I needed to get out of the mailroom. I needed a break. I saw an opportunity online for a non-perm position up on the 2nd floor for a business area called Retrospective Rating. I had no idea what it was or what they did but I wanted to know...so I applied for it. I really wasn't sure how many people applied or what they were looking for in an applicant but it didn't hurt to try right? I didn't have anything to lose.
I worked on my resume to make sure it was up to date and filled out the application as best as I could. I sure hoped my work experiences pushed me forward to at least an interview. About a week later I heard back and wanted me to come in for an interview. I battled with myself a little bit about it. If I get the job should I take it and leave everyone in the mailroom behind? I feel like I needed to just to get away from all the drama. On the other hand, we've all, the OA3's, have been working great together. The communication was awesome, everyone was up to speed with CARS, I finally caught up by being trained and efficient in all of the jobs (except driving) and we were getting the mail done almost everyday. A part of me kinda felt bad because I've been with these people over a year now and it went from being new and hopeless to I am sorta better than most of you at this point. I was starting to get to know some of the people better and it was flowing.
The interview on Friday came and I had to dress up nice. I came in and most of the people in the mailroom noticed because I didn't normally dress like that. Mike, said I looked like a completely different person, Trina really loves my hair down and Britney laughed at my comments about not wanting to be in nice clothes. If I didn't do well in the interview and wasn't chosen, I decided that it was good practice for when I have another one. It was nice going into an interview and not being stressed out about trying to keep a job and trying to stay at L&I because I wasn't permanent. I was so glad I became permanent in October of last year. That made jobs also easier to obtain.
I walked up to the second floor and was escorted into the room where we did the interviews. I met Tim, the manager, Connie one of the enrollment coordinators, Rachelle the lead and Stephanie one of our customers. I greeted them all and sat down in the hot seat. They all asked me a series of questions. I answered them the best I could. A lot of them pertained to teamwork and my experienced with a team. I asked them if they wanted a work team or a sport team example and they said if you have both go for it! I stuck to experiences about L&I since they were fresh in my mind. I was asked to elaborate on my other jobs too. I added some of those stories as well. This wasn't a typical interview. I really didn't feel on the spot or awkward like most of my past interviews. They were very welcoming...which was weird for me. I did go into the interview without worrying about being picked because it is what it is. They will pick the person who was best fit for what they were looking for. I thanked them for interviewing me and went onto the next part...the assessment with Julie.
Julie was also very welcoming. I think when it was time to get onto Liniis, a program we use at work, I actually said this reminded me of the old Oregon Trail game and I may or may not have said, you have died of dysentery! There were a few parts to it and I managed to get through them all with ease. We filled out a excel spreadsheet with some information and saved it. I thanked her and headed back downstairs to finish my work. Now we play the waiting game.
I heard back the following Thursday when Tim came down to the mailroom while I was doing Express. He asked if I had a few minutes to go upstairs and talk. I said sure. We walked up to the training room and I sat down with a group of folks and Tim explained why I was there. He explained I had a great interview, my references said awesome things about me and my work. He then said that the program chose me and I had some time to think about it before I made my decision. I told them I didn't need some time and said yes. They were pretty happy I said yes and told me to keep the news to myself for a while. So I did.
My first day was so different from my first day in the mailroom. It was a huge culture shock compared to what I was used to downstairs. The entire day I always felt like I needed to be doing something at certain times. It was so engrained into me downstairs that every hour had some sort of daily deadline. Here in Retro, it was more relaxed and we had more time to get our work done. We had more meetings and we had windows! Windows!
I am very thankful I got this opportunity to learn another business area and to get more skills on some of the programs we use and to find out what Retro actually does. I am slowly learning and hope to be up to speed by the time my year is over. Who knows where I will end up next.
Next Adventure: Hosting Mother's Day
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