A Better New Opportunity with the State

I lost my job last May so most of May and June I frantically updated my resume and cover letter, applied for unemployment and started looking for some jobs through the state.  I was sure I would get the one at the supply warehouse but turned out my application sucked.  I called the gal who did most of the hiring through staffing solutions and asked her how my application could be "beefed" up without putting unnecessary information in it.  She gave me some pointers and some key words to add to it to stand out from the others.  I also talked to Laura, a gal that my dad knew that worked in L&I.  I gave her a call one day and she said to email her my resume because there is always someone who goes through them to have them come in for an interview.  It could be anywhere from a few weeks to about 3 months.  I was patient and waited.

In the meantime the next challenge now was to find a job to apply for that I actually qualified for.  I filled out almost 60 of them from May to August.  I was turned down from all of them.  I felt like it was getting pretty hopeless.  Until I got a phone call from Laura saying that they went through my resume and wanted me to come in for an interview for a senior secretary position.  This might be the "foot in the door" that I needed.

I went in for the initial interview at the end of July.  I talked to Laura and Gina.  They asked me a few questions about my past work experiences and the skills and applications I learned from those jobs.  They really liked my Linfield and Yelm Dental experiences.  They thanked me for coming in and they would call me later on during the week.

I got called in on Thursday for another interview and to fill out a background check.  I got to meet Melanie and Linda and they basically asked me what I did at Linfield and Yelm Dental and had a couple other things to say about the job I interviewed for.  I thanked them and walked back out to the parking lot.  There, I talked to Trish and my grandmother.  I thought it went well and it sounded promising.

So I waited.  I emailed Laura after a few days because I didn't hear back yet.  She said the job went to the other person who interviewed because she had more skills with family to leave stuff.  I said okay, was there anything I could have done differently?  She said, you had a great interview she just had that one up on you.  I said, good to know I guess.  She then added, there is another job we would like to you do, it's also a project job and would end, however it's got to be created and approved.  She asked if I was interested.  I said sure!  Anything to get my foot in the door with the state.  Melanie emailed me a few days later and gave me more of the details.  I was stoked!

The whole month of August and a few weeks of September, the job was created, approved and I got my call finally, after being patient for a very long time, on September 15th.  They wanted me to start the next day but I had to have a login for several programs I would be working with on the computer and my own ID number.  It would start on Monday, September 21st.  This could be the break I was finally waiting for.  Now, I could follow through with the rest of my plans.

September 21st:  My First Day

I left my house around 7 in a frenzy because my alarm didn't go off and I was thankful for dad stopping by my room this morning to ask if I was still going to work.  I was very lucky.  I got to work around 7:45 and went in and checked in at the lobby as a guest.  Linda came down and got me and we walked upstairs into the customer service area.  I was greeted by Melanie and she gave me some paperwork to fill out as we visited.  She gave me the tour of the building, library and the cafeteria. While I did that I met Joe, the guy I was going to work on the project with.  Turns out he is Nick's dad, a guy I basically grew up with and went to school together.  I am not sure he remembered who I was.  I have seen and been around him in the past briefly. Small world. At 9:30 I met with my payroll and benefits lady, Tao and we did that for about a half hour.  Melanie was in a meeting so I hung out with Linda while we waited for the meeting to get over. I went into her office and filled out more paperwork until lunch time.

I was sent to lunch for about an hour and I met up with Lindsay, who was trying to get a hold of me but my phone doesn't get very good service inside the building so I called her as soon as I could and we decided to meet at Meconis, the sub place down the road.  She works in the other L&I building.  We got our sandwiches and sat outside and chatted until we both had to go.

I got back to the building and waited for Melanie to arrive.  Joe intercepted me and we both drove over to the warehouse so he could show me what I would be doing.  I learned the reason why this was needing to get done before the beginning of next year, they would be destroyed.  My job was to update them,  by separating the non retired and retired, give them a new content sheet and add a new code to the box because some get destroyed in 25 and the others in 60 years.  I will be doing years 1996 thru 2011.  He was very informative and precise.  He made the job look easy and all I needed to do is to put it into practice.  We did that until 4 and I stayed a half hour later and worked on my own box.  I drove back over to the building and met with Melanie about getting set up for my log in and email.  We ran out of time so we would work on it the next day.  Laura took me downstairs and helped me get my parking pass.

I had a great first day and I learned a lot.  I hope with some hard work I could find myself in a permanent position there some day.

Next Adventure: Seattle Sounders Game in the Hawks Nest