I got a job offer in Nashville!

I received an offer from The Nutro Company in Nashville! I talked with Brad, who will be my new boss, last Monday night and he asked me what I would want if they offered me the job. He told me they'd have a formal offer to me by Friday. On Friday he called and gave me a verbal offer and I received the formal letter today via email. So it's official! They salary is almost a 7% raise, 15% bonus, and a partial relocation package. The relo package is not as good as the one I got with Hostess Brands in Dallas; they were going to buy my house if I couldn't sell it after 90 days. This relo package includes packing and moving everything, 4 weeks of my salary in lump sum (to pay for closing costs or eating out or buying furniture), and 30 days temporary living in a furnished apartment. The only thing that really makes me nervous is the 30 days temporary living - that means I'll be homeless or having to move around Christmas. I'm not excited about that! Brad called me about something else today, and I told him in full transparency that I am nervous about only having 30 days in housing. He said they don't want me not accepting the offer because of that, so they will be flexible. For example, they may pay for me to rent an unfurnished apartment for 60 days instead. That would be fine with me.

I am very excited about the actual job. I will be Brand Manager (that's a promotion!) of design/upstream for Nutro Cat brands. I will launch a new brand and develop the masterplan of initiatives for Cat. Yes, this means I may have to overcome my fear of cats in order to do this job well. :) Thankfully people cannot bring cats to work, but everyone is welcome to bring their dogs to work. In fact, in my first interview of the day someone brought in her dog! Brad, my boss, just left P&G about 5 months ago. I love that he has the same background as I do and will be someone I can learn from. Everyone I met with I valued their backgrounds; that is very different than my experience with Hostess Brands. I actually didn't accept the Hostess Brands jobs for many reasons, but the main one being I didn't think I would learn anything from my boss there. I would have added a ton of value to that company, but not sure would've gotten any value from them. With Nutro Company, I will add some value but I will definitely learn a lot and grow my skill set which will make me much more marketable in the future. I am super excited and nervous at the same time!

Dave has his interview on Wednesday this week with Mars Petcare. Please, please, please think good thoughts about him from 1-5pm CST on Wednesday! It would be great if he gets this offer; that will make it much easier to move. We've decided to move to Nashville regardless, but having this offer in hand will make the decision easier and the move for me a ton easier.

Thank you all for being supportive through this entire process. We really appreciate it! I am excited about Nashville and the new job.

Love you all!