.

At the end of last week, I was offered a very good job (which I have now accepted). It is with the same unit in the university I have worked at since August 2004, when we moved back to Halifax from Dublin. The job mainly entails identifying and promoting opportunities for international research amongst our faculty members, helping them put together their funding proposals, and then (hopefully) assisting them with managing their successful research programmes. It's an excellent opportunity, and a significant step up from where I am now - with a greater range of responsibilities, lots of room for professional growth, and a corresponding pay rise of about 20% over what I'm earning now. Crucially, it is also a permanent position, with a full range of top-notch benefits. I can't overstate how important this is to me - I have been waiting a very long time for a job like this, and have had to work harder than I ever imagined in order to get here.

When I first joined the unit, I was hired on a long-term contract (4.5 years) to manage an international development project which the university was leading. I admit that at the time, knowing very little about international development, I looked upon the job as a foot in the door - a worthwhile stopgap that would pay the bills for perhaps six months to a year, until I found a permanent position in student services or another area where I had more expertise. I wasn't too worried. I had a vague memory that the Nova Scotia job market has always been tough. But I felt confident that with my education and five years of solid work experience in an Irish university under my belt, that opportunities would be plentiful among the seven higher education institutions in this city, and I wouldn't have much trouble in finding a great job.

Boy, was I wrong.

How wrong? Let me break down the numbers for you. Since January 2004, when I began my Halifax job search, these have been my results:

• Applications submitted for advertised positions at Halifax universities/colleges: 56
• Calls to interview: 8
• Permanent job offers extended: 1 (April 2009)

You read that right. It has taken me just over five years to reach what, in my mind, is a normal, reasonable goal - an interesting, well-paid, secure job in my field. Arriving back here in 2004 fresh from Europe (and the booming Irish economy), I would never have dreamed how hard it would be to break back into the job market here, and advance my career. Last year, I even ended up hiring a career coach, to analyze my resume and interview performance and figure out how to present myself as positively as possible. I had completely forgotten how difficult it can be to find good work in Nova Scotia - which is why so many of us leave here in the first place. Coupled with the fact that the university I work for is the most prestigious in the region, and attracts high-fliers who parachute in from other parts of the country to enjoy the famed Maritime lifestyle - well, that makes things very, very tough. There were definitely times I despaired of ever getting on in my career, and wondered if moving back to this city might have been a mistake.

But now, all of that doubt and worry has been swept away. The above has been a lengthy way of saying that this new job I've been offered has been VERY hard-won. The victory is sweet - and it has been a long time coming!