Fun-Employment (aka I got a Job!)

It's finally official. I got a job!!

And goodness, I had no idea it would take so long.

For those of you that haven't followed along with my job hunt experience. It started back in...well, let's say it officially really started after I finished a temporary job with the UCSD Alumni Association (I helped bring to publication this book!) at the end of November when I moved to Minneapolis for the beginning of my "fUnemployment" experience. I received many "we found more suitable candidates" emails, participated in a few interviews (some of which were miserable, others okay), and finally realized that I was going to need more help than my own research and resume would provide. So I sent out a few emails to my friends working in the professional world asking for leads and help.

Now I've always been passionate about training and development and I hoped in my efforts to get a job that I'd be able to break into these fields based on my college experience in helping to build programs and do a lot of presenting/training.  Turns out experience in college doesn't quite mean as much to employers as does experience outside of the university. Oh, and no one was hiring really anyway, so that didn't help.

What I did do however, was develop a wonderful network of friends, peers, and mentors from my time in high school and college that I felt confident contacting and asking for help (okay, it's true that I was somewhat persuaded to ask for help by another mentor, Mr. Greg Murphy-thanks Greg)

Magically after the email to my friends and mentors, opportunities started coming into view. I got a few phone calls from friends of friends who wanted to know more about what kind of work I wanted to do. From that I got a few leads on companies and some advice on my resume.  After a few weeks I began receiving calls from people who received my resume from someone that knew someone else who had passed it on to them from one of my friends. Then phone and skype interviews began to emerge on my calendar and next thing I knew I had a job offer in Dallas and was being flown to Florida for a weekend of interviews with all the would-be coworkers.

What was interesting to me was that both of these opportunities came from the relationships and the work I've done with SkillsUSA. And both were in the field of construction!

But the biggest thing of all was that after all of those months, I ended up with 2 opportunities and I got to choose between them based on what I thought was best for me. It wasn't just that I felt obligated to take the first job I was offered. I felt so very fortunate for this choice.

Now both jobs were actually quite similar, both of them in the field of workforce development. One with a for profit construction company in Dallas, the other with an industry-wide non-profit organization, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).  From my interactions via phone, skype, and a little internet research, both of the companies had some great people that I'd be working with, and both positions were going to be expected to do a lot of organizational development and program creation--both perfect for what I love to do!

So now for the reason you've all read this far...I've made my decision and will be moving from my lovely fUnemployment abode in Minneapolis to take the new job in

Florida!!  And I'm so so very excited about it!!  I had an amazing weekend with my future coworkers when I was in Gainesville visiting and as I learned more about my prospective role, the organization and the expansion that it's looking toward in the next 5 years I got even more excited.  I'll be working with some seasoned vets in the industry and in workforce development, and I will have a LOT of learning to do about every nook and cranny of construction. It's going to be quite a learning curve, but amazingly those who interviewed me deemed me worthy of the role based on, well, me. AND, I'll still get to stay heavily involved in SkillsUSA (large part of why I was even considered for the job) as the NCCER is a sponsor and supporter of the organization. Yay!

I'm honored and excited to have been afforded so many wonderful opportunities as my job search came to a close (I ended up getting interviews with Stanley Black and Decker's Leadership Program and a few others the week before I went to Florida).  But now the decision is made, I'm moving to Florida, and starting life as a "real person" (aka someone with a grown up job). Strange!

Thank you to all of my friends and family that have in any way supported me on this journey. It's definitely been more of a challenge than I expected, but I feel that I am off in the right direction. Thank you to each of you who has supported me along the way.