Saturday Scribbles Vol 17

Happy Saturday my friends! I eluded to this post last week. Well today, I finally get to share wit you what has been on my heart for a little bit.

There are times when I so amazing at God's faithfulness. You see, my friends and family have been praying for a new job for me. Especially after my boss retired back in January. And they have been praying consistently for a long time for me to get this new job.

Well here's my journey to the new job that I started this past week.

The old job was very stressful. A new system was in the process of being developed and my biggest prayer was that I'd be able to have a new position before the new system was moved out of testing mode into production.

I'd heard about a couple of trainer positions at a specific location. I talked to a friend who gave me the contact information for one of the trainers at this location. So I communicated with her for several weeks. This was back in February. At her advice, I applied for a different position at this location. And then emailed her to let her know I'd done so. I'll admit I was very persistent. When a couple of weeks went by and I'd not heard anything, I politely emailed her again to see if she knew anything about my application status.

Well a friend of mine happened to be taking a course over at that location one day, and she sent me a text asking me to call her. So I did. Unknown to me until that moment, my friend had been talking me up to the instructor of the class she was attending. She told me to send him my resume. So I did. About two hours later, he called me for an interview. This was late March by this time. We were able to schedule the interview on a Friday that happened to be on a day I was already off of work.

I knew I had to prepare for the interview. Of course, I let those who loved me and were praying know of it and ask for prayers. I'd gone on an interview for a different position back in February and the panel met with the candidates to offer advice. One piece of advice that stuck with me was this "find someone you know who is in the position you want and ask them what they typical day looks like." So I did. I emailed my contact I'd been communicating with and asked her some questions. She asked me to call her so we could chat on the phone as opposed to email. So I did. She helped me to prepare for the interview.

I walked into the interview, exuding all of the  confidence my Mary Kay training had taught me. And I was pretty calm. I knew God had this. I'd come prepared with samples of things I could do in Microsoft Office, a sample of a research paper with a corresponding PowerPoint presentation, a sample of customer correspondence, a sample of Excel, and a very detailed sample of a Word document that is a training manual.

So while I was at the interview, my biggest prayer was to be called back for a second interview. That didn't happen. You see, he told me that he wanted me. He was going to make a recommendation to HR and that I should expect a phone call within a week. I was excited, and a bit stunned. Because during the interview, I met his entire staff. And they put their stamp of approval on me. So I'm leaving the interview and of course I had to make a couple of calls. To Mom. To Lynnette. I loved how God was moving - He had given me the job. Now we just had to wait for HR.

So a week later, I'd already received one phone call from HR asking for things like my transcripts and an employment verification form that I needed to sign. I headed off to my Mary Kay Career Conference excited about the possibility of the new job soon.

April hits. And with it, I started to feel a little discouraged. Because I KNEW I'd gotten the job, but I hadn't yet received my offer phone call or a start date. And the date the new system was supposed to be moved into production was looming closer and closer. I'd already been informed that my area would need to work a mandatory Sunday overtime on Sunday April 19 beginning at 8am and lasting until at least 5pm. I really didn't want that. You see, I wanted to go to church. And not just because it's something I do on Sundays or because I get to get hugs from three sweet little girls, but because I truly wanted to be there. I reached out to the woman who had asked for my transcripts to see if she knew anything. In her reply, she told me that my file was now with the person who would make the offer and the final review of it, but it could take up to six weeks. Well at that point, I resigned myself to working a Sunday. I wasn't going to have any choice. So I let go of what I wanted.

And then God was God. Thursday before the 19th, I was informed that I could pass this information along to the staff that there was not going to be any overtime on Sunday. We didn't have to come in at all. God showed me in a big way that He had heard my heart's desire of being with Him in His house of worship on Sunday. I knew at that moment that my prayer of being gone before the new system would be moved into production would be answered. I knew I'd be gone before then.

So I get a phone call from HR on Tuesday April 21. I was excited. I thought that this was it. But it wasn't. I had a meeting with the HR director on Friday May 1. So I called the man who would be my new boss to ask what I should expect. He gave me some pointers, a book to read (which I'm still reading), and told me that I'd be fine. What I didn't know was that this was very unusual. So I continued to go about my days.

When the May 1 appointment arrived, I met with the HR director. It was a nice conversation. And he told me "I'm going to let you in on a secret, you've got the job. Now act surprised when they call with the offer." I asked him when I could expect that phone call. He told me that I didn't receive it that day, I'd have it no later than Monday the 4th.

The rest of the day went by. No phone call. Monday arrives, and I'm ask to train this other rep on all of the duties of a lead. I said, ok. Around 3pm that day, I get my long awaited phone call from HR. My new manager had told me to ask for a salary that  I would feel comfortable with. I had a number in my mind to ask for. My mom had been praying for a different number. The offer actually was way more than either of us had even thought about. So God again blessed me with more than what I'd planned on asking for. I of course accepted the job and asked about my start date. She told me she needed to get with my current manager and she would call me back the next day. She did tell me that the maximum amount of time that I could be kept was two pay periods from the date that I accepted the position. That meant, the latest I would be starting would be June 8. So I thought, "Ok God's still got this."

Tuesday morning, I knew I needed to approach my manager and inform her. I mean the rumor had been running around since March, though I would neither confirm nor deny it. After she arrived, I approached her and asked if she had a minute. I explained that I'd accepted a position as a trainer, and had received my offer the day before. I did tell her I wasn't sure yet of my start date, and she told me it would be May 26. She told me that she thought I might be leaving but wasn't sure since I'd not said anything. I explained that I couldn't say anything until it was official and that I'd not had a chance to speak with her before I left the day before. She said she appreciated that.

So I had a start date now. May 26. Which also happened to be a day I had a dentist appointment scheduled at 4pm. So I called my new manager and he told not to reschedule the dentist appointment but to take the whole day. I explained it was at 4, and I could still come in. He just said, that's ok, I'll see you Wednesday at 9.

Well over Memorial Day weekend, Houston was hit with way more rain than we'd seen in a long time. This resulted in a lot of flooding. The mayor delayed the City's start time by 2 hours on Tuesday. My dentist had to close the office on Tuesday because he was flooded in and couldn't get out. We tentatively rescheduled my appointment for June. I arrived at the new job on Wednesday and was informed that all of the networks were down and no work could be done. I asked about my badge and explained that I'd had to turn it in on Friday. He was going to look into that. He sent me home.  I called the dentist on the way and explained my situation. They promised to call me if they had any last minute openings. Well they did. I was able to get in around noon.

Which meant that I started my new job on Thursday being very well rested. And I can already tell it's going to be a good place for me.

God is sooooooo good!