move on

C phoned me this morning, she had a job interview at 10.30am. We talked a little bit about the folk who were interviewing her - they are colleagues from another team - and she wanted to know whatever I could tell her about them. She went to the job interview. Then, that afternoon they phoned and offered her the job... but she turned it down. Her main reason was because she didn't think it would be the best sort of job for her career. It's a project management post, and it sounds very interesting. But, like me, she is in pursuit of an academic career.

They called her back and for two hours tried to talk her into accepting the post. The upped her salary by 15%, and did genuinely show her the room the post has for career expansion. So, she accepted it. She negotiated her starting date, and it will probably be in December. It was her first interview. She's a little star!

C and I have been talking for a while about looking for new jobs. I didn't want to be looking at the same time as her, because we would probably be trying for the same positions. But now that she's got one, it means that I have to start thinking about doing the same.

I don't talk (properly) about my work here. Not because of fear of libel, or anything like that. But because I don't want to think about it.

I'm putting my eggs in the PhD basket. But those little ducklings won't hatch for another 5 years. What do I do with the intervening years?