Day 6: Should I stay or should I go?

“Hello Jason,

I have pleasure to inform you we would like to accept your application for position as Property Consultant. It was a pleasure meeting with you today & if you are in agreement, I would like to make plans for your flight to Dubai on the 4th Feb 2011.

regards

David Johnson"

That was the message I woke up to this morning so my day started with a feeling of great surprise.  Then shock.  Then panic! Then about a million other emotions all rolled into one.  In any other circumstance and in any other job application, the only feelings would of course be those of happiness, elation, joy and relief.  But this job requires some huge consideration before I can accept it.

The job involves selling high-end studios and apartments to business people wanting to make a sound investment in the property market.  The company builds award-winning developments and the target market is the oil-rich West Africans who have little trust in the banking systems of their home countries.  (Apparently, some governments are a tad corrupt in these parts of the world!).

In return for selling one of these properties, I would be rewarded with 1% of the net sale price - plus bonuses for selling extras.  In real terms, the sale of a $450,000 USD property would net me a commission payment of £20,000.  The company would be setting me the realistic target of one sale per calendar month.  Therefore, the company would expect me to collect £240,000 over a 12 month period plus bonuses.  Whilst I’ll have to catch the Metro to work, I’ll get the use of one of 8 Audi Q7’s to show the clients around and then there’s the basic salary.  And herein lies the dilemma.

The basic monthly pay is AED 5000 per month (approx. £950).  Dubai is notoriously expensive, so rent for an apartment here starts from around AED 5000 per month, which instantly gobbles up the basic mointhly wage.  Whilst the company would pay for my flight to Dubai and put me up in one of their flash studios for the first month - I’d need to be putting 3 months deposit down on my own apartment by the end of my first four weeks.  Obviously, if I haven’t earned any commission by the time my fourth month in Dubai arrives, I’ll only have enough cash to pay my rent and none for bills, food or drink. 

Then there’s the small matter of moving three and a half thousand miles to Dubai, for a minimum period of 12 months.  The great news I received this month suddenly turns into mind-boggling brain-mayhem!

I’ve got no job, nothing major in the pipeline and live in a place in time where we hear such a lot about poverty in places like Blackburn and Burnley.  But it’s not just ‘poverty of pocket’.  I’m proud to be a Blackburn lad, but our East Lancashire towns are dying on their arses and the steady decline in population will only continue unless something radical is done.  This area needs proper jobs and proper opportunities for 'proper' people, otherwise the best of the town will continue to move away.  So, maybe I need to be one of those people that moves away in order to catch myself a break?

On the flipside, all the things that are important to me are right here.  Sure…some of the stuff that used to be big parts of my life have now dissolved.  A simple example of this is playing footie for Pleasington on a Saturday afternoon;  This really was the highlight of my week and I do miss playing more than I could possibly articulate in this blog.  But since my knee injury 21 months ago I haven’t been able to play and so, I have now started to get used to not being part of the team.

What hasn’t dissolved though is the great friendships I have, the love of my small but close-knit family and the strength of my relationship with my girlfriend, Lindsay.  These are the things that matter the most and these are the things I worry I’d struggle to be without.  It’s truly one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in my life.

Should I stay, or should I go?

In contrast to all this drama, I had the reality check of my first Jobseekers appointment today, so I’m officially ‘on the dole’.  I now have to report to the Job Centre Plus office once a fortnight to ‘sign-on’, bringing along a diary of my job search activities.  The devil on my shoulder is telling me to simply jot down the web address of this blog!

I also took the brave step of contacting the chap who interviewed me for the procurement job on the 23^rd of December.  I told him that I had spent the last fortnight in anticipation of his call and I had now been offered another position.  In return, he explained that he only saw his final candidate yesterday and hadn’t yet come to a decision.  On the plus side, the gentleman told me that he really liked me and thought I’d fit well in to his organisation.  On the negative side, he explained that my ‘enthusiastic and upbeat personality’ might be better suited to sales and in turn, he might want to introduce me to his Sales Manager.  Truth is - I don’t really want to sell steel from an office in Accrington and that’s certainly not the job I’ve been excited for.  I really wanted to be the guy’s assistant buyer, but another one seems to have bitten the dust.

I also got a reply to my ambitious and slightly ‘romantic’ e-mail to Burnley Football Club.  Nothing going at the moment unfortunately…but Mr. Bentley will be keeping my CV on file in case something does.  One thing that I haven’t mentioned was that I also applied to be on ‘Deal or No Deal’ during

my 'downtime' of the Christmas holidays!  If I don’t get something sorted

post-haste, the chance opening of a big red box may yet be my only hope!

Until next time, many blessings to you all.

Jason