Right Place, Right Time

You know the old adage about being in the right place at the right time?  Well, turns out there’s a bit of truth to it.  At least for me there was.  You see, the job I have now is temporary.  It’s been a long-term temporary job, but nonetheless temporary.  Our office is closing in the next few weeks, and then after that, nothing.  I’ve been submitting resumes and applications to every place short of McDonalds — okay, let’s be honest, every place short of anywhere paying minimum wage; with a family to support, I can’t afford to work a minimum wage job, save nothing of the fact that a miminum wage job would most likely be void of any kind of mental stimulation to me.

So I’ve been a slave to the computer each night submitting away, filling my email box with lots of don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you autoresponders.  It just so happened, though, that a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a couple gals at the office, when one of them asked if I had anything planned when our jobs ended.  I told her what I’d been up to.  She asked where I lived, and when she noted how close I live to the Regional Office for the organization we’ve been working for, she suggested I try getting a job there.  Sure, that was the first thing on my mind — but everytime I’d checked the web site for any openings, there weren’t any.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to check it again, so on a whim, I did.  Imagine my shock when I actually did see a position posted — a position I was more than qualified for.  The problem was, it was 2:00 pm, and the closing date for the position was 4:00 pm that day, leaving me a whopping 2 hours to fill out an application, go home and grab a resume, and hightail it to the Regional Office, at least a half hour away.  Luckily for me, I had a current resume already saved on the computer, so all I had to do is print one up.  I got to the Regional Office at 3:45 pm, where the receptionist proceeds to tell me in a drone-like voice, “You’re supposed to have two applications.”  Excuse me, two applications?  I don’t think so.  I handle all the Human Resource functions at my current office, so I know what’s required to apply for a position.  She points to her paper, and says, “See.  You need this form and that form.”  To which I retort, “No.  You need this form and either that form or a resume.  Not both.  It’s your choice.  I gave you my resume.”  So she squints to read her paper again and tells me, “Well, I don’t know if they’re going to take that.”  Trust me, they will, but I challenge her, “Why don’t you ask while I’m still here so if they want me to fill one out, I can?” all the while knowing I didn’t need to, but still not wanting to chance the possibility that they did things differently here.  She informs me the person she needs to ask is no longer there and that everyone else has turned in both forms along with a resume.  Well, I’m not most people.  She finally relented and agreed to accept my application before the deadline.

Hurdle one down.  Now I needed an interview, assuming they had indeed accepted my application, which I was sure they had.  A week or two later, I got a call not to schedule an interview, but to conduct an interview.  On the phone, really?  Okay, let’s go.  Was I prepared?  I didn’t really have a chance to prepare.  Luckily I had filled out enough applications that I pretty much had a good idea of how to respond to their questions.  I asked when they planned to make a decision and was told in a few days.  At this point, it was nice to just get a phone call at all, even if I didn’t end up getting the position.

A few days passed and still no word, but I wasn’t dwelling on it as much as my co-worker, who would end up with an extra few weeks of work if I did get the job.  As I would enter the office each morning, he’d greet me with a hopeful face saying, “Any calls from the Regional Office?” and when I’d say no, his face would fall.  That’s when I would tell him, “Gee, Rob.  Don’t be so happy to see me.”

So, cutting to the chase, yesterday I had to pick up some supplies at the Regional Office.  While I was there, I asked for the person I had interviewed with on the phone.  He came out and I introduced myself.  I told him since I was at the office, I thought I’d check and see if they had made their decision yet, even though I was fairly sure that since I hadn’t heard from them by now that they probably had.  So lo and behold, he told  me they had already made their decision, which wasn’t a complete shock to me, but there was another position they were looking to fill and I was one of the top candidates for it.  He said he’d check with the other person making the decision and would call me and let me know.  I thanked him for his time and left.  Two minutes later, while I was on the phone with Del, filling him in on what had happened, I got a call on my other line.  It was the person I had just met with, asking me how far away I was.  I told him I was still close by and could go back to the office if he needed me to.  He said they had decided to offer me the position and that they needed me to come back and fill out some paperwork.  I call my boss, tell him I’ll be in a little later than planned, and do a happy dance.  I later found out that someone they had decided to hire fell through, so they decided to hire me instead.  I’m sure meeting him in person was probably what did the trick.

So there you have it.  Right place, right time.  Job!