Thursday, December 12, 2019

Waiting For The Phone To Ring...

Me at 7:30 yesterday morning -- very early.
  
So I've mentioned a few times that I was unemployed for most of the fall. I have also mentioned that I started work this week. So here is the whole story (mostly)...

There were rumblings that changes were afoot with my old job but those changes weren't confirmed until mid-July. And the rumblings started last November so there was a very long period of unknown. So last winter I started casually looking around for other job opportunities. I found one I was quite excited about but it was an "ongoing" posting so it just sat open in my web browser for months.

Once my job was finished at the end of August, I got my act together, submitted my resume for this "ongoing" posting, crossed my fingers (and toes), prayed, and waited... and waited... and waited. And waited until the end of September when I found out I had been offered an interview. Then I waited... and waited... and waited some more until I found out I had made it to the testing phase.

The day I took the test (basic office skills), I found out immediately that I had passed. This was in early November. Then I had to wait (and wait and wait) until earlier this week when I had training and orientation.

My job is basically like being a substitute teacher but for secretaries and (eventually) library clerks at schools throughout our area. I can work in any school in our school board from elementary to high school. Yikes. So I wait by the phone, I check the online postings, and I go where they send me.
Since I make "First Day of School" signs for my kids, 
they decided I needed a "First Day" sign too!
 
I finished my orientation and training on Tuesday at 4. I got home at 4:30 and by 4:40, I had received my first call to go out to a school for all day yesterday. I'm sure the principal was thrilled to find out how green I was. Ha!

I felt like it all went fairly well though. The principal said they'd be happy for me to work at their school again and that felt HUGE. (I didn't ask, they offered that comment.) And I'm off to a different school this morning.

Next week I am excited that I will get to take the library clerk training and then I can work in the libraries as well. Eventually I hope I can get a permanent position in a school but for now I just want to work in as many different situations (offices/libraries/elementary schools/high schools) as I can.

I'm so happy that Sam and Rachel are excited for (and with) me, that Dave is able to take on the morning before school routines, and that we have an awesome babysitter who is willing to be on call to hang out Sam and Rachel after school. I really couldn't do this without my village.
So if you're looking for me, I'll just be over here, waiting for the phone to ring... Or you know, trying to figure out how to buzz people into the school and make phone calls. They didn't cover either of those in the training. Ha!

10 comments:

  1. I am so excited for you!! That is wonderful - and how smart of them to have a rotating sub for those positions! Makes all kinds of sense! I'll be learning to buzz people in too - here's to your button working on the first try better than mine! LOL!!!

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  2. Congratulations!! I've always thought it would be fun to work in a school, without actually having to be a teacher!

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  3. how exciting!!!!
    I've always wanted to work in a school library. That would be the best job!!!

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  4. Congratulations! What fabulous news - and to get to work in a library?!?! Amazing!!! Keep us posted as you get more experience - can't wait to hear how it all goes. :)

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  5. How neat!! I think it's awesome that you'll get to experience all kinds of settings and can hopefully find one that's a good fit for the long-term! Congrats!

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  6. How cute is it that the kids said you needed a First Day picture!!!! Ohmygosh...

    This job sounds like so much fun to me! Reminds me of one of the times when I was a temp and actually got sent on assignments quite often. So much fun.

    I'm actually going to see if your schools have that same kind of system here in the USA and keep it in mind if I ever find myself unemployed again. I tend to be laid off every 5-7 years so...it's good to have go-to ideas. LOL

    Enjoy your assignments!!!! Hope you blog more about them!

    Oh and I also love your first day outfit.

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  7. That sounds like a really cool opportunity. Congratulations...You'll do great!

    I'm a substitute teacher at Clarice's preschool. Last school year they only called me twice. Then this past week I worked three days. :)

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  8. Sounds like a great job! With the bonus of getting all the school holidays and summers off with your kids too!

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  9. Congrats again! That seems like such a perfect job to get you into the school system! Also, I’ve changed jobs 3 times in my life and I hate hate hate the waiting game of interviews. Absolutely the worst. I don’t understand how there can’t be a more efficient system for hiring

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