I’m employed!

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on July 30, 2001). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Rock on — when I started typing this update out, I was under the impression that I’d have another round of interviews to go through on the job I’ve been trying to get…but I just got a call, and I’m hired! :D Here’s the scoop….

Got up this morning and got ahold of the Todays office to figure out where to go — I knew that I had an 11am appointment set up, but not much more than that. The staff of Todays got me the address, I called the bus system to figure out how to get there, and hopped a bus out to the Tukwila area (south of Seattle proper) to the local Xerox headquarters.

Xerox entranceThe interview seemed to go really well. Sat and talked with Shelly for probably around half an hour or so as we went over my qualifications and what the expectations of this position would be. At the end of the interview, she handed me a card with the name of the gentleman who I’ll eventually be replacing so that I could set up a time to go by the site, check it out, and see what I’ll be getting myself into. I took that as a fairly good sign, and headed back to the Shoebox to set up that appointment. As it turned out, when I called him at about 1pm things were slowing down for him, so we set to meet on site at 2pm.

After chatting with Melvin (the landlord for my apartment building) when he stopped by for a few minutes, I wandered my way downtown to the site — Arthur Andersen, a financial consulting and accounting firm. There I met John, some of the other staff (both Xerox and AA personnel), and went over the equipment and got a quick tour of the office. Some of their equipment I’m familiar with, some I’m not, but I don’t think any of it will be too hard to pick up.

When I left the site, it looked like there would be one more round of interviews before I got any definite word one way or another. The actual head of the department at AA wasn’t in today, and generally they like to have a round with them before making the final decision. Apparently I made a pretty good impression, however, as I just got a phone call from Today’s letting me know that I’ve got the spot — and they want me to start tomorrow! This even took Todays by surprise — I’m supposed to get drug tested before starting work, but it looks like we’ll have to find a way to get that done at some other point, and they decided to go ahead and forego that little technicality to keep their client happy and get me in ASAP. The pay scale isn’t definite yet either — it should start somewhere between $11/hr and $13/hr, and Todays says they’re going to try to push it up towards the top of that scale, due to my experience — but all the little details will get taken care of soon enough. The end result is – I’m employed!!!

Then, just to make it even better — I’m rapidly discovering that I lucked into finding a really good temp agency to work through. They’ve got a lot of bonuses — health benefits, training seminars, and so on — but the pay system I think is going to be one of my favorite bits. Not only do they pay weekly, but they pay for the week that you just worked. So you work Monday to Friday, take your timecard down to the office, they run it into their computer, and hand you a check right then and there. So with that, not only did I just land a job, but Friday will be my first payday! This rocks!

And now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to go do a silly little happydance for while….