Company H

I had a very good interview with Company H last Wednesday.

I met with two women, each for over an hour. They were both very nice, smart people, and I also got a chance to meet the HR person I had spoken with on the phone. Each one of them had been with the company more than ten years, which is a good sign.

It’s a software company, which sells medical software to practices all over the country.

The job is a training and implementation job. The "Project Leader" coordinates the installation and client training for a new installation of the software. This means spending a lot of time at the client site, which are nationwide. So, I would probably be spending two out of every four weeks on the road.

This is probably the only sticking point, as I’m pretty sure they would pay me ok.

I like the folks I have met there so far. They say all the right things about what the work culture there is like, and what their own styles are like. It’s a small company (50-75 staff) which has been in business for 20-plus years, a long time for a software company. I feel like I’ve made a good impression on everyone I’ve talked to so far. The next step is another visit including a presentation (on a topic of my choosing…any suggestions?), then after that a meeting with the president, who likes to meet everyone the company hires.

One thing I’ve always been a little scared of is being in a situation where I have one offer only, that is attractive enough for me to consider but has some negatives, and have nothing else even close to popping. This could be that kind of situation. I have a number of resumes and applications out, but nothing close yet, and if these folks move quickly I just might end up with and offer that I’ll have to entertain without anything else competing.

Since I’m leery of the travel involved, if I get an offer and have nothing else on the horizon I will have to carefully evaluate this job, this company, and any other prospects I have. I really don’t want to travel quite THAT much, but I have the impression that I within two or three years I could move to a position that doesn’t travel quite so much.

I’m heading to the beach on Monday for a couple of days. While I will technically be on vacation, I will be taking my cell phone and computer with me, so that I can stay on top of things and jump if a good opportunity arises. I have several books lined up. I just finished the new Thomas Perry, Silence, and I have a Nelson DeMille that I will take to the beach, and several Stephen R. Donaldson books that Andrew lent me in the wings.

On Monday it’s eight weeks until October 1. Woo-hoo! I keep calling this "My Greatest Opportunity", and "The Best Career Move I'll Ever Make". As long as it happens soon...

Fret factor – Moderate.

Vacation factor - High.

Progress Report Update

This post is about GOOD things. Yesterday, even though I got two turn-downs, I had a GREAT phone interview, that I'm pretty confident will result in a face-to-face.

I learned that I got an "A" in the summer course I took.

I'm halfway through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and having a blast with it.

And, as Andrew pointed out, Saturday (recording Tempest music) will be a lot of fun, featuring musicians, cast members, and beer. Uh-oh, I'd better hide my daughter. And probably the cat.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see Henry IV Pt.1.

The Red Sox are still 6.5 games up on the Yankees, and the Cubs are making a run.

"So I got that going for me, which is nice."

I really have nothing to complain about and will try to minimize the Eeyore-ishness. Life is pretty darn good, mostly.

Progress Report

Here's where I am today:

I've sent 19 applications out.

15 of them are still active.

I've had 3 interviews. I have a telephone interview today, with a company that does software and services for medical practices. It's a training job, which probably doesn't pay enough.

I've had 1 offer, which I declined. Too big a pay cut, too far away.

It's funny, I'm not hearing from the jobs I'm more excited about, only the ones in which I'm slightly less interested. I made some yesterday, to check status on a few. One told me that they were readvertising with a slightly revised description, and that I did not need to reapply. That *could* mean that they just want a bigger pool, and that I'm one of the pool, or it could mean they've tossed my application.

Much of the time I'm very optimistic and positive about all of this. Some days, like today, I'm depressed. Several different factors affect my general mood. If there is some activity on the job front(new applications, calls from potential jobs, etc.), I'm more likely to be upbeat. Hm. Funny thing. However, regardless of the happenings in that arena, there are days when I can't stave off the fear that October 1 will roll around and I'll be unemployed. That fear can be almost paralyzing. Since I found out about this we've tried to take steps and gather funds to keep us afloat if I don't find a job, and we've done OK, but there's not enough there to last very long.

I discovered something else yesterday that affects me strongly, which was somewhat of a surprise. In staff meeting, Paula started giving an update on things she was doing with the online course program, which is something I built and have run for a long time. I didn't know anything about these actions she had taken, and when she started talking about it I literally felt sick to my stomach. I sent her a note after saying I wasn't sure how many more staff meetings I would be attending. She hasn't responded. There's no real need for her to respond, I guess, though it would be nice if she would express some concern, or even interest.

Anyway, I try very hard to remain positive about the whole thing. I do believe it's an opportunity, a chance for me to move into something cool. I'm doing what I can to keep things moving, and I'm trying to put the rest in God's hands.

I didn't plan on this post being quite so introspective, but I also didn't compose it in advance and edit it, like I do sometimes. This one was supposed to be a brief progress report and turned into more of a stream of consciousness thing. Thanks for being patient.

Fret factor: Moderate to High

Too Darn Hot

I’m in Williamsburg all week this week, working on the Virginia Summer Institute for Addiction Studies. I do this every year, and my job here is mostly to coordinate the AV needs for the conference presenters. This involves periods of intense activity followed by 2 or 3 hours of hardly any activity. One problem is that there are always sessions in other buildings on the William and Mary campus, and it’s always about 170 degrees this week in July, so running between buildings lugging stuff can be pretty uncomfortable. I do enjoy it, though, as it’s a week out of the office and a change of pace. Most of it involves helping presenters get all their stuff together, make sure their computer works with the LCD projectors, etc. One of the presenters today brought his presentation on a floppy disk! I looked and looked and couldn’t find a computer in the entire building that had a floppy disk drive so that I could pull his presentation off and get it onto the computer for his presentation. I don’t remember the last time I saw a computer with a floppy drive…

In other news, I was offered a job teaching middle school computer classes, which I turned down. Too far away, too big a pay cut.

I have another interview this afternoon, which would be software training for Electronic Medical Records/Practice Management software. I’m not sure how much I want it, it would be a lot of travel, but I’m certainly interested enough to talk with them.

Fret factor: Moderate.

Top Nine Ways in which working on The Tempest was cool (in no particular order)

The pre-show curtain speech usually included a comment about how patrons should browse the (tiny) gift shop, where they could find “all things Shakespearean”. ALL things? Truly this must be a wonderful gift shop. Most nights, Andrew and I would lean forward and one or both of us would comment on something Shakespearean that *must* be available in the gift shop. Codpieces, chamber pots, The Tower of London, rats with plague-carrying fleas, the remains of Anne Hathaway...

Lucas Hall in the outfit pictured above (photo by Andrew Hamm).

The incredible talent and professionalism of the cast and crew.

Andrew Hamm and Kevin Neilsen, my two fellow members of the Foolhardy Band. It was quite humbling to play music with these two very talented musicians every night.

Watching the faces of people I knew in the audience. Since I knew the script so well, I knew when something cool or funny was coming up, and I could watch for reactions.

I got to watch (well...sort of. I could see about half of the stage area) the show over four weeks, and observe how it was different each night, which scenes were slushy, and which were sparkling, how the actors’ interpretations evolved or changed based on the energy on stage or in the house.

Stacie Reardon, Graham Birce, Freddy Kauffman, and David White (and the whole cast for one number), who brought Andrew’s music (lyrics by W. Shakespeare) to vibrant life each night.

The pre-show music. Each night (if possible...sometimes rain caused us a few problems…) we would play up to thirty minutes of music before curtain. It was an eclectic mix of stuff, though the prevailing theme was American Roots music. Songs by T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Ledbelly, Tom Waits, Phil Collins, two different Blind Willies...it was great great fun.

Closing night. Two moments stand out. Pre-show, most of the cast had gathered backstage for the opening scene, and as we played It’s Not Too Late (which we did each night prior to the curtain speech), they all sang along. It was great. Then, after the curtain call, we shortened our usual walk-out music and played Message In A Bottle. Many members of the cast came out and gathered around the microphone and sang along. This was a wonderful moment for me.

Working on The Tempest was so much fun. It was by turns tough, annoying, hot and humid, and overall just a blast. I feel privileged to have been a part of it.

Coming Attractions

Just to let you know I'm not just lazing around...I'm working on several posts for this blog:

Emotional Equilibrium

Welcoming Back the Boy

Ten Ten Cool Things About Working on The Tempest

Stay tuned!

Tools

I’ve begun to get a system in place for keeping the information I need organized. I don’t know if this will be of interest to anyone, but here goes anyway.

On my hard drive I have a folder called Search. Within that folder I keep several versions of my resume, CV, references, and my tracking files, which I’ll explain below. There are also four subfolders: Archive, Covers, Descriptions, and Applications and Admin. Archive contains documents I’m unlikely to use anymore but don’t want to trash. Covers contains various cover letters I’ve sent. Descriptions contains job descriptions of jobs I’ve sent resumes to. I realized that some job sites take down the description when the job is in the interview process, and I wanted to make sure I had the descriptions to help me prepare. Applications and Admin contains copies of any electronic applications I’ve filled out, and any other administrative stuff realted to the search.

I debated using a database or other contact management tool to keep track of things. In the past I’ve used both Access and Outlook to manage similar tasks. I don’t like Outlook, and Access seems like overkill, so for now I’m using three Word documents. Tracking.doc is where I keep the list of places I’ve applied to, contact information, what’s been done or sent, and next steps (i.e., “Follow up on Monday!”). Web sites.doc is where I keep a list of the web listings I go to, and when I visited each last. To-do.doc is just what you think.

I also use my calendar (you may be shocked to learn that last year I went back to a paper calendar!), and paper files here at home to file the paper aspects of this search.

That’s about it at the moment. Any thoughts or suggestions are encouraged!

P.S. Congrats to my brother Dave, who made Chief Petty Officer! Way to go, dude!