Real World: Job Search #15

I HAVE A JOB!

No puns. No clichés. No exaggerated metaphors in today’s post. Just very exciting news: I’ve accepted a job offer!

We’ve gotten to the point in the year where things are moving either really fast, or they are dragging out so long that you are pulling your hair in anxiety. Some schools quickly move forward with their process, while bureaucracy and institutional red tape may bog others down. My job search definitely fell in the former category. I applied for the position in the middle of March, interviewed days later at the national conference, and exactly ONE MONTH from the date of my application, I received the offer. It’s dizzying, exciting, thrilling, nerve-wracking, relieving—all rolled into one.

Besides the week at the conference, this was probably the week where the most job-related things happened. On Wednesday, still fresh from my on-campus and on an emotional high from the interviews, I found out that I did not get an on-campus with two of my Top 3 schools. I was still in the running should more positions become available, but that’s not something that I felt like I could bank on…still, I wrote back that I would stay in their candidate pool. Remaining in the pool, though, was a hard decision for one institution in particular because the other anticipated positions are not quite the same as the one that is definitely available. In that instance, I applied for the position more than for the institution. The other Top job was the opposite; I stayed in the pool for the school and not necessarily for the position.

Meanwhile, I took a good hard look at the OTHER schools, the ones that weren’t in my Top 3. There were bits and pieces about each of them that I really liked, but they didn’t have everything. I may have been a bit idealistic, but I still thought I could hold out for the job that DID have everything, the one remaining in my Top 3—which became my TOP ONE.

I didn’t have to hold out long, because the call came on Friday. I accepted on the spot. Some people may disagree with this “compulsive” decision, but you have to do what is right for you—and this was the right thing to do for me. I know I loved it there. The people, the job, the campus, the students, the location. It has everything I wanted—and more. It didn’t make sense to hold out for a possibility.

I am so beyond excited about my job! I start in June. I can’t even begin to explain the peace of mind that I have now, with graduation looming just WEEKS away. I know where I’m going, what I’m doing. The next couple of months are going to be all about figuring out the details. I’m so ready to start the next chapter of my life now!