Interview Scheduled

The final interview has been scheduled for next Tuesday at 2:30pm. Hopefully I will know if I have a job by the end of next week.

We also discussed the benefits provided by the company over the phone--may I just say, not too shabby.

I still didn't ask about the pay because, well, I don't really care that much. I want a job that keeps me mentally engaged with people who seem fun and human. They are aware of the minimum I would take for the position, so if this interview shows that I'm a cultural fit for the company, then I can't imagine why I wouldn't accept the job.

I really like this company. I haven't been excited by very many of the others, so I really hope I can beat out the other person, but if I don't, I'm trying to imagine what I have to look forward too. Not much. The not much is motivating me to continue applying for other jobs. I'm working on that right now.

If the other person does get the job, let me just say, that other person is a pretty smart, talented, and genuine person because this hiring process has been thorough. Anyone who has made it this far deserves this position. If it's not me, there is no doubt that the other person is positively amazing. I'll be sad, but I won't feel like I didn't get it because they aren't realizing what potential I offer. I'll know the other person had more to offer.

I do wish they had scheduled the interview via email. I am soooooo awkward on the phone. Phones are weird.

Affirmation is Nice

I know, I've posted waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too often the last few days, and it's all been sort of melancholy, so here's some happy news that couldn't wait.

I heard back from the job I interviewed for. I don't have the job, but I am one of the top two candidates.

To get the job I have to complete a few writing assignments and some research. I can do this, and if I don't get the job, I will know that the other candidate was pretty freaking amazing.

So here's to me and the other person out there who is hoping to get this spot. Cheers. We're awesome.

Why My Debt Doesn't Stress Me Out

Leaving behind my current temporary position for a permanent job, I'm wondering, how much room do I have to be picky about the job I take?

I have two degrees (and some loans to go with them), a car payment, no health insurance, no savings, and my 6-month job is about to be over.

At first, I was panicking a bit about my impending joblessness. Even if I go stay with my parents, how will I ever make all my monthly payments?

After recovering my wits, I realized it will be easy.

Before I went back for my MA, I was really good about taking my extra income and dividing it between retirement, savings, and paying off loans. My next loan payment for my undergrad loans isn't due until 2014. I'm that far ahead. Even with my current tight budget, I've been making monthly payments as if I am not that far ahead.

My next car payment isn't actually due until April, though I'd like to keep paying it off if possible simply because I'm between 5 and 6 months away from having paid off half of my debt on it.

I've got less of a handle on my graduate school loans. They have the highest interest rate, the highest balance, and my next payment is due in January, though that still gives me some flexibility in finding a job.

At first glance, I look like I'm in pretty bad shape, and really, I kind of am, but it could be worse. I have a buffer here, and I'm looking at a future with benefits and enough extra income that I can go back to actually paying into retirement and savings. I might even be able to afford a vacation.

Applied for the Job I Really Want

So I wrote a cover letter and revised my resume yesterday for the job I really want. Thanks to my peer reviewers, Lindsey, Chris, and Adriane.

It was an electronic application, but I still got to write a traditional cover letter, which is what I really prefer.

And, though they did have a box for cutting and pasting my resume into, they also had an upload Word document option, so I got to use my branded resume. You know, it has my name very large so people will remember me and a font that hopefully captures my professional persona.

I do worry that with a Word document, they will have a different version of Word and things will shift and look messy, or they won't have the same fonts, so it will default to something ugly (nervous smile face). I wish I could have uploaded it in PDF format, but that never happens.

I'm excited, and I really hope I get this job. I do need to keep applying for other things though. It would be very silly to put my eggs all in one basket, especially with such a well-known company that will probably receive hordes of applications.

Captain Productivity....Up, up, and away!

So, I have been out of town the past two weekends. It's resulted in my apartment being a general disaster all week, so I'm gonna clean up my mess, and then hopefully still feel enough motivation to apply for a job or two.

I've already loaded the crochet projects into their appropriate baskets, made coffee, sorted laundry, put the clean dishes away.

Right now, I've got the timer going for a load of laundry. I have four more lovely, color-coded mounds taking up the living room floor. It's a laundry rainbow, but I guess that's what happens when you wait 3 weeks to do laundry--towels, bedding, bathrobe, all the random extras need washed at once. I wore most of my jeans at least 3 times.

I've got a stack of receipts and mail next to me to sort and log. I will sort the mail into piles for filing, shredding, and responding. I log all my receipts into a notebook with categories of spending so that I can see how much I am spending and assess how I can improve my finances. My budget is pretty tight, so it's important to know where I stand. Right now I stand in a mound of receipts because I've been on the road a lot, and that happens. This will have been a pricy month. Hopefully October will be like August...surprisingly cheap.

After that, I think I will make zucchini bread to work as breakfast. I have a rule when it gets down to the last month-or-so before I move that I have to be very creative with my food and eat what I have. I ran out of cereal yesterday, so the baking supplies will be developing breakfasts for the remainder of my time here. I think when I get down to the bare bones of my fridge, freezer, and cupboards, I will buy 1 bag of  potstickers and 1 of edamame for my dinners. I will perhaps buy a few sale microwave box meals for lunch at work. Potstickers smell like feet when microwaved, and it's never a good idea to make your work environment smell like that.

Of course, the cat crawled into my lap while I've been blogging, and that always ruins my motivation to do anything. This morning she was curled up next to me on the bed, so I read the first 50 pages of Water for Elephants instead of getting up. I really do need to apply for jobs though, and I'd also like a relaxing bath to perhaps indulge in more reading about circus folks, so I'd best clean up this place. A serious vacuuming should be in order after the laundry rainbow is washed, dried, and folded and no longer on the floor.

Creating Graphic Resumes

I started working on a graphic resume to have handy for the impending job hunt I will be on. Here is a tiny jpeg version of it. Tis pretty nifty. I'm making more for my friends Rachelle and Adriane too. With individualized color and layout. I need to get working on my website. Blergh.  

Oh...I made if with Adobe InDesign if you're wondering. It's a pricy piece of software, but I LOVE it! I do not know what I would do without my Adobe Creative Suite. Paired with that collection of software, I am an unstoppable force. It's the best investment I ever made. Too bad I cannot afford an upgrade. I'd also like Framemaker for the next jump in my professional life. Need more money!

Good Day, Yesterday? Yes, I Think So

So what if I didn't get a full draft of my tech comm proposal put together or actually do the reading for tech comm?

I did have a good class with my students in which one of my most hostile-seeming students said after class that it was a good and productive class. Woohoo! Yay for productive teaching.

I also was called about a tech writing job, but of course, when she asked if I was still interested, I told her I had already accepted another position. The tech writing job would have paid a lot better, and I could have at least taken an interview, but I don't have the money to be flying out to interview for jobs I don't plan to take. I don't want to ruin my relationship with CDOW, so I will work this job because I said I would.

I also discovered how AMAZING twitter is for job searching. It's not really great for all fields, but tech writing has gotten on the twitter-job-posting bandwagon, and it makes the job search amazingly easy. A lot of what is available seems to be in VA. I have family in VA. That could work.

I beat my anonymous IGoogle opponent at Scrabble. She is really good. I can't wait until that game goes into the stats. So proud.
...now if I can just beat Chris.

I also got Cheryl Klein's book Second Sight in the mail. I think it will be good for me as a maybe-future-copy-editor and also as a writer.

Things are good. Today's goal? Put everything on hold and finally finish my writing project. I am soooooooo close, and Naomi said to me on Monday, "Just get the ****ing thing done."