Not sure what to do (job opening, applying, interview, real estate)

[RoJl5]

In case this entry gets long, I'll put a summarized version up here first: I do not know whether to apply for my "dream job" or stay put where I'm at. I recently graduated with my MBA.


In May, I graduated with my MBA and it took me some months to find a job due to my lack of experience in the field I was pursuing - real estate finance. I have been very interested in environmental conservation for years, but there aren't a whole lot of opportunities in this field, while commercial real estate can be very lucrative and the market is booming right now. So I finally landed a job in commercial, and for the first time in my life I'm putting in extremely long (7:30-6:30 or later) hours in a cubicle, doing a tremendous amount of work. I really am learning a ton, and my team is very smart, good to me, and well-connected. And I do find rel estate investment kind of interesting. But the work is so grueling and consuming that I find it hard to have a balanced life. I told myself that I'd stay for 6 months, at least long enough to have some decent resume fodder. But now, just a month after starting, fell upon a job opening for what is literally my dream job. Literally, land conservation and sustainable development, for a very rare company that does exactly what I want to be doing, and it's in my city. I am very qualified for this job and believe I'd enjoy life if I was working it, but the timing of all this is just poor. My boss and team took a risk in hiring me, as I wasn't very experienced, and they've put a tremendous amount of time and energy into training me. If I suddenly left, it would be such a disrespect to them, it would burn bridges and jeopardize my success if I decided to re-enter commercial real estate, and it would just be difficult to tell them that I'm leaving. And on the practical end, I don't even know how I could go interview elsewhere when I works o much as it is...I'm not good at lying about that kind of thing. And even by applying for the job, I feel like it might be discovered that I'm looking elsewhere. It's a small and interconnected system of professionals out here, as I'm sure it is everywhere else.

If I stay, I'll continue to learn very valuable skills and set myself up for a good career in real estate. I could even use that experience to enter a different field if I decide I don't want to continue with real estate. I'm single right now and am able to work a lot. But at least right now, I don't "feel good" about the work, I hate working such long hours and being constantly stressed. I don't even think I'm very good at what I'm doing, and I constantly worry that they'll fire me for not catching on quick enough, but maybe I'm just being paranoid. And now there's this new job announcement for a job that I think I have a good shot at landing.