I'm afraid I've made a mess of this job business, but it has all turned out for the greater good (or, rather, my greater good).

In sum, I was offered the manager position at a local cultural center. When I asked about a raise in starting salary (since I'm their top-candidate, and have everything they are looking for and more), they told me I could expect a $1 increase after a three month performance review, but the job would never pay more than $15/hour. Not a totally unexpected response, but I wasn't left with much to negotiate after that.

I found out in my first interview that the hours would be Monday through Thursday from 10 to 4. I spent the last two weeks (since applying for the job and being interviewed) trying to figure out how to set up child care and afford it. After getting their offer (and having no movement on the salary), I asked about changing to three 8-hour days instead of four 6-hour days (which were the hours I was told initially).

Tonight, the board secretary called to ask for my decision. She told me the board agreed to my request for changing the job to three days per week temporarily (it would go to four days after three months). I told her it wouldn't work for me that way because I would be paying for full-time child care on a part-time salary.

She went ballistic when I declined the job offer. I was flabbergasted! A simple, "I'm sorry we couldn't work it out. Thank you for your time. Would you be interested in volunteering with us?" would have been great. Instead I received an earful about how I should have never applied if I knew I might not accept the job. She just went on and on about what a terrible thing I had done to them.

So, here's a draft of a letter I am sending to the board, since I really wouldn't mind doing some volunteer work for them:

Dear board members,

Thank you for offering me the Cultural Center Manager position. I know you have very hard jobs as volunteers, and I can appreciate all the time and effort that went into this process. I am sorry that I am unable to accept your job offer at this time.

I’m sure my decision caused some confusion (and possibly anger) considering what I said in my interviews, and I hope you believe me when I say all my interactions with you were both truthful and sincere. Until this weekend, I still felt I could accept this position by coming up with a solution to meet all our needs through negotiations and some creative juggling on my part.

As I mentioned to A. on the phone, I am still interested in donating my time and skills to the cultural center. I would love working with you to redesign your newsletter or to create any other promotional items you might need. Please call me if you are interested.

Thank you again for all your time and energy. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to accept your offer, but I hope we can work together in the future, and, as I said in my interview, make the cultural center bigger, better and stronger.

Sincerely,
Meagan Van Beest

I've learned a couple of things from this process. First, this experience has made me realize I can't work for other people (aka "The Man") unless they communicate well. Second, I need to find a real work-from-home job because I'll be done watching Finn in September.

I am picking up writing again since that seems like an obvious solution. However, the real gift of this whole fiasco has to be that I am finally going to start my art marketing business. For real. I have the domain name, a business plan and all the ideas. Now, I'm going to take the leap.

Stay tuned, and watch me fly.