New Job(s)

This past January, James was approached by a man (Mark) that worked for Cornerstone Manufacturing up in Ogden, Utah. James had a connection with Cornerstone because his current position at Schiff Nutrition used their facilities to manufacture some of their products and he had been up there a few times to oversee production runs. Mark asked James if he would be interested in applying for a position at Cornerstone in a new department they were opening up. Cornerstone decided to open up their facility to doing powder orders (powder drinks..that sort of thing) and they needed a Powder Specialist to be manager over that department. They discussed what salary would make it worth his while to leave Schiff. James gave him a number 20k-25k higher than what he was currently being paid and they seemed ok with that number.

We thought our chances were really good in getting this job and thought our prayers had been answered. We were super tight on money and eventually would be even more tight since we would have to start paying my student loans. There was no money for savings and we have lots of debt to pay off from our student and unemployed days.

There seemed to be a lot of run around in the beginning. After about 2-3 weeks, James was finally able to interview for the job. We were told we would hear back in 1 week. 10 days went by, we were told it would be another week because a couple of the VP's were out of town that needed to be in on the decision. That week went by, but then Mark had to go out of town unexpectedly so it would be another week or so. It got to the point of ridiculous. It was about mid-March when we were both about ready to say, "forget it!" We felt our hopes were being crushed and that we must've misread that this was an answer to our prayers. So James continued to make plans to apply for the MBA program at BYU. He continued his studies for the pre-requisite courses and we saved our pennies to apply. We had already held of applying at the first deadline because we were sure he would get this job and the second deadline was approaching mid April.

Well April came and James and Mark met again about the position. James was finally able to get some real honest answers from Mark as to the cause of the delay. He said that half of the VP's were on board with hiring James, but the other half felt they should hire someone with more experience. So Mark traveled across the country to find someone with the experience these other VP's wanted but they all wanted too much money. About 100-125K and Cornerstone didn't want to pay someone that when this was a new thing they were trying out. Mark was finally able to convince the rest of the VP's that James was a promising choice and offered him a job less than a week after they met.

James went to Schiff and told him he got an offer from Cornerstone and that he was going to accept it. The head of the department he worked for (Kenny) did everything he could to get James to stay. They couldn't match the same offer but were willing to give him a 14k raise and would bump him up one more on the chain of command. Meaning he would be a scientist instead of an associate scientist which Kenny says he's never seen happen before after someone only working there for 18 months. But Cornerstone's offer was 22k more than he was currently making and he was being made a manager which was still 2 positions away if he stayed with Schiff. Kenny was able to make a legitimate argument as to why James should stay. One of them being that their 401K match was far superior. But when we sat down and did a pros and cons list we still couldn't decide. It was fortunate that James' Dad was in town at this time. He was able to get a blessing to aid him in his decision. The blessing helped him gain some clarity and he felt that he should reject Schiff's offer and accept Cornerstone's but that he would give Schiff 3 weeks instead 2 weeks since his leaving was complicating things for them.

He started his new job with Cornerstone on May 13th. I asked him if he regretted his decision and he says he doesn't. He loves his job and looks forward to going to work. We are grateful to Schiff for helping James get his start in the nutricuitcal industry, but know that in order for him to really go places and sooner rather than later, he needs managerial experience and we are grateful that Cornerstone gave him that opportunity. We are excited to see what happens with his career 3-5 years from now. We know there are wonderful things in store for him.


To add to the new job(s) story, I too got a job and even started the same day James started his job. I am a manager for Utah School of Music & Dance and work part time. In the next couple weeks, we will be hiring a receptionist that I will manage, leaving me more time to do managing and marketing for the school. It will also allow me to work from home more and be able to retain more of my money instead of it going to a sitter. I know it's not the typical "mormon" thing for me to be a working mom, but I prayed about this decision and felt it was the best thing for us. I still think it was the right decision and I am grateful to have the extra money to put Janen in pre-school, to be able to help a friend or family member when they need it and to have an emergency preparedness fund now. I don't regret my decision at all and I am grateful to have found an awesome sitter that Janen and Elsie both enjoy. I feel happier, have less anxiety and find that I am more patient with my kids and even find myself being more light-hearted with James which I know is something he values. We feel very fortunate and blessed to have our jobs. It was a long time coming for James and to see him feel valued is priceless. He's much more happier and that is a beautiful thing!