New job!
I will FINALLY be free of the clutches of Kohl's in less than 3 days! Here's the scoop.
On June 13 (a Monday), some issues at work pushed me to the brink of what I felt I could handle in terms of stress. I ended up agreeing to work a total of 12 hours on Tuesday, to prepare for/endure a big visit. The second I agreed to it, I regretted the decision. I actually had been asked to work those 4 extra hours Monday night, after I had already come home from a full 8-hour shift and had plans with Christy to watch True Blood. I suppose I mostly agreed to the 12 hour day because I felt guilty for turning down the hours the previous night.
In any case, I was overwhelmed and decided right then and there that I should start seriously looking for a new job. I had had that thought many-a time in the past 4 years that I've been with Kohl's, but had always let fear get in the way and cause me to settle in for another segment of time. Fear of change, fear of rejection, fear of moving from one crappy job into another one. Fear of finding another job, but being let go from that job and being forced to move back in with my parents. Fear of the stress of job-hunting sending me back into having panic attacks, as it has in the past.
This time, I at least managed to work up the gusto to job-hunt for a couple of days. I found one data entry position to apply for, and did so. On Tuesday, between shifts, I came home for some lunch and looked over some job sites to see if I could find any other options. While scrolling through endless listings for "Sales Manager!" and "temporary clerical work," I stumbled upon a listing for a Movie & TV Web Writer. Intrigued, as I am an obsessive movie & tv fangirl, as well as an avid entertainment blog reader, I looked further into the listing.
As it turned out, the listing was for a position at ChaCha. Upon seeing the name, and reading the description, I had severe doubts that the listing was a legitimate job. However, I remembered that my beloved Anna works for ChaCha, and decided to send her a message and ask her if she thought it was legit.
She responded rather quickly, and revealed to me that she was actually involved in posting the job listing and that it is, in fact, legit. She gave me more details on the position, including facts about its temporary/internship nature and lack of benefits, and then encouraged me to send her my resume so that she could forward it to the power that be.
Thus, I did as she requested.
Later that day, when I was back at work, she texted me and told me they asked for a link to a blog, so they could see a writing sample. I informed her that my only real "blog" is this one (which, obviously, isn't work-related and in no way would lead to my being hired for a writing job) and that I would toss something together when I got home from work and send her the link upon its completion.
I stewed about it all night at work. What could I possibly pull together? Well, there were those few movie reviews I had posted earlier in the year, when I had made it a goal to write more movie reviews for fun. That could work. Maybe I could write up a current one, to show that I keep up with current pop culture. Didn't I write a top ten romantic movies list at one point? Maybe I could use that.
So when I got home, I created a Tumblr page to go along with my @spiffypop twitter feed, and copy/pasted a few movie reviews and said top ten list into new blog posts, editing as I went and updating/adjusting things to make them more relevant to the audience at hand.
After I felt that it was suitable for public viewing, I e-mailed Anna the link and decided that they probably would dismiss me, since I am not (nor have I ever been) a professional writer of any kind. I figured they probably already had plenty of applicants who had been English majors, etc. and that I wouldn't be able to compete. I went back to life as we know it.
That is, until I received an e-mail from ChaCha saying that if I was able to work 40 hour work weeks and occasional nights and weekends, they were interested in having me in for an interview.
I of course had no issues with working 40 hours a week, and since I typically work really crappy night and weekend hours (and overnights!) at Kohl's anyway, I had no problems with working occasional nights and weekends at a much more fun job. We then arranged for me to interview at 1pm on Thursday. (Yeah! This whole process moved along VERY quickly.)
I called Anna later that day to ask what I should wear for the interview, and what to expect. She helped ease my mind, and I spent that day extremely excited to be having an interview, and not worried at all about the interview itself. I figured there wasn't much they could ask me about that I wouldn't be able to answer. Why do I want the job? Well, obvs.
It wasn't until Thursday morning that the extreme nerves set in. I felt sick to my stomach all morning, and spent most of my time lying in bed, trying to get the sick feeling to go away. Finally, after taking my time getting ready (with alternated moments of showering, and lying down, and brushing my teeth, and lying down, etc.), I hopped in my car and made the trek to Carmel.
On a Thursday afternoon, the commute wasn't too difficult. Not much traffic, and I managed to arrive pretty early even though I stopped at CVS to buy some breath mints. Upon arrival, I texted Anna to let her know I was outside, and she advised me to wait a little bit before coming inside. At about ten til 1pm, I went inside and waited at the front desk for someone to come and take me back.
A lady (who turned out to be Carol, my would-be boss) came to retrieve me directly before Anna arrived, and they both walked me back to the room I would be interviewing in. I took in the layout of the building, which is VERY cool. I was extremely impressed.
They seated me in a room, and then cycled through 4 different people who proceeded to interview me. They each asked similar questions, but did cover some of the same bases. A couple of them spent a good amount of time explaining how the company works, and how the job I was applying for ties in with that. The 4th person to interview me was actually the person who I would be replacing, and I felt like we hit it off really well. I had a blast gabbing with him about our favorite movies and TV shows, and I asked him what his basic day consists of, and he went into a detailed description, which sounded fantastic to me. He also said that he had worked in that position for about a year, which made me feel slightly better about the temporary/intern status of the position; clearly some people can exceed the time limits.
As Anna walked me out to the back door after my 1.5-2 hour interview(s), I felt extremely positive about how our interactions had gone. However, of course, I was insecure about my lack of writing experience, and felt that I still probably lacked in those skills compared to the other person who was being considered for the position.
However, I felt very good about the interview in general, and about myself for having gone through that important step. After all of that time of putting off job-hunting, it wasn't so bad.
Later that day, I received another e-mail from ChaCha asking me for two professional references. I responded and asked if the references I provided on my resume were not satisfactory, and they replied that there was a bit of confusion about one of them. Thus, I went about trying to find another reference to give to them. I figured Andrew (my current boss, the store manager) would probably be the best reference I could get from my current job, so I tried to contact him at work. He was off that day, so I left a message with the managers on duty to text him and ask him to call me. He never did. At work the next day (Friday), I ran into one of the people I had talked to on the phone, and she said they had sent the message out but didn't know if he had responded or not. However, she offered to be a reference in the case that he wouldn't because of his position.
Then, while I was in my department later on, Andrew came through and told me he had no problem with doing that and wanted to talk to me about what I was doing before I left. So at the end of my shift, I met up with him in his office and told him all about the job and the interview and how they had asked for another reference, and he gave me his contact information and even went so far as to try to call them at that moment. They didn't answer, though, so I went home and e-mailed both his and Brenda's contact information to ChaCha.
A few days of my being nervous and pessimistic passed by without hearing any news. On Monday during our supervisor meeting, Andrew said he had finally received an e-mail from them, and then on Tuesday, another of my references contacted me about their asking him for a reference as well. I felt a little better at that point, since that meant the decision hadn't been made yet and that they were still researching me. Anna said that was a good sign.
I closed at work Tuesday night, and when I went to the break room for my dinner break, I checked my phone and found a voicemail from an Indianapolis number. I listened to the voicemail, and it was Mariel saying that she was following up with me after my interview and asking for me to call her back. I felt like that just about had to be bad news, but I called her back immediately.
As it turns out, she was calling to offer me the internship.
And I accepted.
And she told me that since she caught me at work, I should go ahead and put in my notice.
So after a little moving and shaking with my schedule, everyone agreed that my last day at Kohl's would be July 1, and that my first day at ChaCha would be July 5.
Another little bonus: I had earned vacation time at Kohl's that I hadn't used, so I will be getting paid through July 9. :)
When I went to Anna and Kyle's on Saturday to hang out, Anna gave me an orientation pamphlet with all sorts of information which got me excited about the job even more. However, it also stressed me out even more, with its constant use of "termporary" "student" "intern" vocabulary.
I'm trying to calm myself down about those words. In life, we have to take risks... right? It's time to take the leap. I've been unhappy with my job for long enough; and anywhere I went, even to a boring desk job doing data entry work, I could possibly be let go without warning. At least with this job I would be doing something I'm passionate about, and have the possibility of being kept on longer than the original 6 months.
So, yeah. I'm trying to fend off my panic attacks. I'm nervous/excited. Mostly, I'm pumped to get out of Kohl's. 3 more days until Independence Day! Or, my Kohl's Independence Day. Real Independence Day is of course, in 6 days. :)
Any words of encouragement are GREATLY appreciated at this time. Like I said, the temporary basis still scares the crap out of me. I don't like uncertainty.
But how awesome is it that when I finally got up the nerve to try, the right job fell into my lap? Timing is everything. God is pulling those strings.
On June 13 (a Monday), some issues at work pushed me to the brink of what I felt I could handle in terms of stress. I ended up agreeing to work a total of 12 hours on Tuesday, to prepare for/endure a big visit. The second I agreed to it, I regretted the decision. I actually had been asked to work those 4 extra hours Monday night, after I had already come home from a full 8-hour shift and had plans with Christy to watch True Blood. I suppose I mostly agreed to the 12 hour day because I felt guilty for turning down the hours the previous night.
In any case, I was overwhelmed and decided right then and there that I should start seriously looking for a new job. I had had that thought many-a time in the past 4 years that I've been with Kohl's, but had always let fear get in the way and cause me to settle in for another segment of time. Fear of change, fear of rejection, fear of moving from one crappy job into another one. Fear of finding another job, but being let go from that job and being forced to move back in with my parents. Fear of the stress of job-hunting sending me back into having panic attacks, as it has in the past.
This time, I at least managed to work up the gusto to job-hunt for a couple of days. I found one data entry position to apply for, and did so. On Tuesday, between shifts, I came home for some lunch and looked over some job sites to see if I could find any other options. While scrolling through endless listings for "Sales Manager!" and "temporary clerical work," I stumbled upon a listing for a Movie & TV Web Writer. Intrigued, as I am an obsessive movie & tv fangirl, as well as an avid entertainment blog reader, I looked further into the listing.
As it turned out, the listing was for a position at ChaCha. Upon seeing the name, and reading the description, I had severe doubts that the listing was a legitimate job. However, I remembered that my beloved Anna works for ChaCha, and decided to send her a message and ask her if she thought it was legit.
She responded rather quickly, and revealed to me that she was actually involved in posting the job listing and that it is, in fact, legit. She gave me more details on the position, including facts about its temporary/internship nature and lack of benefits, and then encouraged me to send her my resume so that she could forward it to the power that be.
Thus, I did as she requested.
Later that day, when I was back at work, she texted me and told me they asked for a link to a blog, so they could see a writing sample. I informed her that my only real "blog" is this one (which, obviously, isn't work-related and in no way would lead to my being hired for a writing job) and that I would toss something together when I got home from work and send her the link upon its completion.
I stewed about it all night at work. What could I possibly pull together? Well, there were those few movie reviews I had posted earlier in the year, when I had made it a goal to write more movie reviews for fun. That could work. Maybe I could write up a current one, to show that I keep up with current pop culture. Didn't I write a top ten romantic movies list at one point? Maybe I could use that.
So when I got home, I created a Tumblr page to go along with my @spiffypop twitter feed, and copy/pasted a few movie reviews and said top ten list into new blog posts, editing as I went and updating/adjusting things to make them more relevant to the audience at hand.
After I felt that it was suitable for public viewing, I e-mailed Anna the link and decided that they probably would dismiss me, since I am not (nor have I ever been) a professional writer of any kind. I figured they probably already had plenty of applicants who had been English majors, etc. and that I wouldn't be able to compete. I went back to life as we know it.
That is, until I received an e-mail from ChaCha saying that if I was able to work 40 hour work weeks and occasional nights and weekends, they were interested in having me in for an interview.
I of course had no issues with working 40 hours a week, and since I typically work really crappy night and weekend hours (and overnights!) at Kohl's anyway, I had no problems with working occasional nights and weekends at a much more fun job. We then arranged for me to interview at 1pm on Thursday. (Yeah! This whole process moved along VERY quickly.)
I called Anna later that day to ask what I should wear for the interview, and what to expect. She helped ease my mind, and I spent that day extremely excited to be having an interview, and not worried at all about the interview itself. I figured there wasn't much they could ask me about that I wouldn't be able to answer. Why do I want the job? Well, obvs.
It wasn't until Thursday morning that the extreme nerves set in. I felt sick to my stomach all morning, and spent most of my time lying in bed, trying to get the sick feeling to go away. Finally, after taking my time getting ready (with alternated moments of showering, and lying down, and brushing my teeth, and lying down, etc.), I hopped in my car and made the trek to Carmel.
On a Thursday afternoon, the commute wasn't too difficult. Not much traffic, and I managed to arrive pretty early even though I stopped at CVS to buy some breath mints. Upon arrival, I texted Anna to let her know I was outside, and she advised me to wait a little bit before coming inside. At about ten til 1pm, I went inside and waited at the front desk for someone to come and take me back.
A lady (who turned out to be Carol, my would-be boss) came to retrieve me directly before Anna arrived, and they both walked me back to the room I would be interviewing in. I took in the layout of the building, which is VERY cool. I was extremely impressed.
They seated me in a room, and then cycled through 4 different people who proceeded to interview me. They each asked similar questions, but did cover some of the same bases. A couple of them spent a good amount of time explaining how the company works, and how the job I was applying for ties in with that. The 4th person to interview me was actually the person who I would be replacing, and I felt like we hit it off really well. I had a blast gabbing with him about our favorite movies and TV shows, and I asked him what his basic day consists of, and he went into a detailed description, which sounded fantastic to me. He also said that he had worked in that position for about a year, which made me feel slightly better about the temporary/intern status of the position; clearly some people can exceed the time limits.
As Anna walked me out to the back door after my 1.5-2 hour interview(s), I felt extremely positive about how our interactions had gone. However, of course, I was insecure about my lack of writing experience, and felt that I still probably lacked in those skills compared to the other person who was being considered for the position.
However, I felt very good about the interview in general, and about myself for having gone through that important step. After all of that time of putting off job-hunting, it wasn't so bad.
Later that day, I received another e-mail from ChaCha asking me for two professional references. I responded and asked if the references I provided on my resume were not satisfactory, and they replied that there was a bit of confusion about one of them. Thus, I went about trying to find another reference to give to them. I figured Andrew (my current boss, the store manager) would probably be the best reference I could get from my current job, so I tried to contact him at work. He was off that day, so I left a message with the managers on duty to text him and ask him to call me. He never did. At work the next day (Friday), I ran into one of the people I had talked to on the phone, and she said they had sent the message out but didn't know if he had responded or not. However, she offered to be a reference in the case that he wouldn't because of his position.
Then, while I was in my department later on, Andrew came through and told me he had no problem with doing that and wanted to talk to me about what I was doing before I left. So at the end of my shift, I met up with him in his office and told him all about the job and the interview and how they had asked for another reference, and he gave me his contact information and even went so far as to try to call them at that moment. They didn't answer, though, so I went home and e-mailed both his and Brenda's contact information to ChaCha.
A few days of my being nervous and pessimistic passed by without hearing any news. On Monday during our supervisor meeting, Andrew said he had finally received an e-mail from them, and then on Tuesday, another of my references contacted me about their asking him for a reference as well. I felt a little better at that point, since that meant the decision hadn't been made yet and that they were still researching me. Anna said that was a good sign.
I closed at work Tuesday night, and when I went to the break room for my dinner break, I checked my phone and found a voicemail from an Indianapolis number. I listened to the voicemail, and it was Mariel saying that she was following up with me after my interview and asking for me to call her back. I felt like that just about had to be bad news, but I called her back immediately.
As it turns out, she was calling to offer me the internship.
And I accepted.
And she told me that since she caught me at work, I should go ahead and put in my notice.
So after a little moving and shaking with my schedule, everyone agreed that my last day at Kohl's would be July 1, and that my first day at ChaCha would be July 5.
Another little bonus: I had earned vacation time at Kohl's that I hadn't used, so I will be getting paid through July 9. :)
When I went to Anna and Kyle's on Saturday to hang out, Anna gave me an orientation pamphlet with all sorts of information which got me excited about the job even more. However, it also stressed me out even more, with its constant use of "termporary" "student" "intern" vocabulary.
I'm trying to calm myself down about those words. In life, we have to take risks... right? It's time to take the leap. I've been unhappy with my job for long enough; and anywhere I went, even to a boring desk job doing data entry work, I could possibly be let go without warning. At least with this job I would be doing something I'm passionate about, and have the possibility of being kept on longer than the original 6 months.
So, yeah. I'm trying to fend off my panic attacks. I'm nervous/excited. Mostly, I'm pumped to get out of Kohl's. 3 more days until Independence Day! Or, my Kohl's Independence Day. Real Independence Day is of course, in 6 days. :)
Any words of encouragement are GREATLY appreciated at this time. Like I said, the temporary basis still scares the crap out of me. I don't like uncertainty.
But how awesome is it that when I finally got up the nerve to try, the right job fell into my lap? Timing is everything. God is pulling those strings.