Update

I've got an interview for one of the internal jobs I posted for at work! The HR rep sent an email today informing me of this fortuitous event, promising to send yet another email early next week to arrange a time and date for said interview! Whoo hoo!!! :)

Update

It was a good day today. I had my testing for the federal gov't job this morning at 9am. It was scheduled for 3 hours but I completed the exam in just under two hours. The studying I did of the ministry department on their website really paid off as there were a lot of questions regarding the function of that particular department which was completely accessible online, including a glossary of terminology. The rest of the exam tested clerical and administrative skills, such as prioritization of time, proof-reading, spelling, grammar, written communication skills, etc. etc. I think I did very well. I was happy to have it done in less time than was scheduled for, because I raced from the exam home to change quickly and then off to work, where I had another exam to write. Yep, I did a LOT of studying last night. It's nice to have nothing to do tonight really. I got 90% on my work exam AND was told by my Team Manager to expect an email about an interview for one of the internal postings I applied for a couple of weeks ago!!! She didn't say which one, because she kind of told me on the sly and couldn't get into much detail, but I'm pretty happy about that news, to say the least. So, lots of positives today! Things seem to be flowing in the right direction and I am SO grateful! Thanks for the positive thoughts!

Still Waiting...

I'm trying really hard to keep my chin up and not get discouraged. Trying to keep in mind all those sayings like, it's darkest before the dawn. Trying. Trying hard. Right after work today I called the transportation company where I had the interview about a week and a half ago now, to see about the status of the job. The lady who interviewed me told me that they are just starting to consider second interviews right now. I asked her point blank "at this point, do you think I'll be getting a second interview?" Her reply was "at this point, no. We're still in the process of (I can't remember the exact word she used, but it was something like figuring out or arranging) second interviews." She didn't exactly sound encouraging, nor did she say straight out that I was out of the running. So I have no idea at this point if I'm getting a second interview or not! Based on my qualifications I believe that I definitely should get a second interview. I thought the first one went quite well, so I guess I'll go with that, and try not to lose faith. This may very well be the most critical juncture. At least I reached out and let her know that I'm still interested in the job. I think making contact was an important thing. I haven't heard anything about the job postings at work yet, but the deadline for applications was Thursday, so I'm sure they haven't done much of anything with those yet. Hopefully I will hear something on that soon. And this coming Thursday I have my interview and testing for the federal gov't job. I've gone onto the website to do some studying about the ministry I am interviewing with to get prepared. Not sure what else I could actually do to prepare for that. I think I will go over some possible behavioural interview questions, but you just never know what they're going to ask or going to be looking for with those answers either. They're always a crapshoot. I've never really liked them much. Either as an interviewer or an interviewee. In other news...oh, who am I kidding. There's no other news! lol! :) Still obsessing about the employment situation. Things are pretty good with everything else at the moment. Or not worth worrying too much about right now. Once I get this taken care of I'm sure I'll find something else to obsess about...that's just the way humans seem to be isn't it?? :)

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

I'm in waiting mode now. I'm waiting for a call-back on the project support job. I put in my applications for the two job postings at work, now I have to wait to see if I will hear about them. I am also waiting to go for testing and interviews for a federal government administrative job, which I applied for weeks ago and was advised of last week, but forgot to mention in yesterdays blog post. The appointment isn't until next week, so I'm trying not to focus on it until I need to. But the waiting is good. I know that patience is one of the themes I am working on improving in this life. It is nice to sit here and realize that I am indeed attracting to myself the types of jobs I desire and deserve. So here I sit, waiting, realizing, appreciating the opportunities and enjoying this moment where everything good is possible and is on its way to me now. I like it! I like it a lot!

I Know, I Know, I'm Obsessed Right Now...I Can't Help It!

Okay, I know I've been pretty obsessed on the topic of employment lately. Not so much on relationships or spirituality or health, or even politics or any of the other myriad things that make up life as we know it. Or at least as we often like to speculate about. Because right now, there is nothing much wrong (or not enough to focus on) in any of those areas. No, for me lately it has been about employment, and the pursuit of that which is the type of employment I desire. Which, while I am grateful for it, isn't my present job, but seems like it could be leading there quickly! So, I'm not going to disappoint you dear reader(s?). Today is yet more of the same. I had an interview for a wonderful job last Thursday, which would be SO perfect for me. It is a small office in my city, but for a large international transportation company which deals with public transportation in many large cities around the world. They are very environmentally focused, which I love. The office in my city focuses on developing and implementing training for the company. I would be a project assistant. The job would utilize my past experience in project support, trade show set up and my human resources training. It is a small, laid-back office with only two other ladies, to whom I would report. The company has offices all over the world, including Paris, Chicago, Vegas, and oh, by the way, I would probably have to do some traveling to assist the manager on her business trips. Last week she was in PARIS!!!!!!!! OMG!!! That would be SO awesome! The lady who interviewed me told me I would hear sometime this week about whether I will have a second interview with the manager. I think that I have a LOT of the qualifications they are looking for in this role, with the experience to boot. Now, to add to this, today at work some internal jobs were posted which I also feel that I would be a good fit for. They are the types of jobs which I had earlier spoken to my manager about. A couple of posts back I mentioned that I had arranged a meeting with her to discuss my career intentions. Well, I had planned to apply for them, even though this is only my fourth week there and I'm still just in training, and officially we're supposed to be in our positions for 6 months before we can apply for internal postings, however it was a pleasant surprise when one of the team managers pulled me aside and recommended that I apply for them, after he had talked to the manager I'd met with earlier. (His boss.) So folks, I think taking this entry level job was the right decision after-all. I think that by taking it I sent out vibrations that I am open to taking risks and in being grateful for what I have now, am open to bigger and better opportunities from the universe! Here's to attracting my perfect job to me now!

Just Not That Into It!

Last night three friends and I went to see the movie He's Just Not That Into You. Now, two of us are married and two of us are single, going through that seemingly everlasting dating game. Honestly, the move was a total groaner for me. I alternated between rolling my eyes, groaning, covering my eyes and clicking my tongue in disbelief throughout. It was cheesy. It was "kinda" cute, but at the same time, almost torturous. Not because it was a bad movie, but because I could so relate to the content from back in the days when I was single. Shortly after the movie ended and out of earshot of our single friends, I turned to my married friend and exclaimed "I am SOOOOOOOO glad I'm not in the dating game anymore!" She eagerly concurred. Now the movie dealt a little with marriage and infidelity as well, and I'm not naive, I know it happens, but honestly I'm not particularly worried about it. My husband, who works from home, barely leaves the house some weeks, so I hardly think he'd put in the effort necessary to go out and cheat. Frankly, dating is just too much work and too much anxiety! God, I don't ever want to have to go through that again! The wondering "is this THE one?", the waiting for phone calls, emails, texts, messages etc., the dissecting of each and every word that was spoken and the self-blame --"what did I say, what did I do wrong?" My single friends were doing that last night when we went for a couple of drinks after the movie. I know I haven't been married that long, but I've been with my husband for 6 years now, so I really don't feel that I can relate to that way of thinking anymore. Now my thoughts are more along the lines of "why the hell can't he just manage to put the g.d. roll of toilet paper on the g.d. roll!!!" or "why does he always have to leave a little bit of liquid in the bottom of every drink he has" because it inevitably causes a spill or mess of some kind! You know, those annoying things, which, while annoying, you can live with. Overall, I'll take my married worries over their single anxiety any day.

Study, study, study!

Studying has been the major theme for me over the last week or so. Studying the material we're covering in training at my new job. It's a customer service job so it would be nice to have a fair level of knowledge of the products and services we're supporting when people call in for information. Of course, I'm realistic enough to know that most of our knowledge will be learned on the job, but at least the company is giving us a good head start. I'm also taking a part-time college course through on line classes. I've been working part-time towards a diploma in Human Resources Management for a couple of years now. I actually just completed the final required course to get the college diploma, but there are a few more courses I need in order to be certified as a human resource professional through the national association. I should be done with those by the end of '09. Then I will need to take a course to study for the national exam. Realistically I should be done with it all by mid-end of 2010. Then perhaps I will attempt to pursue a degree in psychology, which I think would nicely complement my human resources education. And, hopefully I will actually be working in my chosen field of study in some capacity. We shall see. I have an interview as a project administrator with an international transportation company next week. It sounds like a really interesting job and much more in line with my past experience and interests than what I'm doing now. I'm just not sure what else it could lead to in the future. They have an office in my city and I'm not sure how big the local office is or just exactly what they do there. I noticed while perusing the on line internet job boards that my company is hiring for other positions, which I feel qualified for. So I requested and had a meeting with my manager. She had come into our training class the first week and told us that they want us to stay and if for any reason we were thinking about leaving to let them (her or someone else in mgmt) know and they would do whatever they could for us. So I took her at her word and decided to get it all out on the table and be up front and honest. I told her that I was impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of everyone I had seen so far (which is true) and that I was hoping for a future with the company. I also told her that based on my past skills and experience in people management and supervision that I felt that I could definitely be of value to the company in the other areas they were looking for. She asked if I was still looking elsewhere for jobs and I told her that I was definitely keeping an eye out for positions where my skills and experience would be a good fit. She seemed pretty nice about it. She suggested some places where she felt I could start and work my way up within the company. She introduced me to the fellow who was in charge of the quality assurance area and I sat and chatted with him for a few moments to see if that would be of interest to me. She also suggested that since these other positions were now being advertised that I should put in my application for the ones I was interested in through the external postings, since they were not being posted internally as of yet. So, that's what I did. Now, I probably wouldn't have set up a meeting with her just yet if I hadn't had that other interview set up. I guess it bolstered my confidence a bit. I think it's best to be up front and honest and to let her know exactly what my intentions are and that I can be of value to the company in other jobs. Especially since they are now specifically hiring for these other jobs. The fact that these other jobs will be much more personally satisfying to me is also a bonus. So, for now I will keep my nose to the grindstone, study hard, be a good employee, on time, with no absenteeism, dot the i's and cross the t's and show initiative and leadership and professionalism. In other words, kiss ass, up to the point that it doesn't affect my personal morals, and go for what I want. So far, things seem to be pointing in the right direction.