I feel so awful.
I have been at my current job for 6 years and I do love it. There are only 3 of us in the office, I have a great relationship with my manager and my colleague and we work well together and I do like my job. When I took it 6 years ago, it fitted in perfectly around my young kids, their schooling and my boss has been amazing and very flexible with me because of that. I have a second job as well and my lovely boss factors that in. I have a set amount of hours a week there but I often work way more than the hours I am paid for.
I have done volunteer work on top of this in a sector I also really love. I didn’t think I was qualified enough to work in this sector though and jobs don’t come up that often either. (They are like gold dust). However, in this sector, recruitment opened up and I was asked to apply for 3 jobs in that area (all pretty much the same but in different parts of the county) by some of the people I had been volunteering with. I did apply (thinking I would not get anywhere and it would be a good experience). I was offered interviews for all 3. I got offered 2 short interviews and passed onto the next stage for both of them and for the 3rd, I bi-passed the short interview and have a final interview next week.
I have just done my first interview (over 100 people applied, 15 of us went through to interview yesterday) and I just got a call this morning to say they were so impressed with me and think I am more than qualified and they offered me the job on the spot. They even offered me more money than was advertised/than I asked for (it was a pay scale that was mentioned and I went bottom to middle and they have offered the job to me almost right at the top end of the pay scale) because they want me to ‘know my worth’, they want me to join the team and they want me to understand I am more than qualified.
I have my second interview for the same job but in a different part of the sector and the 3rd interview is next week for a slightly different job (this is the one that I have gone straight to the final interview). The person hiring for this job has also called me last week to say that if I get the job, they are more than happy to also offer me more money than they have advertised.
I am so happy and shocked that I was offered the job yesterday and that people are keen to get me on board. The money is beyond amazing and more than double I earn currently for just a few extra hours a week than I officially do. They are also willing to work around my 2nd job as it does go hand in hand with one of these new roles and I can also partially work from home/go into the office once I settle in. They also know I have 2 other interviews and are willing to wait for the outcomes of those so I can pick what I want (their words not mine).
I do want to take the job (whichever one suits best), but I cannot help feel a terrible guilt and dread of handing my notice in to my lovely boss. It has been difficult this year for me. I have had to deal with a close bereavement which I only took 3 days off and I had to have an op recently and am just about to come back off of sick leave. (In 6 years, I have only had 2 days off sick and then this time for my op which I worked up til the day beforehand) and they have been so supportive of me, particularly my boss. She is now going through some personal issues at home so if I hand in my notice next week, it will be during the worst week of her life and it will blindside her. I am not unhappy at my job, it’s just an amazing opportunity that has landed in my lap and I cannot say no.
I cannot sleep because I feel so guilty and am dreading having to talk to her. But I need to give a months notice and they want me to start on 1st October so I will have to get something in next week and potentially use a weeks holiday (I haven’t taken any holiday yet this year).
My family know how good my
boss has been but keep reminding me that I need to do the best for me and that even if my management is amazing, I would be replaced asap. Albeit, a family member is already preparing to apply for my role if I do hand in my notice and, I do think she probably would get it as they know her well, she has helped out on occasion and is more than qualified. I have 2 young children and having the extra money would be a huge bonus for us as well.
Sorry for the rant but I suppose this is my question - Is it normal to feel this level of guilt?