I'm always jealous of those people who are kind of just handed jobs. I wonder how they get so lucky. Now I can say I'm that lucky too! The timing was perfect, and they seemed eager to hire me. This job really is a blessing for us.
So the week before I finished my internship at Head Start one of the afternoon teachers wasn't at work. I never really talked to the afternoon teachers much, and hadn't heard anything, so it took me a couple days to realize she wasn't working there anymore. I think it was a pretty sudden thing. After talking with one of the other teachers, she told me she thought they were looking to hire and really encouraged me to ask about it. I was a little nervous and waited until Friday to ask Rose, the manager, about the job. She seemed to get really excited, and said she'd had no idea I was even available. She asked if I could fill out an application and bring it back to her that day so she could send it in. They were needing to hire an assistant teacher as soon as possible. They were already planning on doing interviews for it Monday, and if I got it to her that day I might be able to get in for an interview the next week as well. Of course I jumped at the chance.
Monday was supposed to be the last day of my internship, and Rose came into the classroom to ask if I could go to Idaho Falls for an interview that afternoon. That worked for me, and was probably good because then I didn't have too much time to get nervous. When I walked into the room for my interview, there were 4 people there to interview me! That was a little bit nerve-wracking. Rose was there though, and I was pretty sure she wanted me to get the job, so it wasn't so bad. They went around the table asking me questions, each of them writing down my response to each question. Yikes. Somehow I felt comfortable and pretty confident about how my interview went.
In quadruple-checking my time logs (okay, so I don't really know how many times I'd done the math, but it was a ton) I discovered that I might need a couple more hours to fulfill my internship requirements, and to be on the safe side I went in on Tuesday as well. Rose told me how impressed they'd been with my interview, and I was feeling pretty good about it. When I was done for the day Rose hinted to me that she'd heard through the grapevine that I should be getting a call and a job offer. I was supposed to let her know if I heard from them that day. I anxiously carried my phone with me everywhere on Tuesday. No phone call. I told myself that was alright and maybe they'd call on Wednesday. After all, she'd originally told me I should hear on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I think I jumped every time my phone made a noise on Wednesday. Again, I carried it everywhere with me. The morning went by without a phone call. I started to worry. In the afternoon one of my references text me to let me know she'd just gotten a call from them, and she told them all sorts of wonderful things about me. I breathed a little easier knowing this. At least they were interested in me enough to call my references. But still no phone call.
On Thursday I didn't want to spend another day worrying and carrying my phone around. Instead I pretty much just convinced myself I didn't have the job. I hadn't heard from them yet. Maybe Rose had heard incorrectly. Maybe they'd been interested, but then decided to hire someone else. I was feeling kinda blue, but figured if I didn't have the job, they would still have to call me soon. I thought it would be easier to be happy about getting the job than disappointed about not getting it if that was the case. No phone call on Thursday.
Friday morning....they called me! And offered me the job!! I was ecstatic! I was also relieved. Friday afternoon I went in to the Head Start here to pick up some papers they'd faxed for me to fill out. Turns out everybody in the office had known since Tuesday that they were going to hire me. I was the only one who didn't know. I have no idea why they didn't call to offer me the job sooner if they'd made up their minds, but I'm just glad they did decide to hire me.
Since the next week was Thanksgiving (and I was hoping to get this job) I'd already requested most of it off from WW. I stopped by on Friday to talk to the person who does the scheduling. I was checking to make sure it would be fine to submit my two week notice, but just request all of that time off. I got it even better than that though! Since I talked to him about it, and he hadn't done the schedule for the next week yet, he told me Saturday (the next day) could be my last! He had me fill out a thing still, but I just put that Saturday's date and it counted as my two week notice!
I was supposed to start at Head Start the following Monday. Until I was leaving for work I had no idea it had snowed all night. I got to work, and there was only one car in the parking lot. I figured that meant there was no school for some reason, but went in to see who was there and find out. Rose let me know public schools had been canceled due to a blizzard warning so we got a paid day off as well. Sweet! I didn't mind one bit that I got to go home and curl up to read all day. Rose had let me know how to find out about the school cancellations, so before I even went to bed I knew that I had no work on Tuesday either! Wednesday we weren't scheduled to have school. Thursday and Friday were paid holiday days for Thanksgiving. Not bad...my first week of work and I got paid to not work for 4 days!!
Joshua told me I should write all of this down, as well as all of the reasons I think this job is so fabulous. Then if I come home hating work one day I can reread it and be reminded of how blessed I am. So here's my list of reasons why this is an excellent job:
- I get to quit working at WW!! I'd considered the possibility of just having 2 part-time jobs.
- I'll make enough money to pay our bills! Plus a little bit to save. Maybe.
- I'll work regular full-time hours - 8:30-4:30 Monday through Friday. Weekends off! Paid holidays. (We follow the same schedule as the public school district.)
- It's only 8 hours a day. I don't even have to take a lunch break because they feed us lunch and a snack during class!
- I'll be fed lots of delicious food because Rhonda is an awesome cook. And it's healthy food so I'll have a balanced diet for once. :)
- I get insurance benefits.
- I'm actually using my degree and for the first time getting experience in that field.
- Unlike some preschools, I don't have to write my own lessons. That's a huge plus for me. We have a set curriculum, and I like it a lot.
- I'm super excited to work with Connie!! (She's my lead teacher.) She seems cool and really nice. I think we'll get along.
- I get to work with kids! They're cute kids. I get to play with them!! (Playtime is always my favorite part of the day.) Maybe I'll be a better mother after having this experience.
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