Why Now? (Employment Adventures)

After 27 months of trying, I just got hired to a full time postion as a CAD Specialist at Cascadia PM in Olympia.

Yep, that's right.

Throughout employment, unemployment and self-employment, I've always been applying for jobs in my field and in my area.  I had no idea that after applying for just under 150 jobs that one would actually say "yes".

I have been working to pick up contract work through my business Deeper Solutions Design | Creation (hit me up on that, 'cause I'd still love some work), and I was fine with that.  But things were getting tight and the need for a consistent paycheck was on the rise.

Here's how this happened (really):

May 10, 2012: Anne-Marie is diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer after six years

May 12, 2012: I send off a couple of resumes (like I always do) from Sunriver, Oregon, where Anne-Marie and I were spending the weekend together looking for answers.

May 14, 2012: Oregon Employment Division cuts me off unemployment and places my business under investigation. I'm still not sure what I did to inspire this.  I certainly wasn't making a killing doing it.

May 18, 2012: Cheryl from Cascadia e-mails me and asks me for a phone interview. I figured "why not?"  I still wasn't quite sure what Cascadia was.  I didn't expect much.

May 21, 2012: By 2:00 PM, I figured they changed their mind.  Cheryl eventually calls and does the phone interview and it goes spectacular.

May 25, 2012: I hear nothing until late in the day.  Now they want a face-to-face interview at the home office.  (this is getting interesting)

May 31, 2012:  I complete a three-hour interview with pretty much everyone on staff at the home office.  Everything goes great.  But I've had plenty of great interviews before and got passed over.  At least I did my best.

June 3, 2012: I spend two more hours doing an online personality assessment test, compiling references and submitting to a background check.  And...

The decision was supposed to be made by Tuesday, June 5.

June 5, 2012:  I spend all day keeping myself busy working on some contract work, playing guitar and going to lunch with Kraiger.  By 5:30 PM, I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted and figured--like has happened a dozen times before--they've decided on something else.  I lay down on the couch.  I get woken up from sleep by a phone call at 6:30 from Olympia, Washington.

And that was that.

June 11, 2012 (today): I start work as a CAD Specialist at Cascadia PM in Olympia.  It's my first day working in the wireless telecom field.

I'm excited and nervous, but the hardest part is leaving my kids and sweetheart, who--until now--were just 12 steps up from my desk.