Boy Do I Feel Better

I have just returned from an appointment with the first "placement agency" I contacted. This one was in Prattvegas. I'd heard positive things about them from some Sunday School members, so I decided to give it a whirl, even though I hated the temp agencies in Tuscaloosa.

It was a pain, of course. You must fill out your entire work history, even though you bring a resume. You sign a million papers and consent forms, and I had to provide 7 years' worth of residences for a background check. After filling out the application (that really took me about 30 minutes) a woman came in to "interview" me. She asked what I was looking for and what my minimum accepted pay would be. Then she informed me there's nothing now, but if I call every week to say I'm still interested, they'll keep me on the "professional list." (There's also an "industry list.")

But that isn't the exciting part. Yesterday morning a friend from Sunday School called me to say her coworker's husband is the president of a local company that creates Web sites for people and other businesses. They've created a social networking site and need someone to help market it as well as write copy for their other sites. Uh, hello, perfect! So I sent her my resume, she forwarded it on to the coworker's husband, and I waited. Last night we were at Wal-Mart killing time during an oil change, and we apparently lost cell phone signal, because later I saw I had a missed call. The area code was Montgomery, and I got excited. However, there was no voicemail, so I called the number back. It was 5:15. I got an answering machine, but it was the company I'd send my resume to! So I got to wondering why the man hadn't left a message for me. Then it hit me - on Saturday I'd driven home to get on my mother's family plan and drop my own phone plan to save some money. Since I was switching providers, I had to get a new phone. Same number, but different phone. I HADN'T SET UP MY NEW VOICEMAIL!

Thankfully, once I got home I saw that he'd emailed me saying he thought I'd be a good fit for this new position, and he'd try to meet with me as soon as possible! Hooray!

Tomorrow I meet with another agency, this time in Montgomery. This is the office that my previous employers went through anytime they needed to find a new employee (except me, who was hired the good old-fashioned way.) So my old boss actually called them on my behalf and put in a good word for me. Afterwards, the president emailed me to say he looked forward to meeting with me and would see what he could find for me.

So even though I don't have a job yet, I'm not feeling hopeless at all. I'm actually feeling quite positive.

Also, today we found out that Z's cousin is expecting a baby about 8 months from now. What a good day.