My Next Obstacle

So now that I have tackled the task of obtaining a job (a great job!), it is now time to finally be rid of that dreaded "Freshman 15" that I've held onto for 4 years. Obviously everyone who goes away to college battles with this, some are lucky enough to get rid of it or even avoid. Unfortunately the rest of us, we are stuck with it until we make some major life changes.

My mission to drop this weight started last week. I successfully went to the gym Mon-Fri at the work gym. I have gotten into a routine of using my lunch break as my workout time. It was working great. It gives you a nice refresh for the afternoon and at the end of the day you can just go home and relax. Unfortunately this week I was unable to make it during lunch, but I did drag myself after work as to not loose the streak.  But now that I'm getting my gym routine down it's time to start what I call a pseudo-diet. Pretty much it just means eating healthy and not eating junk. It's not really a diet, I suppose, but to me it means sacrifice and that is what I believe a diet entails. I have inherited my mother's sweet tooth and find myself constantly eating candy and sweets. I think if I can cut this down drastically and keep up with the healthy eating on weekends I should be OK. But the weekends will definitely be a challenge. Wish me luck!

If any of you know of any good healthy recipes or foods I should try out, feel free to leave suggestions. They'd be much appreciated!

Greetings from Inside My Cubicle...

For those of you who actually follow this blog, you'll notice the change in title, format, and topics. Since I have finally landed a job (an awesome one, at that!) the previous topic is no longer relevant. I decided that while I was changing the topic, I might as well give the blog a facelift. I also decided I needed to create my own template and steer away from just another generic blog in cyberspace. I kept it clean cut and simple. I also designed the banner myself. So leave comments with your thoughts and suggestions.

So now it's time to get down to the juicy details about the new job! I am at the end of my second week here and I have nothing but good things to say! The people in the office are just awesome. Everyone is so nice, and it just has this family vibe to it. The work I’ll be doing sounds like exactly what I was looking to do. I’ve only had a few small tasks in assisting other with projects they are working on, but what I’ve seen looks good. So the final verdict is that it seems everything worked out to be the best situation possible. I love my job and I look forward to sticking around here for a long time. So my life motto is yet again confirmed... everything happens for a reason!

The End of Freedom

As the end of summer is closing in, so is my time of freedom and carelessness. Since I have been given a start date for work, my summer is flying by! It is going to be a major adjustment getting into a regular schedule and actually having to get out of bed in the morning! But I could not be more excited to start working. As much as I enjoyed having no commitments to life, it definitely left me feeling like I was worthless and that there was a major part of life missing. I’m happy to finally have responsibility and structure in my life again.

I’m not sure if I ever really explained the job, but here's a gist of what I was told I’d be doing. I’ll be sure to let you know how it is once I start. It’s pretty much a project based position. I’ll be working with business users to adjust and add on to the current systems to help the business run more smoothly. To do this I’ll be writing specification documents, documenting new and existing processes, and communicating with business users to do analysis of the systems. It’s a hybrid of technology and working with people that I think is a perfect fit for what I’m looking to make a career out of. Just talking about it now is getting me very excited to start next Tuesday!

Facebook | SCRABBLE Beta

For those of you who know me, I am a pretty die hard scrabble fan. I play whenever possible. I was so sad when Scrabulous went off of Facebook, but looks like real scrabble has arrived! So check it out, and I dare you to challenge me ;D

Facebook | SCRABBLE Beta

More Updates

So I spoke with the hr lady today after reading through all the offer information. Unfortunately there is no wiggle room in the salary. But the salary is not a bad start. She said they give out good bonuses so if I prove myself I’ll get rewarded. She said my start date will most likely be on Sept. 2nd. I’m so excited to finally be a working girl! Ha-ha

Some More Info

Company1 got back to me saying "They are continuing to interview more candidates at this point, so I would encourage you to take the other offered presented to you."

So for those of you who don't know, the company2 is Allied Building in East Rutherford, NJ. I’ll be getting the offer letter tomorrow and I’ll keep you updated as to what the final verdict is.

Finally, a Job Offer!

I received a job offer from company2!! :)

I’m really excited to finally be getting a job offer. Although I am not excited that I had to contact company1 and say I got an offer so if they want me to hurry up and make a decision. (I obviously didn't it say it like that). The only thing that stinks though is the salary is slightly lower than what I was told I’d be offered. But it’s still not a bad salary. So we'll see if I negotiate for higher. Updates to come ASAP...

Interviews

So I went on the interviews this past week. Everything seems to have gone well. Here are some details...

Company1:
The job was completely different than what I thought. Not really a proofing job at all. The proofing and such are outsourced, and you manage the processes, systems, vendors, and clients. During peak times you do mostly operations work making sure everything gets posted and do troubleshooting with clients. During this time you may work up to 12 hrs in a day, but after a few weeks of it you earn extra days off. Then during off peak hours you mostly work on projects to help improve the current systems and processes. It sounds like a great place to start a career. It’s fast paced and everyone is young. You get a lot of responsibility so you're able to leave your mark in the sand. You can also move up pretty quickly here. The job sounds great, so fingers crossed.

Company2:
The interview went well. it was mostly to see if I would fit in with the team personality wise and to talk about the position a little bit more. This also sounds promising, but I will not be getting my hopes up again.

Job Status Update

So I heard back from both companies yesterday. Both which I guess is good news.

Company1 has scheduled an interview for me tomorrow for a different position. I agreed to interview before reading over the job description, and well I hope the job is much better than the description portrays. The job sounds like most of what I would be doing is proof reading call transcripts and polishing them up so they can be posted by the company. So absolutely nothing to do with what I spent four years of school studying.

company2 is almost done checking my references, and since it's been so long since I interviewed there (back in June) they'd like me to come in on Friday to talk to the manager about the position and how the new job opening affects my position. Sounds good to me. The optimistic side of me hopes that at the end of the meeting is when an offer would be extended, the pessimistic side of me thinks they're unsure about me and want me to make or break their decision. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. But I definitely am not leaning towards the optimistic side as much after the situation with company1. company2 seems very thorough in their screening, not only did they drill down in their questions with my references but they wanted proof about the offer I received from MS. unfortunately I didn't get anything in writing since I didn't accept. So hopefully they don't hold that against me.

So it Seems I May be Back to Square One...

As the summer begins to sadly come to an end, I thought I was also approaching the end of my unemployment and lack of income. Much to my surprise, life has seemed to throw a few curve balls my way on Friday. The two companies I mentioned in my previous post that I had been interviewing at have contacted me with updates. For the sake of not jinxing anything I will simply refer to them as company1 and company2.

We’ll start with the bad news first... company1 has informed me that even though they would have loved to hire me, that there is no room on the team for me. What makes this news so devastating is that since July I have been told that I would be getting an offer to start in September, so I’m assuming due to lack of headcount or budget. Yet again the economy has gypped me of a great job. They did offer me another open position within the company that fits my skill set, but this would require more interviews. I thought I was finally done with the tedious process of interviewing! I decided that I will go on the interview and learn more about the position, even though the job description wasn't exactly appealing to me. the company and people seemed to be great so I feel its worth it to give it a shot, and find out more about the job because job descriptions usually don't due justice to the position they're describing. This also means that I no longer will be getting the opportunity to go to Paris. Needless to say, I’m less than satisfied with this situation.

Now the good news... company2 has contacted me to let me know that they are in the process of contacting my references. It seems they are getting good responses based on feedback I received from one of my references. I would think they were at least strongly considering hiring me if they were going through the process of checking references. They also mentioned that they have opened another position on the team for someone with more experience applying for a similar position. This is good news to me, as I was told the other candidates for the position had more experience. So hopefully this position will allow them to hire the experienced person while also taking me on. Now even though this job may be less glamorous than the job at company1, it definitely has its perks and the position itself sounds like a great opportunity to apply my knowledge acquired at NU and to learn things beyond my current skill set.

So I guess the outcome isn't as bad as it could be, but I guess I’ve learned to not get my hopes up until anything is official.

shocking realization about life

so in the process of commenting on a good friend's blog, i found my blog that i had to create for a writing class. now that i have found this blog, and i have a ton of free time on my hands i'm going to start writing in it and see if i have anything to say that peaks anyone's interest..

while i am enjoying this summer as i have no responsibilities or commitments to adhere to, i am slowly going crazy as i am not used to this type of lifestyle. i feel like ever since i can remember i've had some deadline to meet or a job to attend. as it was enjoyable for the first month or so, now as i'm approaching the end of the third month (and the bottom of my bank account due to lack of income), i feel so useless in life. i had actively interviewing for a post-grad full time job, but with the economy the way it is, it has been quite frustrating. i most recently interviewed at two companies who persued me through job boards i posted to. both sets of interviews, i felt, went rather well and i'm expected to hear from both companies in the near future (hopefully this week). these companies couldn't be more different but both jobs sound very rewarding and challenging so i would be more than happy with an offer from either (but i do prefer one to the other).

in my days of waiting for this life changing phone call, i have been trying to find projects around the house to keep myself busy (that require little driving since gas is high and i am broke!). so recently i've decided to give my room a mini makeover since i haven't really done much to it since i moved away to school. so in my shopping adventures i have watched the stores get ready for the back to school season. seeing all the notebooks, backpacks, and college dorm supplies displayed proudly on store shelves, i am slowly coming to the realization that this is not just a summer break and that i am not returning to school in the fall. i am an "adult" now and have to start real life soon. although it depresses me slightly to think about this, i must say i am more excited than anything. after learning about the two jobs i have been interviewing for, i realize how happy it makes me to see that these jobs are something i could be happy doing and that the "real world" may not be so bad after all. so fingers crossed everyone!