Job Hunt Experiment Paying Off?

Nine days ago I blogged about how the IT industry in the US is outsourcing itself out of existance and how this might directly affect yours truly. Buried in one paragraph was the intimation that I was looking for employment in the private industry (I'm currently a State worker) and closer to home. Specifically, someone very new to the local BBS I frequent posted a job opening. It looked promising as I had much of the required skill set so I went for it and emailed my resume. This apparently worked well enough to earn me a response detailing a little more about the company and asking if I'd be interested in "an informal interview". Yes, I responded and we set it up.

So yesterday, I leave work early and the light rail, bus and my pedal power all align nicely getting me home 35 minutes before the interview. As the office is just two miles from my house, this gave me plenty of transition time. I arrive there a perfect three minutes before the schedule two o'clock appointment and am soon greeted by a tall man who looks familiar. He notes that I look familiar, too, and soon realizes it is because his step-daughter and my youngest daughter are good friends. Well, there's a nifty ice-breaker.

The interview goes well, I thought. I did learn that while this is the leading national company delivering medical financial software for reporting the the federal government, it is also a small shop with just over a dozen total employees. I'm informed that they carry the usual benefits and a generous self-directed, retirement benefit (he told me that with profit sharing it usually works out to about 20-25% of salary). The downside is that the health care option is limited to just one: Kaiser. We've done Kaiser and were pleasantly surprised when we finally tried another HMO. Oh well, Kaiser isn't awful, just...mediocre. And we do have a concern with my middle daughter's epilepsy treatment. While we didn't talk hard numbers or even ranges of salary, he did make the statement that my salary, should I get the job, would be definitely increased. He seemed like he was almost laughing at the incredibly low amount I am being paid now. Hmm, that sounds promising.

Anyway, I guess I passed that audition because he told me that he would be scheduling a second "informal" interview with the company's owner and his daughter who is also apparently the heir-apparent for the owner's eventual retirement. Yes, it is a family business and, it would seem, well taken care of. I've never known working in a place like that. I've worked for the State for the last 18-1/2 years, almost straight out of college.

I'm somewhat excited about the prospect of more money and working so incredibly close to home. But on the other hand, I've nothing to lose as I've already got a job. Still, I think I'm begining to want this so much that I might get nervous. We'll have to wait and see how the next step goes.