On Tuesday morning I returned home from my morning jog and was shocked to find a voice mail waiting for me on my phone from Compassion. When I looked at my phone it said I had a missed call and had a voice mail from a 487-XXXX number. I didn't recall who that was, but I knew it was associated with something job related. I listened to the message and couldn't believe what I heard. The position that I had applied for (Managerial Accountant), turned down, then called back to request to be added back into the pool of candidates was still open. They had continued with the final round of interviews that I was scheduled to attend, but the job offer was turned down by their candidate of choice. They still wanted to talk to me. I had written this opportunity off completely.
Later on that day I discovered from an "informant" that the person that was offered the job was someone I knew and had worked with at Focus. In fact, he's still working there right now. Talk about a small world. It only took me a little bit of time to realize that I should call him up to talk about the interview and get some inside information so that I could have as much of an advantage as possible. Insider trading comes to mind. In the end, my experience was slightly different. It helped with the comfort level and confidence going in, but the process and questions asked weren't anything you wouldn't expect to be asked in an interview.
I think that the interview went pretty well. I feel like I gave some good answers while also making some personal connections in terms of personality similarities, interests, etc, with the people on the team. I think where that will help is that it provided a glimpse of what it would be like to work together, since even though it is a job people don't talk about work every minute of every day. At first I met for an hour with a team of three people comprised of two people I'd be working for and a peer of this position.The next hour was spent one on one with the hiring manager. The third and final hour was spent with two other people I'd be supporting on the team and the representative from HR. By the end of it I was pretty hungry and tired.
I should find out something in about two weeks. It's going to take a little longer then usual because of some changes going on and the schedule of the hiring manager. If it really is only down to me and one other person as I was led to believe, I probably have a pretty good shot at this position considering how the interview went.
What has been pretty amazing about the entire process is how it has happened. It's been a relative mess, but the door (for some reason) is still open. I saw this position advertised the very next day after I left Early Connections. Because of the nature of how the position with Mario evolved, this was the only job I applied for in a span of about a month. It was like it was just sitting there, waiting for me to apply. When I turned the interview down, we had the week from hell where we realized I couldn't take the position with Mario. I was out and then I wanted back in. Then, it was almost as if my former co-worker fended off the other candidates only to keep the door open for me after he turned it down. Finally, on my way to the interview I was passed by three cars. One car was a white Toyota pickup just like mine, with Air Force plates, and with a topper from Meili's Truck Tops - the same place in Spokane I purchased my cover from. The second car that passed me had CU plates - the same ones I used to have on my truck from my alma mater. He was followed closely behind by a third car with a bumper sticker of the Hawaiian Islands. I don't know about you, but I thought that was pretty weird to see representations of much of my past all converge for a second or two on the way to the interview. Let's also not forget that Michelle is coming into town to help us out with the kids during her summer break. The dates? Probably the exact week or two that I would start this position and Jules starts pre-school. Now that's what I call good timing.