I started working at L&I on September 21, 2015. I can not believe it's been 5 years already. As I look back it was sure a rollercoaster of ups and downs.
I was let go from the hotel back in May 2015 and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I would rather they fire me than for me to quit even though I was never happy there. I did it for the paycheck even though I could not feasibly live off of it. I was stressed out just about every day and overworked because we were severely understaffed. As a result, I got mono about a month into my year there and was very sick for about a month and I gained so much weight because of the stress and lack of sleep. I did not like who I became. I was not challenge there, I feel we didn't earn as much as the work we put into it and I felt very undervalued as a worker and as a person. That day forced me to find a career instead of a job.
With that freedom, I was able to get a things done, catch up on sleep, get my weekends back but it added a problem, how was I going to pay for my bills? I didn't make enough at the hotel to really utilize unemployment to my advantage. I had to survive on $153 after taxes every week. I somehow managed to make that work for three months. I was stressed but in a different way. I slowly got back into working out and running but it was hard to start and continue. I got busy doing other things and I know that's not an excuse.
The end of May, I was tired of not having a career. I had a degree for crying out loud! I started back into looking for a job at the state since living in Thurston County, that's pretty much what was around. Dad helped me out a little bit by giving me some contacts to talk to. I did manage to get a informational interview with a guy Dad knew at surplus. I got everything all situated and went in. I was shown what I would be doing if I got that particular job. Afterwards, if it were up to them, they would have hired me on the spot. Unfortunately, that's not how it works with the state. A few weeks later, I found out I wasn't picked. Bummer. I would have been a good fit.
Later on in June, Dad gave me another contact to talk to on the phone about my state application, resume and cover letter and what they look for in each one. She gave me some pointers on how to "beef" up my documents without them being too wordy or putting in unnecessary information. I thanked her for her input and that I appreciated her time.
He then gave me another contact, Laura, who he used to work with. He told me to call her to ask for some more insight on how to get a state job. I talked to her for a little under an hour and she told me that some state agencies take in resumes and cover letters and sometimes and go through them when they have non permanent or project jobs. So she had me send in mine and we crossed our fingers. Laura sounded like a pretty cool person and I hoped that I got to meet her some day.
The next day I literally spent all day working on my state application, my resume and cover letter. I was tired of having jobs that weren't worth my time nor was I appreciated in the work I did. My time was way too valuable and I wanted to feel appreciated at what I did.
I spent the rest of my summer trying to do as much as I could since I know someday I wouldn't have that much time because I would be working. In the meantime, Ben was also getting his stuff all vamped up so he could get a decent job sometime in the future.
I finally got the call in July about coming in for an interview and I was super stoked. It was for a secretary senior position working with Laura in HR with the FMLA stuff. It was really hot outside for my interview so I was nervous and sweaty from the weather when I went inside, checked in and waited for someone to come and get me. I thought the interview went well so we will see. A few days later they called me in for another interview for the same job but this time I would be meeting my potential boss, Melanie. That one went well also. I felt pretty good leaving the L&I parking lot that day. The first person I called was Grammie. She was very proud of me.
About a week went by and they called and told me that I didn't get the FMLA job however, they found a different job for me but would have to create it. That meant working up the appropriate documents and getting the necessary signatures...which could take some time. Melanie told me that I would be an OA2, it would be temporary project work and I would be working with file retention with HR and the records warehouse. I was super stoked and kept in contact with her over the course of the summer.
I finally heard back mid September and she said that I start my first day at the state on September 21, 2015. The wait was over.
I now had to start going to bed early so I could get up early. The Sunday before I went outside and helped Dad with the burn pile so it would make me tired.
For my first day, I got up, arrived at L&I around 7:45 and checked in to get my ID. I met with Melanie, took a tour of the facility, met Joe (Nick's dad), who was in charge of the records project and got settled in. I did a bunch of paperwork, met my payroll and benefits rep and went over my paycheck and retirement information. I sat with Linda for a bit (since I didn't have a desk area yet) and did more paperwork. I went to lunch at noon and met up with Lindsay at Meconis. At the time she worked across the street at TC3 with Self Insurance. After lunch I went to the warehouse with Joe to learn what I would be doing. We stayed until 4:30, did two boxes--one with Joe and one by myself. I went back to the HQ and met with Melanie again and then Laura took me down stairs to get me a parking pass. After work I went to Fred Meyers to get some new clothes for work. I went home afterwards.
Throughout my time with HR, I learned a lot about how L&I worked from the human resource side of course. I learned the policies and procedures, some of the laws, retention schedules, worked on some trainings, got to know my coworkers and saw how manipulative and gossipy some of my coworkers could be. I stayed clear away from as much as possible. My contract kept getting extended which was good for me. It meant I was doing a great job and they wanted to keep me around. Once the records project was done they gave me another job that would take a few months. That extension enabled me to get insurance. The job up until May was for me to go through the online records and make sure the correct paperwork was with the correct employee. It was time consuming and tedious but it allowed me some time before I had to find another job.
The unit I worked with was very supportive. They helped me with looking for jobs, they allowed me to take the time during the workday to do interviews, assessments and other training opportunities. I looked at the job postings daily. I actually found one that would keep me with the state after my job ended in May except that it was part-time. That meant I wasn't going to earn very much money but I would retain employment. I applied for it hoping for the best. I also applied for several others and either didn't hear back or wanted me to come and take an assessment. Which is basically created to weed out people before the interview process.
A Friday in early March I was out of my mind because I had two interviews and one assessment in the same day. I was a ball of nervous knots. I really needed one of these to work out or I wouldn't have a job again. I managed to get through the day and literally couldn't focus on anything. So being productive wasn't going to happen. Almost the end of March, I received an "unofficial" offer to the part-time job and I accepted. I was going to have to really budget everything once I started that job. It was official the next day which started the transition. The job started April 17th and my HR job went until May 13th. I asked Melanie if it was possible to do both at the same time up until May 13th? She said she would look into it.
Turns out I could do both jobs at the same time until May 13th. It will just have to be programmed into the payroll system as such. I started down in the mailroom April 18th and did that in the morning until 11:30 and then went upstairs and worked for HR from 12:30 to 2:30 to get in my 8 hours. On my last day at HR we had a potluck and they had a cake for me.
Now that I was with the mailroom and I was working part-time it was pretty rough. I wasn't able to learn that much in such a short amount of time. It took me a while to get good at my job and yes, there was some hostility, people talking about you behind your back and other nonsense. My job consisted of sorting mail, entering checks into a program, opening mail and sorting it into the appropriate piles that were picked up and taken to Imaging on the third floor. I did the best I could with what I was taught and how much time I had during the day. Take it or leave it.
On September 21, 2016--I have successfully completed my first year at the state.
About 7 months into working for the mailroom, I had an opportunity to work full time starting December 1st. That relieved so much stress from my life being able to make more money. It was at the perfect time too. I learned more and got better and better at my job and was eventually better than everyone according to my stats during my one-on-one with my boss Trina around the 11-12 month mark.
Another opportunity came my way when a program manager came downstairs to promote the vacant opportunity with his team. I was kinda getting tired of working with a few people in the mailroom and it would be a great time to learn some new skills, especially some of the programs L&I uses in other business areas. I applied for it even though it was a non-perm job. However, it was full time pay. Hmm. Totally worth it. I'm going to apply. I made sure I was still going to have a job to come back to if I wasn't able to promote from that job.
I ended up getting an interview and with that interview was an assessment to see if I could read documents and type stuff up into columns. Basically, can I read directions successfully? Yes I can. Then came the interview and I wasn't as nervous as I was for the rest of them. It was like we were having a conversation rather that me being on the spot and feeling judged. I felt like I crushed the assessment and the interview.
A few days later, Tim, came downstairs once again and asked if I could follow him upstairs to the training room. I said sure, so I spent my morning break sitting in the room talking to him and Rachelle. They offered me the job but told me I had to keep it to myself for a while. I told them I would. However, it seemed like everyone down in the mailroom knew I got the job before I did. I think someone spilled the beans.
My last day in the mailroom was May 5th and I packed up all of my stuff and wheeled it back up to the second floor. It felt nice being able to do something different after a year in the mail room. I was looking forwards to learn something new and have the possibility of taking those new skills to another job. I wanted a permanent full time job. That was my goal when this non-perm ended.
I was an Enrollment Coordinator for a business area called Retrospective Rating or Retro for short. The EC's were responsible for processing applications for businesses to join a Retro group for insurance purposes. It was a financial incentive program. An opportunity get a portion of your insurance back for being safe at work. I met some pretty cool people, got to do a lot of different things, learned more of the insurance and claims part of L&I and like every business area I had to learn how to deal with conflict.
On September 21, 2017--I have successfully completed my second year at the state.
We struggled, not gonna lie. There was a lot of stuff going on which kept us from our desks, we got behind on our enrollment cycles, we got thrown under the bus a few times and I was glad I eventually got to leave the circus after my non-perm date finally arrived. I really didn't want to go back to the mailroom because that would be regressing but I was glad the safety net was there if I didn't find anything else before then.
Some of the people I worked with did help me look for a job to promote into. They set up mock interviews, went over my resume and cover letters and answered questions if I had any. My mistake was applying for jobs outside of L&I.
May of 2018 was a rough month for me. I had to go back to the mailroom, which made me feel like I had failed, I had four interviews which stressed the hell out of me and my grandmother suffered a stroke. I have no idea if I even slept that month let alone how I got up each day. It was a blur. Now that I've had some time to think about it...seriously, how did I sleep and get up in the morning?! What did I do for that entire month? Apparently, I did very well at every single interview. They either wanted me, wanted me to come back for a second interview or it was very close and they went with the other person. I didn't want to wait to hear back from the OMD job because I might not get it plus the interview was at the end of the month so I said yes to the DOT job, no to the Ecology job and declined the second interview for HR, they were all at the beginning of the month.
I still went to the OMD interview even though I had already accepted the DOT job. That was my last lifeline to being able to stay at L&I.
On June 1, I started my secretary senior job at DOT headquarters. I worked for a little area on the second floor called Local Programs. The first week was basically going over rules, regulations, facility walk through, trainings and basically what I would do all day. I mastered about 90% of it in about a week and a half. Is this how I was going to spend my time? Everything was manually filed in the file cabinets, I wrote a lot of letters and sent out a lot of mail. That is basically what I did. I could not figure out my boss's personality and she kinda intimidated me. DOT was way behind L&I when it came to doing our timesheets (they were still writing them out on paper) and their imaging/file system (they were still manually filing them by hand). It was brutal. What did I get myself into?
About a week into the job, I received a phone call from OMD stating that they went with the other person but it was super close. Bummer, I guess I have to like this job for a while. That was the last hope of returning to L&I sooner rather than later. I was sad the rest of the week.
The next week I heard through some of my contacts at L&I that I was going to be offered the OMD job if I wanted it. Apparently, it didn't work out with the other person or that person was offered another job. I never really heard what actually transpired. It worked out for me and I was going to take it! The hardest part was telling my current supervisor that I was going to take another job. I wanted to die. It worked out and you could tell she was disappointed. She started the paperwork and I was on my way back to L&I for a permanent full time job! It literally took me almost three years to finally be in a position like this one. I didn't have to worry about money or my job ending anymore.
It was weird coming back to L&I even though I was only gone a month. I started my new job in July and I have been there ever since. My job is basically going over referrals to make sure they correspond with the information we have on our program. I make phone calls to providers to let them know their imaging has been approved and extend date ranges on referrals. That is basically my day.
On September 21, 2018 and 2019--I have successfully completed my third and fourth years at the state.
Then the Covid pandemic hit and I got to celebrate my fifth year (September 21, 2020) at the state from the comfort of my own home. Before the pandemic, I tried getting my boss to finish my telework agreement so I could telework from home once a week. That didn't happen so in the midst of utter chaos my stuff was getting done as everyone else's was getting done. Our stuff eventually got done but I didn't bring home my softphone because I wasn't aware that IT could remotely install it. I will have to use my cell phone for the time being.
I started working from home on March 25th and as of now (as I am writing this) there is no confirmed date of when we are suppose to return to the building. I might be celebrating my sixth "workiversary" from my living room as well. So we will see.
When I looked back and reflected on my five years so far with the state it really seems like I've been here longer than five years. I put up with a lot of waiting and being extremely patient, worked with a lot of terrible coworkers and very few good ones, had to defend myself on a lot of my work and work ethic, I've done a lot of trainings, classes and research and I honestly can't believe five years has gone by. I'm thankful but I can't believe it took this long to get a full time permanent job and I have a degree!
A lot has changed in five years as well. I was able to move out of my parent's house and into my own place with Ben, I've paid off several bills including owning my first vehicle and paying off school loans, I've gotten to travel around the US and even to a few foreign countries and we've gotten to save up some money to have nicer things and replace our worn out things. The last five years have been hard work, weeks that seem hopeless and days that just wouldn't end fast enough. Let's see what the next five years bring.
**I got my five year certificate in the mail mid January and when it arrived the picture frame was broken into many pieces because of the way it was packaged. It's glass. Why wouldn't you wrap that up in bubble wrap or something?**
Next Adventure: A Lewis County Geocaching Adventure
