Tomorrow's the day...

[wordsmith]

...that I determine if I think the job that I passed the preliminary interview portion for a couple of weeks ago is my kind of thing.

...and also they day that the employer determines if I'm their type of employee.

My site visit/overnight with the prospective employer is tomorrow...will head up to the city in the a.m., and get back late Thursday night. Should be very telling. *Crosses fingers*

[PenforPrez]

*Crosses fingers too* :)

[yankeeyosh]

Good luck words! :)

[winneythepooh7]

Good luck!! For some reason, I am feeling that this is just a "formality". Now it's up to you to take the "plunge".

[pisces2473]

For some reason, I am feeling that this is just a "formality". Now it's up to you to take the "plunge".
Yeah, me too. I think they REALLY want her!

Good luck, Words!!!!

[coll214]

I'm sure your on your way, but GOOD LUCK :huge: !!

[MetFanL]

Good luck, Words!! I hope it goes well!!

[blueyes]

GOOD LUCK, Words! I'm going to agree that this is just going through the motions...it's all on you!

Or...as one of my friends is fond of saying, "The job is your's to lose."

[ebruening]

My well-wishes are a bit late, but even so...good luck!

[Apollonian]

How'd it go?

[spiritedaway]

Good luck. I hope it's what you're looking for!

Keep us posted on how it went!

[Goldeneye]

Since I finally landed one just yesterday after acing the interview, and it was less than 2 hours after the interview that I got the position, and I start in a week.

Hopefully you can ditch that newspaper position quickly.

[winneythepooh7]

OK, can "late Thursday" get here any quicker! I want to hear some good news!!!!

[pisces2473]

OK, can "late Thursday" get here any quicker! I want to hear some good news!!!!
I know!!!! I'm dying over here!

[Deavan]

...that I determine if I think the job that I passed the preliminary interview portion for a couple of weeks ago is my kind of thing.

...and also they day that the employer determines if I'm their type of employee.

My site visit/overnight with the prospective employer is tomorrow...will head up to the city in the a.m., and get back late Thursday night. Should be very telling. *Crosses fingers*

Awesome best of luck!

[Illuminous]

C'mon now, I'm impatient!

[Kitty]

Kinda coming in late, but hope everything went well!

[tina1979]

Kinda coming in late, but hope everything went well!
same here.

Hope everything went great!! can't wait to hear...

[mishl982]

A very belated good luck, but I can't wait to hear the news :)

[SunDevil]

Hope everything went well today for you.

It is late Thursday evening in my time zone....

[pisces2473]

It's Friday morning, and no news....

COME ON WORDSMITH!!!!!!

[initac]

wordsmith, what happened???

[coll214]

yeesh, she must be working or something? But inquiring minds want to know!!

[winneythepooh7]

I bet she's going to think about it through the weekend LOL.

[wordsmith]

I am back, but having missed two days of work, have a pile of stuff to catch up on.

I anticipate knowing in the next few days whether or not I am extended an offer...I was interviewed by a few different people who all will need to compare notes on me and also talk with the people who I shadowed for the overnight, etc. I think it went really well from that standpoint...Unless there is something I'm oblivious to that sent out a major red flag to somebody, I'd not be surprised if I get extended an offer for a position, but you never know.

More importantly, I don't know yet if I will accept if I am offered something. There are equally large pros and cons to the position, and I have a ton of reflecting to do. For the last two days of shadowing, I've wavered, almost on an hour to hour basis of "Could I do this? I don't know" to "No way could I do this," to "Wow, I'm REALLY not sure I could do this," to "This would be really cool and I think I could handle it" to "Wow, I really wanna do this..."

I had really been hoping that the site visit would make me clearly lean one way or another, but it seems like it's still something I need to do some soul-searching and reflecting on, and process a bit about my experiences.

Sigh. I'm used to the decisions being blatantly obvious choices, and this is one of the more complicated ones I've been potentially faced with. So we'll see. Lots to consider.

[winneythepooh7]

What are some of the big things that are making you question it (besides the living situation of course)?

I hear ya on hectic and crazy weeks.................I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO freakin' glad it's Friday!!!!

[Goldeneye]

Go with your gut feeling if you get the offer.

I am seriously guessing that you've hit a brick wall (or ceiling) at the newspaper.

I am guessing that this position compared to the newspaper position has a pretty complicated set of pros and cons, but hopefully more pros that the newspaper condition and fewer cons than the newspaper condition.

Another note, just be cautious of what the newspaper tries to do with you...I am not sure how sneaky or unethical they can go once they figured out your seeking a way out of their grips.

[pisces2473]

Thanks for the update...and good luck with your soul-searching. You'll find your answer.

Did they say when you could expect to hear from them, either way?

[and1grad]

There ARE a lot of factors to consider and hopefully the site visit helped distinguish the largest of them. I'm sure you'll make the best decision.

[Illuminous]

I second the gut feeling thing. When i interviewed for my new job there was a LOT to think about -- smaller paper, smaller bureau, not as well known, college town -- but, on my flight back I felt kind of sad, and I realized if anything, my gut was saying, "You want to live here."

I try not to ponder because I tend to over-think things. That's no good. I trust though, Words, that you'll figure everything out and it'll be fine.

[wordsmith]

The thing is, the visit added even MORE factors, and it's really difficult to determine what outweighs what...definitely one of the more agonizing choices I've had to make (if I indeed end up having to make it at all).

I stopped out at mom and dad's when I got back last night (about 1:30 a.m., they were up and interested in debriefing), but I was WAY too wiped out to really make much more than a perfunctory stab at it.

I should hear soon. Hmmm.

The problem is that I don't have a gut feeling. I have gut feelings going BOTH ways, and I've NEVER had that happen before.

[coll214]

The problem is that I don't have a gut feeling. I have gut feelings going BOTH ways, and I've NEVER had that happen before.
Now THAT i'm all too familiar with. Everything for me always seems to have a lot of pros and cons, nothing's ever black and white. Is your first thought about being happy about the change and job? Or reservations about if you'll be happy with it? I think that's what you have to think about... if it's the first go with it...

[and1grad]

To be honest, the fact that its not a home run in your mind kinda worries me a little. I know this isnt helping but you're talking a big time change here and going in with a lot of doubts are a serious red flag.

[tina1979]

I have to agree with and1, but I trust that in the end you will know what is best for you. good luck with making your decision.

[wordsmith]

It's not really serious doubts as it is a few things I just want to be very mindful of, and not gloss over as being less important than they really are just because there are parts I'm jazzed about.

The biggest thing is that this job is EXTREMELY INTENSIVE. My current job is, as well, but a lot of it is alone work. This is not. This is being "on" MOST of the time (and it's residential...you don't leave it and go home). That isn't a BAD thing, but the fact is that it might be a point in time where if I'm considering making a job switch, it might be in my best interest to consider DECREASING the intensity, rather than options that keep the intensity at the same level or actually increase it.

It represents a large change, true, but it's not a field that I'm at all unfamiliar with. I don't have any trepidation about being able to do the work, and know I would like it. To be perfectly honest, it's the lifestyle that it represents that's at the root of the majority of the trepidation. Not the work itself.

[MetFanL]

To be perfectly honest, it's the lifestyle that it represents that's at the root of the majority of the trepidation. Not the work itself.

If I were in your shoes, that would definitely be at the top of my list of concerns. It sounds like a cool experience, but I'd always come back to "This would be such a great experience -- if I was 22." I'd question (which I'm sure you are) if I want to put my life, for all intents and purposes, on hold for this.

It sounds awesome, Jess, but that's a HUGE sacrifice, IMO.

[tina1979]

To be perfectly honest, it's the lifestyle that it represents that's at the root of the majority of the trepidation. Not the work itself.
I can understand that.

[wordsmith]

If I were in your shoes, that would definitely be at the top of my list of concerns. It sounds like a cool experience, but I'd always come back to "This would be such a great experience -- if I was 22." I'd question (which I'm sure you are) if I want to put my life, for all intents and purposes, on hold for this.

It sounds awesome, Jess, but that's a HUGE sacrifice, IMO.

This is very true. Because it IS EXACTLY the type of thing I DID do when I was 22...or very close to it, anyway...which I count as one of the better, more shaping, and more personally beneficial experiences of my life.

Which makes me feel weird...because I don't really feel like (or WANT to feel like) "Well, I'm past this sort of thing at this point in my life." But at the same time, it's a concern. All my coworkers would be just out of school, and in the position I was in when I did this the first time around. The program is actually interested in me SPECIFICALLY FOR the "maturity" I would ostensibly bring to the position, as the program director who interviewed me yesterday put it. But at the same time...when the people I was shadowing (who are all early 20s) found out how old I was and the fact that I've been out of nonprofit and into a diff. career for the past five years found out that I'm 29, the reactions were a touch surprised.

I don't know. Maybe the live-in aspect of it is too much a drastic thing. I'd probably have been fine with it at 22-23, when I'd done no real living on my own, hadn't accumulated an apartment full of adult belongings, etc. I don't know. I just don't want it to feel like a regression.

But then I feel badly...because it's great work, and I fell in love with the kids, even though I only stayed with them for a couple of days (which is unsurprising, I love that sort of work). And I KNOW that I could do good, important work. And the kids need people who can do that. And I like the concept and the model of what they do...I feel very much in my element doing the work. But I have a very real fear that it would absorb my life (because that's what work like that does), and I feel horribly, horribly selfish for saying this, but my life has been absorbed for a really long time (all my professional life, thus far, really), and it's taking a toll. So I'm very torn, because philosophically, I love the idea of it, and I feel kind of awful and down on myself feeling like my trepidations about adjusting to the living situation inherent are going to be the make or break it thing.

And then there's the fact that this is the first place I've applied in ages that has evidenced a serious interest...there is a fear involved.

Also, it's unlike me to shy from a challenge. One thing I don't want to do is stay at something by default, or because I've become complacent, and it's easier to stay than leave. But by the same token, I don't want to take something that's maybe not exactly right simply because it's a way out.

So torn. I'm never torn. Ugh.

[Kitty]

I was thinking about you this morning while I was driving to work!

I know you're frustrated with aspects of your paper and your current job...

But I started thinking about the whole live-in aspect of this new job, and it seems like it could really stunt any personal relationships that are developing or could develop. Like, for example, you meet a great guy and things are going well..it could seriously prevent the relationship from maturing.

[wordsmith]

Well, honestly, it's doubtful I would even MEET anybody with the amount of devotion, focus and dedication this job would take.

But that's not really a huge consideration.

[Kitty]

Well, honestly, it's doubtful I would even MEET anybody with the amount of devotion, focus and dedication this job would take.

But that's not really a huge consideration.

Cool. If that's not a consideration, then never mind!

[wordsmith]

It probably SHOULD be...but I'm really leery of making it be.

[cheshrcarol]

Is there any possibility at all of a position with them where you wouldn't have to live on site?

I have to say that I would personally have severe reservations about living and working in a residential facility like that. I have a good friend who does something similar but does not live on site and I've seen what it does to her. And not so much the kids all the time, but dealing with the co-workers and administration and everything else. She's also the kind of person who finds it hard to say no, and I get the feeling you might be like that too, and in an environment like that you really tend to get taken advantage of.

[wordsmith]

There ARE potential non-residential positions, but all along, I've noted that my interest was in residential (which is also where they have severe shortages right now).

But the issue is, I can only afford it if it's residential. It doesn't pay that much, and it offering room and board is what makes it doable. The community where it's located, I couldn't afford to live in on what the job pays. And the non-residential posts are all part time (they're the people who come in and relieve).

[mishl982]

Well, whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck! It seems like a tough decision.