Sunday, September 19, 2010

That whole job thing...

The past two weeks, have been filled with madness. Todd and Gotham and I have all been sick and had our schedules rearranged and turned upside down. There are so many new, wonderful things happening, it's been impossible to chronicle. But I'll try and give you a brief synopsis.

About the job:

Three weeks ago, I signed with a staffing agency (read: temp service). On the very same day that I signed up to start looking for work with them, I got a call to interview for a job I'd applied for independently. The position was a part-time gig with a local non-profit children's theater company. Two days after the phone interview, I went on a live one and love it. The company is wonderful and I adore everything they're doing in the community.

A week after my interview at Metro Theatre Company (MTC), they asked me to go on an assignment: go to a performance/residency and do interviews and write a story. Brilliant. I was pumped. But, because the program was a new program at a new school, everything got a little flaky and they had to push back my assignment date from last Thursday to this past Tuesday. I was fine with it, because 2 days before the assignment, Todd and I got a horrible stomach virus that sidelined us from life for 2 days. I was happy to have more recoup time because I wanted to be awesome for my assignment.

So, on the very same day that MTC calls and postpones my assignment, the temp service calls and asks me to go on an interview for an admin job with a manufacturing company that makes big electronic panels for large mechanical equipment. Mmmhmm.

I had no interest. But I didn't want to seem ungrateful, and it's always good to have interview experience. So I said I'd go.

So, with a bad/utterly apathetic attitude, I dressed up and went. When I got there, they had me take a spelling and grammar test for 30 minutes. I did really well on it, which they were super jazzed about, since apparently everyone else they interviewed can't spell? The interview was fine, and the women who interviewed me were nice. The admin position is 8-4:30, Monday-Friday, with hourly pay 4 bucks more than I was making. They told me it was a temp gig-- but that honestly, they desperately wanted someone to come on full time. They said it would be hourly as long as the temp agency demanded, but that assuming I liked the place, they wanted to hire me on full time and put me on salary ASAP.

At that point, I started to feel torn. Everyone knows I'd been utterly willing to take the financial hit for the fun, artsy job versus selling out for the money and the consistency. I asked for the weekend to consider the offer. I wanted to run it by some friends and family to see if anyone would tell me I shouldn't take the job.

But the more I deliberated, the more I realized that the interview and the job itself was a gift from God. Just one day before my interview, my student loan payments went up by $200/month. With the rush season ending @ the Arch and hours getting cut, I was looking at having to take on another side hustle to stay up on payments. By taking this job, the financial issue is solved-- and if I were to go on salary at the beginning of the year? It would really help us out in our goal to be debt free (apart from school loans) in one year.

So... I took the job. :) I put in my 2 weeks at the Arch and started the new gig last Monday. I have a desk and a window (yay!!!) I do payroll and emails about engineering equipment. I answer the phone and make copies. I find myself more tempted than usual to consume copious amount of candy. And I have a 25ish minute commute, which is interesting since we only have one car at the moment. But it's working so far.

I'm actually really enjoying it and love working in an office with grown ups and relatively no drama.

So that's the deal with the new job... speaking of, I'd better get to bed so I'm not late tomorrow!




2 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Juliette! I bet you will come to like the consistent schedule.

Kathryn said...

Hey Girl! I am so glad your new job is working out for you!