What have I done now?

I don't know how this happened, but I somehow got roped into applying for a job that I haven't really thought about nor am convinced that I can do.

Kiran approached me yesterday saying that there was a position open for a drug safety specialist in her department a while ago. She had applied to it when it first came up. They had since taken down the internal posting, but it was on Workopolis still. The (internal) girl that they had offered the job to just joined my department, so the job should still be open. She was saying that they are under some pressure to fill the position b/c the person in it now was leaving for a job with the gov't (her last day was today) and like most big companies they wanted to fill it internally if possible.

So she suggested that I ask HR to see if the job was still open. An innocent question. Or so I thought. Instead, Kerri (the HR lady who loves us M.Biotech people) told me that the job was still open, to forward my resume directly to her, but also CC'd the guy in charge of recruiting for the position... Dave.

Dave and I have already been meeting fairly regularly as part of the project I'm working on in RA, so he already knows me. Why is this bad you say? Well because the next thing you know, Dave writes back that he's looking forward to receiving my CV... and I haven't even talked to my boss yet about leaving my project. The plan had always been to keep me for another year until the project was finished.

I had to arrange to meet with my boss to talk about the possiblity of me leaving the project before I could apply, but I also had to throw together a cover letter last night so that I would be ready to submit it today... as if I have been interested in applying for longer than 12 hours. This is all going too fast! I just feel sucked into a whirlwind. I haven't even really thought about whether I want to be a drug safety specialist, though the permanent thing is very appealing.

Anyways, just like Kiran predicted (though I sort of knew this myself already), when I met with Neerja today she was very supportive. She said that I shouldn't feel guilty. I need to do what I need to do. She totally understands my predicament. It's a permanent position and there's no telling when something else like this will come up again. There may not be anything next year. So she said to go forth and apply. They will deal with losing me on the project if it comes to that... though she was clear that they didn't want to see me go. That was nice. I have to keep her posted on what happens.

So now it's done. I've applied. Who knows what's going to happen next. I think though that my timing is perfect... They need someone right away, I am an internal employee (sort of), I have some experience with the gov't, I have been at the company longer than any other M.biotechs who might apply would, the guy in charge knows my name and face personally... I guess if it comes down to it and I hate the job, I can move around within the company later. It's a good stepping stone to being with the company for a long long time.