Long time lurker, first time posting.
I’m a staff mechanical engineer/program manager with 10 years of experience. Got laid off in March due to restructuring. Have been grinding the job search for 1.5 months with a baby due next week.
I have two offers on the table. Both came in lower significantly than my target and both downleveled me from what I interviewed for.
One is a defense company, decent total comp but wrong city, wrong role scope, and not where I want my career to go. The other is a legacy industrial company at the floor of their band in an expensive city. Both require a relocation to cities where we don’t know anyone and have no support city. We can easily live where we are currently but the job opportunities aren’t that great.
Meanwhile I have a local role I genuinely want still in deliberation and another company 3 rounds away from an offer.
My wife works and makes good money so we aren’t desperate financially. But I hate the idea of being unemployed with a newborn even for a few more weeks.
Do I take what’s in hand right now for stability even if it’s the wrong career move? Or do I hold out for something better knowing the pressure is only going to up as the days go by ?
Has anyone navigated this tradeoff? How did you think about it?
Given the current state of the economy I have no clue how to approach this issue .