Today, I broke it to my supervisor that I'll be leaving for another position. I was very nervous about having this discussion and it was hard to come out my mouth but I did it.
I told them I was leaning heavily towards accepting that position, inadvertently giving them the opening to negotiate. He asked some questions and I obliged: How much was the offer, what would I be doing there, etc. The discussion then turned towards "well, I can't blame you because that is alot more but if we run the numbers, we may be able to counter more", and "we can pay you to work on some of those tasks which you would be doing in your new position", etc. In essence, alot of salesmanship on their end to keep me. And it was convincing. The worst part was the emotions: "oh man... this is such a bummer..geez, we can't lose you..my day was going great until now". This conversation occurred after a meeting in which I showed I was closing in on a finished product. I almost wish I was a less productive team member so that I wouldn't be missed. I was made to feel like a jackass for even considering leaving and didn't think there would be so much self-guilt. I was expecting, "oh, you're leaving? darn, that'll be disappointing and would set us back, but we're glad you are pursuing your professional interests.".
I enjoy my current position; I am funded to work on specifically work on topics that I do find interesting. On the other hand, I will have freedom to self-direct what projects I work on in the new position. In addition, I've already been at a point for the past month where I feel overwhelmed with independent contracting on the side so I am always striving to be effective in my roles and please the boss/clients.
Tomorrow morning I will be having another meeting in which I am sure my current supervisor and their supervisor will try to incentivize me to stay. I know I will have to steer the conversation from negotiating my staying towards negotiating my transition. I aim to be flexible and can even stay on for 3 more months to get some contracts finished. I feel almost obligated to stay on for these because I know the contracts cannot get done without me and there is noone on staff with the same skill sets.
Thanks for reading. Any words of wisdom? I know what I need to do but if anyone can share similar experiences it will help me tomorrow.