Tomorrow is my first day at my new job.
I feel like a kid the day before school starts – I have some of those nervous butterflies in my stomach about finding my way to my new building; anxiety keeps pushing into my head about whether the other kids will like me; and I’ve gone through my closet to pick out my perfect “first day” outfit.
I’m a combination of nervous, excited and extremely thankful that I will be starting a new job at all.
When I found out that I would be losing my job, I was already pregnant. Being a huge planner, I had a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C ready to go into effect the moment that I walked out the door of my old office.
Plan A: If I couldn’t find a job until after the baby was born, we would survive on a combination of cutting back, my husband’s salary and my unemployment benefits.
Plan B: An even better option would be if I could pick up enough freelance work (which would unfortunately take away from my unemployment benefits) to bring in a salary and show that I was still employed through my consulting company.
Plan C: Aka, the “long shot” – get a job, any job. Preferably something full-time and marketing-related
I’d started applying for jobs at the beginning of August, but hadn’t had any luck at all until the end of October. Then, with only a week or two until I was officially unemployed I interviewed with two different companies.
The first was an opportunity I heard about from a professional contact. The job seemed right up my ally and the location of the position was great. Especially considering that we were planning to move right up the street. However, although the job was do-able it didn’t light my fire.
A couple days later, which was ironically the first day of my actual unemployment, I found out that someone else got that job. This stung a little bit, especially because I was gearing up to launch Plan A of job survival mode. However, since I didn’t really want the position in the first place I wasn’t totally crushed.
The second position I interviewed for was one of my absolute dream jobs. I had wanted to break into the college/university arena for the past few years. However, having no higher education experience meant that nobody wanted me. For this position, I did a phone interview, marketing presentation, interviewed with their search committee and then interviewed with the director of the department. It was quite intense – in fact, this is the position I was talking about in my Feeling Good post.
Imagine my surprise/gratitude/dorky dance when I got an offer for that position. Not only did I luck out on getting a job after being laid off… I got my DREAM JOB!
After hearing the horror stories of pregnant ladies who can’t find a job, marketing professionals who were out of work for over a year, and everyone else out there struggling to find a position – I feel like the luckiest girl in all the land to be able to start a new job only 5 weeks after I lost my last one!
Thankful seems like too small of a word to encompass the all-around relief and enthusiasm I have about this awesome opportunity.
The cherry and sprinkles on my deliriously happy sundae, is the fact that when I disclosed my pregnancy to my new boss he responded with a heartfelt “congratulations!” No moment of irritation crossed his face; he was actually happy and supportive. This proves to me more than anything that I have made the right choice in accepting the position.
This also proves that as trite as it may sound, things really do happen for a reason. Losing my job felt like the worst thing in the world just a couple months ago. But now, on the eve of my new employment opportunity, it truly feels like one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
*And no, I don’t mean the Glee group New Directions. Even though I am hopelessly addicted to Glee and have 82 Glee songs on my iPod right now. Yes, I counted. And no, that doesn’t make me feel dorky at all.**
**Ok, well maybe a little dorky.