62. September 23rd, 2010 Picture.

So, Ratty gave me these really beautiful stargazer lilies (my favorite), because [drum roll] I GOT A NEW JOB!  Check number 37 off the list!  FINALLY!  My last job was a complete nightmare.  I honestly have no idea how the place functions or stays in business, and worst of all, I had a contracted vendor gunning for my job, and since we owed that vendor almost 1 million dollars, they have the leverage with the Board of Trustees to take over my department.  While nothing was certain, I could not get a straight answer from anyone, and thought at any moment someone would have shown up in my office with a security officer and someone to change the locks.  For real.  Working in that type of situation, especially when I was generating a huge amount of money for the floundering institution was frustrating to say the least.  BUT I’M FREE!

I had been going through the interview process with Blue Cross Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts for about 2 months, and was finally extended a job offer towards the end of September.  My friend Kerry had actually been in this exact position before me, but was leaving to finish graduate school.  She had put out a message on Facebook, asking if anyone was looking for a job, and I jumped at the chance.  I sent her my resume and she brought it into her bosses the next day.  I had an appointment a few days later for a phone interview, and spoke with one of the Directors of the department, Joan, for about 15 minutes.  I thought I did pretty well, and she even commented on how honest one of my answers was.  She asked what I saw myself doing in 5 years and I told her straight out I had no idea.  I said that I am 27, currently going through what some would call a quarter life crisis, and am not really sure what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I said that in 5 years I hope to work at a place that I love, where I don’t dread going to work every morning. It was the truth – and she really liked it!  The following week I got an email from Kerry, letting me know that they wanted to bring me in for an interview.  It was a few weeks away, so I got to prepping.  I bought a new dress and new shoes, and picked Kerry’s brain about her job.  I’d been interviewing for what seemed like forever, so I was pretty comfortable with all of the typical interview questions.  For my first interview, I met with Joan and a consultant Kevin for an hour, then with Kerry for a half hour.  They told me a lot about the company plus their department, and I realized that I really really wanted the job. 

Basically I’d be the department coordinator for the Business Consulting Group, which means I’d be providing administrative support to a department of about 14 people.  BCBS has an internal consulting group, that provides strategic development and facilitating to departments that request restructuring or process flow help.  I would be scheduling and planning all the meetings for the consultants, as well as planning logistics for off site meetings and additional administrative work.  Sounded right up my alley.  I would still get to plan events (in a MUCH less stressful way), but my job would be 8:30am-4:30pm, with rare exceptions.  I wanted the job.  Bad.

After my first interview, I got a call from BCBS and they wanted me to come in for a second round interview, this time meeting with more consultants, the Executive Director and HR.  This was an intense day.  I first met with the other director, Janice, then 4 consultants, where they played a ‘game’ with me, where they asked hypothetical questions and I had to come up with solutions.  It wasn’t rocket science, but something about being on point like that would put anyone on edge.  After meeting with the consultants, I met with Tom, the Executive Director and was then brought down for a 1 hour interview with HR.  I left the building completely exhausted and thought that if didn’t get this job I was giving up, because I could not even imagine putting on a suit ever, ever again.  For the next 4 weeks, I waited.  HR told me that it was going to be a few weeks, they were dealing with some internal changes, and if I didn’t hear from them in 2 weeks to give them a call.  Those 2 weeks went by painfully slow, and when I called on the exact day I was told to, I was once again asked to wait a few more weeks.  Kerry was trying to figure out exactly what was going on, because she told me that I was the top choice, but HR was dragging their feet.  Finally, a full month after my second interview, over two months after I gave Kerry my resume, I was offered the job.  The offered me more money than I was expecting and I was beside myself.  Giving my boss notice was maybe on of the best days of my life, although he was very sad to see me go.  He told me that I was a great employee and they were so lucky to have had me for so long.  Hi, if you had said that once to me when I actually worked there, I might not have been trying to claw my way out!  Okay, who am I kidding, I wanted out, no matter what way you looked at it.

SO!  Long story short.  I have a new job!  Department Coordinator for the Business Consulting Group at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  Yay!