Am I being too picky, especially now?

[Daseal]

Hey Guys,

I have an interview today with a company I interned at for a full-time position. First let me say, it’s a good place to work. It’s a pretty cool work environment, and they’re on Fortunes list of the top 100 companies to work for, so it’s not as if this is a rat hole.

Here’s my issue. First of all, I have no intentions of staying in the position too long because I’m not really interested in this type of work for the long term but I must verbally commit to at least 1 or 1.5 years. Not to mention, I’m not the ‘quitting’ type. I’m starting to learn to do what’s best for me, not the company since companies look out for themselves, but still not good at it. Secondly, the pay isn’t great, it’s not terrible, but a bit lower than most entry level positions. A lot of the salary depends on quarterly bonuses based on the performance of everyone in the branch, so basically one person doing a poor job can affect your salary. There’s also no real hope of getting a security clearance, which in the NOVA area is pretty important. The two big kickers for me though come down to finances. I’m the oldest college graduate ever (just graduated yesterday, yay!) so I need to make up for lost time on the 401K/etc. They do not match any amount you invest. Secondly, I’m starting my M.S. in the Fall – they offer no tuition reimbursement. I’m going to be taking 3 classes a semester so per year we’re looking at 9000 bucks a year (not including books, parking, fees, etc).

I have work lined up that is very, very good money. Roughly 750 a week take home that I can probably find all summer long.

My question is, should I suck it up and accept the position if offered or should I hold out for a better opportunity? Thanks!