First off I’d like to note that I understand how fortunate I am to be in this position with how wicked the job market is right now.
I was laid off 3 weeks ago from a job in Commercial Insurance. Since then I’ve been applying like mad and interviewing with different agencies. The first place I interviewed with was my top choice. Unfortunately I was told a couple weeks ago that they had a hiring freeze in place but wanted to keep my resume on file.
Fast forward to last week and I received a job offer for a hybrid schedule at an agency not far from home. I’ve been on boarding and just received an email this morning that I am cleared to start next week. I must note that the salary is slightly less than what I was making before being laid off. However I really enjoyed the interview and the manager has been communicative and kind through the onboarding process. She was even able to get me a dollar more per hour which closed the gap between salaries a bit more.
All that in mind, yesterday I received a call back from the job I first interviewed with and they said the hiring freeze has been lifted and they would like to offer me a position. They offered a salary that is $20,000 more per year as well as generous benefits and a hybrid work schedule as well.
Now I know I should rescind my acceptance from the first job but I just cannot shake this feeling of guilt. Due to the time and money they spent with onboarding, I feel like a bad person for wanting to drop them for the higher paying job.