So, it looks like I am going to be offered the job today.

The salary and commission will be in line with what I left of at after my mags closed in Feb 2009. There is health insurance. Not necessarily a selling job I am going to love doing, but it is a job.

The coo is, it is going to require me to be in Washington DC from late Sunday Night (11pm travel to) and getting back to NJ late Wed night for the initial 8 week training period, and then shortened till Tuesday Nights after I am ingrained and settled with a team.

This is my sticking point. I don't want to be away from my daughters (2 1/2 & 2 months) for that long of a stretch. I was nearly a wreck when I called home last night and over heard my older one asking for jellybeans for desert. I can't see any way this is something I'd get use to. The potential new boss doesn't think there is enough wiggle room to widdle this travel time down. He believes that team members need to be present as often as possible, but understands that my family doesnt live in DC, so he is willing to accept three days / then two.

Presently, outside of 'Commission only based offers', i have no immediate job prospects at home. Unemployment is running out shortly, and it paid only a couple of bills anyways. We have some security in the bank, but it is $$ i had hoped to be able to retire on sooner than later.

But being out of work for 14 months and no real other prospects at the moment, I still wonder if I should continue to seek something out in my own vicinity.

If we didn't have some security in the bank, then I'd 'man up' and support my family by any means....But with that blanket back home, and you may need to be a parent to fully comprehend, the idea of being away from your young young kids for such an extended period week after week may be a deal breaker....

Thoughts? What would you do?

Take the job and keep looking.
I wouldn't say that being away from your kids 2 nights a week is that bad. In some ways it's healthy because it makes you appreciate them more. Talk to your wife to make sure she would even be OK with dealing with the kids without you on a regular basis. I haven't traveled in awhile, but it used to be 1 or 2 nights a month and the wife dreaded those nights, but managed because she knew it needed to be done.

Go to work and keep looking locally. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

i work with a lot of people that are away from their family 5 days a week. some of them have a harder time with it than others. but you have to work right? get skype and keep looking.

so you're only in d.c. for the training period?

While it's tough (and i'm not a parent and I don't understand), i think you have to take the job. I've worked away from my wife and given up my summer vacation for the last four summers because it needed to be done. It was hard, but sometimes... what else can you do?

I'm pissed off that you're even considering not taking it. You have money in the bank but you've been collecting unemployment? I've been taking care of your bills so you could look for your dream job working for a comic book? Fuck you, dov. Time to feed the family. Go to work.

I don't hate America, I hate Americans.

2 nights a week is a pittance for you to be around them the rest of the week.

I work a "regular" job with an hour-ish commute, so I leave the house at 7am every day and come home at 6. I see my daughter for appx. 30 minutes when I get home, during which time she is sleepy / fussy, and I spend it bathing her and putting her to bed. Until the weekend, that's the deal. Even if you found something local, would yours really be THAT much different?

There's the Chase we all new back in the "good ol' days".

Dov, take the job. It's only 2 months of training and like cats said, get Skype with a web cam so you can communicate back home during free time.

Chase's reply took any of my motivation to reply with indignation .... grab a tampon, and do what you gotta do. You are talking about 2 months... I won't even tell you what I've had to do for more than 2 months...

when the marketing firm i worked with as an independent contractor closed down 8 years ago i was really stuck. i basically live in the middle of nowhere and there were no jobs/clients to be had locally. i had to travel daily for up to an hour and a half sometimes for freelance gigs. i would have made more money working in boston or nyc. i would have had to live there during the week but i refused to be away from my kids. i ended up working harder and making less but i wouldn't have done it any other way.

that said, to do the dc thing for 2 months will be hard but it won't last forever and in the end will feel like it flew by.

as for unemployment. it's there for the unemployed. it doesn't matter that you have money in the bank. why should you have to deplete your savings? get a grip cowboys. i'm more pissed off about the government waste on office supplies than i am about helping people out when they need it.

The best thing you can do for your daughters is provide for them. Period. No shame in unemployment, and it's there for a reason so I'm not pissed about you taking it. But at some point, you have to bring home Laura's bacon.

take the job, skype nightly

Who said anything about only for 2 months? The reading comprehension gang has struck again.

(He said 3 days a week for 2 months, then it drops to 2 days a week.)

and I'm not sure how practical Skype is for a mother and 2 kids. Does anyone know how hard it is to get a kid to sit stationary in front of a camera or how long a mother can sit in front of a camera while her 2 kids are off destroying the house? The end result will be she will call you during the day with any updates or needs, and then you get to talk to her again after she has gotten them in bed. Otherwise, the house is probably a little chaotic and syncing up down time for the kids with break times at work is hard.

Seems strange that a permanent requirement that you spend 2-3 days per week in DC would come up this late in the interview process.

14 months is a long time to be unemployed. I'm guessing that the type of jobs you want are a pretty niche and probably a shrinking market. I'd say that either you need to suck this up and take the job or broaden what you're open to if you want to stay local.

The best advice I can offer though is don't look to obner for advice on something like this. You probably know what you want to do. Just do whatever that is.

The best thing about the reading comprehension gang is that its leader doesn't even know he's in a gang.

that's not their ages?

I hate to say it but I think timmy is right. 2 1/2 & 2 months are the ages of his daughters.

who reads this shit anyway?

We need Twilight Kid in here to clear up his language choices. It's vitally important.

Seemed clear to me.

Yeah, but you're fluent in idjit.

Ok Ok...On a lunch break...

My daughters are 2 1/2 and 2 months. I bring it up as they are both still at home, and being unemployed I have been able to help put my wife. Anyone with kids will understand what a handful it is. Granted if I had a job locally, at least id be home at night to help out...

the job itself, would have me being away for the training period from late Sunday night (so i could wake up in DC monday morning and be at the office by 830 and staying in DC until Wed night). After the training period it would be from Sunday night through Tuesday night....So it is travel time every week...

As for the unemployment comment, Timmy Joe 'gets it'. In my post college professional life, I have worked 15 straight years (50-70 hour a week type jobs), until I was laid off....I put into the system. I provided for those out of work during that time....I do not feel guilty for collecting. My savings is my savings, and is supplementing right now. I am not someone who doesn't want to work. I want to work. But I also don't want to be away from my family for such periods, fora job, while the pay is gonna be pretty decent, I already know I am gonna dread... The good is not overwhelmingly out weighing what I am sacrificing...

I'm not gonna go back through the thread and see who said what, but to those who said 'get skype', seems to me aren't parents, or their kids are old enough where they want to be away from them for a period...I just got off with my wife and she put my 2 year old on who said 'i love you daddy. see you tonight'....it was almost enough to make me want to grab the next train and not even finish out the day....I don't think that is something I will get use to after a few weeks...

The general consensus are right...I will probably take the job and give it a shot....And see if i can negotiate to work at home more after the training period. Providing for the fam is important, but not at the expense of never seeing them...

Billy,
I was presented with the job opportunity on Monday, with a brief description of the travel requirements..
It wasn't until getting here yesterday and spending time with the boss, that it was laid out of how much time there would be required of me to be here...

And it's not that I am looking for a niche type job, I have spent the last year + exploring all types of opportunities...But coming off a job in which I was at for 10 years, my skill set is set in one direction....Those jobs are basically non existent anymore in my general area....And this was the first time in over a year I was presented with a an actual job with benefits, etc... for someone with my experience and skills...

I can do anything else, but being 37 and competing with 21 year old graduates, and starting over is not really an option with a mortgage and two kids....

I think I am gonna take it, keep looking, and if it simply too much, Ill quit....As for obner, I was looking for opinions...I take it with a grain of salt....I know who's post I give value to, and I have been around long enough to know who the 'soap box kings' are.....It's all good...

positive=lots of good shows in DC, and I'd probably come and have a beer with you.

I'll echo everyone else and say that if yr unemployment is going to end soon, then I'd just take the job and keep looking.