Unemployed? Not me!!

As of this morning I am officially an employee for The City of Lacey!! I got the call this morning (while shopping at Kohl's!) and they offered me the position that I tested and interviewed for (Dept. Assistant III for the City Manager/HR/Public Affairs Departments). You should have seen me at the store...I shrieked when she told me and then she started saying all these dates and times, so threw my stuff down (I was in the baby clothes section...big surprise) and sat on the floor and was writing on an old crumpled up reciept. Anna was in her stroller just staring at me like I was crazy. :)

I had my "Assessment Day" yesterday and that was quite the experience. The day started at 8:30 and there were seven of us there for further evaluation and interviewing. We were brought into a room for our group project and there were SIX people in there to observe us. We were all given a slip of paper with five random sentences. We could read them aloud to each other but not hand them to each other. We quickly realized all the sentences were creating a story and we had to figure out two answers. I think we actually ended up getting one of them wrong, but I think they were looking to see how we communicated, who took leadership roles, etc. I have NEVER encountered anything like that before for an interview!

So next, she handed out the STACK of written work we had to complete. While we worked on that, the gal came in the room and got each of us for our individual interview. I was first. I felt it went okay. I was super nervous...there was a panel of five people spouting off questions at me and suddenly I became very aware of how many "ums" I was saying. It was a lot...bad habit when I get nervous! I walked out feeling like it went okay, but not great. It was one of those instances where you think "Oh shoot, I should have said this, or that". So I treked back into the room to finish my written work (2 hours later I was done!) and we were free to go to lunch. We had to be back by 1:30 to find out who was going on to the NEXT step. WHAT?! There was MORE? So at 1:30 we all reconviened in the room. I was shocked when she called my name first...seriously, I wasn't expecting to get it (especially after turning in a nearly empty packet of Microsoft Access quesions) but I was thrilled to hear my name.

There were three of us chosen to advance to the next step which was yet ANOTHER interview. Same panel of people, but this time there was further explanation of the job and just more talking on thier part, which was nice. They asked me about six more questions and sent me on my way. They said they would be in touch middle of next week either way. I felt A LOT better about the second interview...I was much more relaxed and I felt that my personality came across much better. I actually felt like I had a shot at it. So about an hour and a half later I got a call from my previous co worker and she said the the City of Lacey had just called to call for my reference. My boss (ex boss I guess) gave me a "glowing review" and apparently it worked because wahoo, I got the job!! :) I start August 25th which means I still have two whole weeks off without stressful job searching!

As excited as I am, I feel a little torn because it is full time and that is not what I was initially looking for. I was going to try and find somethign part time to be wiht Anna more, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The pay is great, the benefits are among the best that anyone has to offer (for my whole family) and it will be a great starting point for a long term career if that is what I wish for it to be. We feel blessed that this has come through for us and we'll take it day by day to see what our options are for Anna. I cringe at the thought of her being in daycare for a few hours each day. We'll see what happens.

Speaking of Anna, I had to post this darling picture of her. Just this week she has started "clapping" her hands when we do it. They don't quite meet each other yet, but she looks adorable trying! :) And she looks so proud of herself when she does it!