Moving On

Today is a strange day. It marks the last day with my current employer, Stewart Title of Houston. Tomorrow is my first day with Sam Houston State University, in Huntsville, Texas. It's quite odd how it all worked out.

In mid July, I applied for a position at "Sam" in the Computer Services Dept. I've always wanted to work in an educational environment. I'm not exactly sure why. I suppose that just the fact that so much learning is going on I stand a good chance to learn a thing or two. Anyway, I had an interview with two of the supervisors in the department that was frankly, a disaster. I left pretty dejected. What was I to do now? I had been unemployed for 4 months by this time. I NEEDED to get a job.

When I got home, I received a call from a staffing company in Houston. They had a job they wanted to discuss with me. I jumped in the car and drove across the world to their office (from where I live, their office might as well be half-way around the world). The next morning I had an interview with the man that will be my boss until the end of the day. In this interview, everything I had done wrong the day before simply disappeared. No gaffes, sticking my foot in my mouth or saying something ill-advised. I was given a personality test and had a background check run on me.

Somehow I cleared those hurdles and got hired. I was driving further than I ever had for a job, but I had to pay the bills. Such is life. But, it was worth the drive. Stewart is a good company. My boss is actually a GOOD boss (just in case he might read this) and my co-workers - great to work with. I was a happy man. I haven't had a job I enjoyed for nearly 4 years. This was great.

Then, about 3 weeks ago, I received an e-mail that suprised me. One of the folks I had interviewed with at Sam wrote and asked if I would be interested in meeting a few more people. What could it hurt? I explained that I would have to meet after normal working hours. I wasn't about to ask off early and lie to my boss. She asked me to name a time. I did and braved torrential Texas summertime rain to get there. This time things were different, she made introductions, explained what the job entailed and how much it would pay. That was it. I was told that HR would contact me within a week - if I was the successful candidate. I knew about that. They told me that the last time. So, I left, feeling pretty good. Afterall, they called me.

A few days later, I got another e-mail from the same person. "Have you heard from HR yet?" My response was "No. Should I expect them to contact me?" Her reply was "yes." HR did contact me later that week, offered me the job, which would pay $5K more than what I was already making. Add to it that I would now be driving AWAY from Houston each morning instead of toward it. No more snarling traffic! All that was left was talking with my boss at Stewart.

That was two weeks ago. Today, I'm looking at the shortest tenure I've ever had on a job and can't believe my prospects before me. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I'll post updates here.

It's been an adventure. I now have a motto: Enjoy the Ride!