Tag Archives: Workin’

Man, things have been super busy this past week – and it’s going to be even crazier the next week! No new OOTDs since most of my outfits have been outfits that I’ve worn before, and it’s so dang hot here now that going outside to get the snapshots result in me looking a sweaty bedraggled mess within a few seconds. (For example: it is almost 9:30am right now, and it’s 90 degrees out with a heat index of 100 already. UGH. DOUBLE UGH.)

Things are going well at work – I’ve been in the thick of training. I feel comfortable behind the cash register, but that was always the easiest thing for me to pick up when I was in retail. I can say with all confidence that I love my job. Most of all, I enjoy helping women of all sizes, shapes, and ages become more comfortable and happy with their bodies.

I’ve posted about this to Facebook and Twitter, but I figured I would share it here as well…I GOT A NEW JOB.

Some backstory:
I’ve been contracted to The Company since May of 2005. I started out with a group that was involved with a project for the gas department – we were taking scans of the gas lines in New Orleans and drawing/entering them in a GIS system. It wasn’t a really big deal until Katrina hit and flooded the gas lines, and whoever hadn’t evacuated across the country was called back to help get everything in so the linemen could determine where the gas lines were so they could flush them out. I loved that job. I felt that I was doing my part – however how small – to get people back to New Orleans and back home. I stayed with that group for about two years, and was promoted to Team Lead. It was the first time I had a real supervisory position, and I was glad to be given the opportunity to prove myself.

My boss and his boss recommended me for the PC Coordinator position downtown at The Company, and after some consideration, I accepted it. I started there in March of 2007. My job there was to use a pre-determined budget to replace failed PCs and refresh PCs every five years. The group I worked for consisted of over 3000 machines – the largest of its kind within The Company. When I started, we were over a year behind schedule for replacements – and within a year I not only got us back on schedule, I had the group ahead of schedule. I helped people place orders for everything from laptop bags to plotters costing thousands of dollars. I was able to use the customer service skills I’d cultivated in retail and apply that to an IT position. About six months into the job, I received a nomination for an exceptional customer service award from a employee – and won that award. This award is typically reserved for Company employees – contractors typically didn’t receive the award unless they provided above-and-beyond service. I received the award with a congratulatory note from a VP a little while later. That was not the only time I received kudos for doing that job – I had multiple emails and mentions from others through the three years I was there.

I took on multiple tasks along with that job – invoice processing, learning how to enter and present business cases annually, records management. One of my managers started to teach me more about project managing. My ultimate goal was to get on with The Company.

This past January, a major re-org came down in our group, and I moved under my third manager in three years. A few of my tasks had been transitioned to employees, so I asked my manager if I could learn something more about her group. She offered to give me training in software testing. Since this was something new, I accepted. In mid-October, I was informed that all of the other jobs I was working – PC Coordinator, invoice processor, business cases – would be completely moved to employees and that I would be moved exclusively to the software testing group. The main reason for this is that my manager had to keep justifying my tasks to higher-ups and they kept asking her why an employee couldn’t do these jobs. She told me that she wanted to keep me on, but the only way to do that was to move me completely into software testing.

I was very unhappy. The job I loved had been taken from me. I also started seeing contractors being let go and hearing things about them cutting all non-essential contractors. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I would be out of work for any extended period of time, so I started looking. I interviewed for the position at The Company 2 the other week, and the description I received was very similar to the PC Coordinator position – customer service, large orders, working within a budget, working with vendors to place orders – yeah, I knew I could do this. There are some differences, but I consider those to be challenges and I’m looking forward to learning something new.

I was offered the position last week and turned in my notice at The Company on Thursday. Not only is this a new job with some new learning tactics, but the office is 10 minutes from my house in Mandeville! No more Causeway commute, yay! :) Not only that, but since I will be working so close to home, I will be able to do what I want to do more often, rather than having to come home and pretty much throw myself right into bed because I have to be up at 5am every weekday. This means I’ll be able to exercise (and there’s a gym at work so no gym fees), cook, and blog more often!

I know a lot of people will roll their eyes when they see this, but I believe that when God closes a door, he opens a window. This is my window, and I know it is time for me to move on to bigger and better things. Not only that, but I get a whole new opportunity to prove myself to a new group, and that is a great thing for me!