Today, yesterday and the day before, I managed to schedule three interviews with three different companies. Can you believe that? That’s crazy! But exciting – and makes me remember that I DO have a good resume (for a while I thought I didn’t when I didn’t get any calls for months and months).
Wednesday’s company is in uptown Charlotte – right near my old office. It’s a small company – about 18 people in the Charlotte location – and the position is a receptionist/admin position. It sounds like there would be a variety of work, which is nice. But the people in the office seemed REALLY quiet. I think if I worked there I’d be the loudest person in the office. No one had really personalized their office space, so it was very generic and boring. Despite this, there are many pros to the position: the pay is decent, the benefits are good, the location is good, and the hours are reasonable with very little overtime. But do I want to be in an office where no one talks? Not sure.
Thursday’s job is also in uptown Charlotte – about ten minutes from my old office. I had a phone interview with them a couple weeks ago and I felt it went well. They finally called me back for the 2nd, in person, interview. It’s for an admin position at a non-profit and the work sounds interesting. It’s more people oriented, with some creativity thrown in for good measure. However, I fear I lowballed the salary expectations during the phone interview in my haste to get in the door for a second interview. When asked what I was hoping to get, I should have just said, “This is what I made before,” and left it at that. As opposed to Job #1, the people at Job #2 were all very nice and much more energetic than the people at Job #1. The hours are better at this job, and from what I’ve heard, the benefits are good.
Today’s interview, Job #3, pays the exact salary I earned when I first moved to Charlotte three years ago – this is a VERY good thing. It’s for a receptionist position in a six-person office, and they all seemed really nice and outgoing – a huge plus for me. The location is closer to home (it’s in Pineville as opposed to Charlotte). The job description is right up my alley. The hours are fantastic (she said I’d be turning off my computer at 4:30 p.m. every day without fail). It’s a high energy job and I hope they call me on Monday to ask me to come back for the 2nd interview.
So, I’m basically hoping that Job #3 calls me on Monday about a second interview. I’m reasonably confident I’ll be getting offers from the other two interviews – in fact, I’d be very surprised if I didn’t get offers. My hope is that I’ll be able to interview and receive an offer from Job #3 before I have to make a decision about Jobs #1 and #2. I REALLY REALLY want Job #3. REALLY want it. It’s got everything I want when it comes to hours, location, type of work, pay and benefits.
So, no more stay-at-home mom? 🙁
Marmie – I think, in this economy, it would be stupid not to get a job when the opportunity arises. It would only be for a couple years though – given the expenses that Denis and I have paid off, reduced or gotten rid of over the past few months of me not working, it’s possible that we’d be able to pay off our remaining debts that much faster – and enable me to be at peace about not working anymore once those are gone forever.
Good luck! I’m sort of in the same place – looking for a job, sending out resumes with no response, and it looks like I may have a good chance at a job but the salary isn’t great.
I hope you get the job you want, I once worked in an office where no one chatted, it was frowned upon to ever get up and talk about something not work related, even for a minute, and I hated. Luckily it was a summer job, so I knew it would end and when I was asked to stay permanently I couldn’t say no fast enough.
Wow–feast or famine! I hope Job #3 is the charm!! Congrats!