![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thatcrazycajunMy long, weary hegira is finally over. I am now in possession of a real, full-time, actual permanent job for the first time since the fall of 1998. Six full years of underemployment, exacerbated depression and stress have at long, long last come to an end.
It all began a week ago Sunday night, when I was called by the president of HPI Direct (www.hpidirect.net), a firm in Alpharetta, GA (about 40 minutes' drive outside of central Atlanta). He had found my résumé on Monster.com and wanted to talk to me about a position as Art Director. After a few questions to me about technical experience and salary expectations, he invited me for an interview the next day.
Monday afternoon at 12:30 I put on my Russian-collared black shirt, gray wool slacks and gray blazer that has become my "interview suit." (Thanks, Mary, for helping me pick it out.) I arrived at 1:45 PM, 15 minutes early, and was kept waiting for a half hour before being ushered into a conference room. The firm's operations partner alternated between talking to me about the job and my experience, rushing to deal with various crises, and trying to find where the guy who had invited me was instead of sitting in on my interview. Finally he left and the president came in, talked to me some more and left again, coming back only to give me what looked suspiciously like an IQ test -- lots of math, English and geometry ("A clock is right at 12 noon on Monday. By 2 PM on Wednesday it is 20 minutes slow. How much time has it lost at that rate in half an hour?") before leaving me again. By the time the interview was finished at last, 2.5 hours had passed -- but the prez marveled at my patience and both men seemed impressed.
I sent a thank-you letter the next day, and two days later a phone message was left for me at home: They had chosen someone else, but only because she had embroidery experience I lacked. They said I was their second choice and would be calling me if this person didn't work out...
...which she didn't, and they did, yesterday. They invited me to work a day at their place, with pay, to see if we liked each other and I could do the work. Then the OP called back asking if I could come in that day to get a head start, since he would be gone in the morning on business. I did and spent six hours putting out various fires in the art department and working with the last guy to hold the job, who had come back as a consultant to help them (the Prez told me this guy had left with some bad feelings and had some gratification that they were begging him to come back). I impressed them so much they said we could discuss hiring today. At the end of today's work (ably assisted by a part-time intern and a temp who handled some of the administrative stuff while I cranked out graphics), he told me I could start immediately at $35K with a possible negotiated raise after 90 days.
So now I have a real job, with a desk and a title and even supervisory responsibility. At a firm that hasn't recorded charges for art department time in three months, with a pair of guys running the firm whose orders often contradict one another, and a metric buttload of work backlogged that is steadily if slowly being cleared out. If I can make this work, I will have the best opportunity I have had in 19 years of slogging and struggling. Those of you who are believers...pray for me.
It all began a week ago Sunday night, when I was called by the president of HPI Direct (www.hpidirect.net), a firm in Alpharetta, GA (about 40 minutes' drive outside of central Atlanta). He had found my résumé on Monster.com and wanted to talk to me about a position as Art Director. After a few questions to me about technical experience and salary expectations, he invited me for an interview the next day.
Monday afternoon at 12:30 I put on my Russian-collared black shirt, gray wool slacks and gray blazer that has become my "interview suit." (Thanks, Mary, for helping me pick it out.) I arrived at 1:45 PM, 15 minutes early, and was kept waiting for a half hour before being ushered into a conference room. The firm's operations partner alternated between talking to me about the job and my experience, rushing to deal with various crises, and trying to find where the guy who had invited me was instead of sitting in on my interview. Finally he left and the president came in, talked to me some more and left again, coming back only to give me what looked suspiciously like an IQ test -- lots of math, English and geometry ("A clock is right at 12 noon on Monday. By 2 PM on Wednesday it is 20 minutes slow. How much time has it lost at that rate in half an hour?") before leaving me again. By the time the interview was finished at last, 2.5 hours had passed -- but the prez marveled at my patience and both men seemed impressed.
I sent a thank-you letter the next day, and two days later a phone message was left for me at home: They had chosen someone else, but only because she had embroidery experience I lacked. They said I was their second choice and would be calling me if this person didn't work out...
...which she didn't, and they did, yesterday. They invited me to work a day at their place, with pay, to see if we liked each other and I could do the work. Then the OP called back asking if I could come in that day to get a head start, since he would be gone in the morning on business. I did and spent six hours putting out various fires in the art department and working with the last guy to hold the job, who had come back as a consultant to help them (the Prez told me this guy had left with some bad feelings and had some gratification that they were begging him to come back). I impressed them so much they said we could discuss hiring today. At the end of today's work (ably assisted by a part-time intern and a temp who handled some of the administrative stuff while I cranked out graphics), he told me I could start immediately at $35K with a possible negotiated raise after 90 days.
So now I have a real job, with a desk and a title and even supervisory responsibility. At a firm that hasn't recorded charges for art department time in three months, with a pair of guys running the firm whose orders often contradict one another, and a metric buttload of work backlogged that is steadily if slowly being cleared out. If I can make this work, I will have the best opportunity I have had in 19 years of slogging and struggling. Those of you who are believers...pray for me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-16 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-16 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-16 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-16 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-17 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-17 01:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-18 02:50 am (UTC)