Off to Moab!

(this is Robbie writing)

Over the last 14 months I have been looking for a good job in the Safety and Health field. When I graduated from Utah State the president of the university warned us all that our job search was going to be much more difficult than in years past. He was right.

I recently interviewed for two very promising jobs. One job was with Lowe's Home Improvement store in Vernal, and the other with Energy Solutions in Moab. I visited both jobs this last week for second interviews, and felt very positive about both of them. The Moab job seemed more in line with my career goals, however, the Lowe's job was a management position, which would have been a great experience in Loss Prevention as well as in Safety.

As background information, I have honestly applied for close to 200 jobs in the last year. I have had close to 50 interviews for various positions. Despite my efforts, I never was offered a job that paid more than I am currently making (not much). I have been working a job that was completely unrelated to by career goals so as to earn at least SOME income while I continued my search. However, I still was not seeing much success.

Tonight has been a crazy night. Energy Solutions sent an offer letter and new-hire packet in the mail which was received at about 3:00 this afternoon. The position is exactly what I have been hoping for. It allows me to utilize current skills, knowledge acquired from my graduate program, and will provide me with much needed Environmental Health experience. (Not to mention pays substantially more than what I was expecting.)

On the drive home from California Pizza Kitchen to celebrate the job offer, I received a call from the Area Loss Prevention Manager with Lowe's letting me know that I was offered the job. Although I would have enjoyed this job quite a bit, upon learning the salary information I had to turn it down. Had she called just four hours earlier however, we would have been running up and down the streets celebrating the job.

This job search has been so stressful that I had even begun to question my career choice in Occupational Safety. I just can't believe that after over a year of searching, rejection, and stress that we were offered two great jobs within four hours of each other. The decision would have been much more difficult had the compensation been more similar. However, all things considered (pros and cons of each job, location, and career paths) it came down to compensation. And the clear choice is Energy Solutions. We will be moving to Moab.

I have to admit, I have not completely figured out the lesson that Carly and I were meant to learn. Maybe it was just patience, budgeting, humility, and perseverance. But more than anything, I have to say that I am grateful that we have been paying our tithing. We have made every effort to pay a full tithe, even when we couldn't even afford to pay our basic expenses. We are so grateful for the blessings we have received today, and feel that obeying the Law of Tithing has been a huge part of these blessings.

So that's the story, the job starts on July 27th. We are not sure when we will be making the move. But we are excited for this new chapter in life. This chapter of our lives is called..."Not living below the poverty line." Goodbye rock bottom (I hope).