A December to remember…part three

Thursday morning came around in no time. I woke up early and had some breakfast. I told myself not worry, everything would be fine. My good friend Nad told me no pressure, it’s not like I don’t have a job. If anything they need to prove to me why I should leave my current company.

I easily found the company. I decided to walk passed it to scope it out a bit and to change my shoes. I had winter boots on and need to put on a pair of pumps for the interview. After changing I walked into the lobby and checked in with the receptionist who was very nice. I waited for about five minutes and the whole time I could feel the receptionist checking me out. I figured she was probably making notes for the hiring manager. Shortly after the HR rep came down to get me and walked to where the interview would be held.

The hiring manager was really nice. He thanked me for coming in to meet him and said the interview would be very causal (thank goodness).He went over the job description and told me what I would be doing if I was chosen for the role. His questions were the usual tell me about yourself, strengths, weakness, why do you want to work here, why do you want to leave your company. The interview felt more like a conversation and I liked that.  I was asked about my goals professional and personally and how I plan on accomplishing them. I told them about the steps I’ve been doing to obtain my CGA designation. For my personal goal I mentioned that I did the 2013 Sporting Life 10K in 64mins and planned on doing the 2014 run in less time. The manager informed me that he runs as well and plans on doing the same run. Sweet, I found a connection.  Then he stumped me. He asked me some accounting questions; I don’t know why I wasn’t anticipating these. I ended up getting through them and he told me my answers were exactly what he was looking for…thank goodness. Then it was my turn to ask questions. I asked how they planned on moving forward considering how technology was moving (they’re a newspaper company, a lot of things are now digital), asked about the culture, why I should work there, what they like about the company, do they participate in team bonding.  One question I forgot to ask was how often they do performance reviews. But besides from that I was happy with the results.  I was able to shine in the interview and show my true self. I left feeling good. The hiring manager told me he’d let me know in January what his decision would be.

I’m a big google-r. When I apply to jobs I google the company and check them out on Linkedin. I search to see who I would be reporting to and who I would work with. When I was researching this company I saw a name that looked familiar but I wasn’t sure why. When I went into work the next day I found out why the name looked familiar; it belonged to a financial analyst we hired in November. It turns he used to work for the company I just had the interview for. Could my world really be this small?! I went looking for him to ask him some questions but because of the holidays he wasn’t in. I guess I’m going to have to wait to get the scoop…

A December to remember…part two

Do you ever have a dream, wake up and think ‘what the hell does that mean?!’ Well that’s what happened to me. I had a dream I went out dancing with my dad and sister.  We were having a good time until I looked down at my feet and noticed I didn’t have any shoes on.  I thought it was weird because who dances without shoes and in my dream I had the memory of wearing shoes. As I looked ahead of me I saw three brand new pairs of shoes waiting for me. I walked up and chose a pair…then woke up.

As soon as the sleep is out of my eyes I head over to Dream Moods (there’s an app) to see what the dream meant. I look up dancing and it states ‘To dream that you are dancing signifies freedom from any constraints and restrictions. Your life is in balance and in harmony. Dancing also represents frivolity, happiness, gracefulness, sensuality and sexual desires. You need to incorporate these qualities in your waking life….To dream that you are attending or going to a dance indicates a celebration and your attempts to achieve happiness. Consider the phrase the “dance of life” which suggests creation, ecstasy, and going with what life has to offer you.’ Okay, not bad. Next I look up the number three.  It tells me the number ‘three signifies life, vitality, inner strength, completion, imagination, creativity, energy, self-exploration and experience. Three stands for a trilogy, as in the past, present, and future or father, mother, and child or body, mind, and soul, etc. Dream of the number three may be telling you that the third time is the charm.’ Okay, so far so good. Next I look shoes.  ‘In general, shoes represent your approach to life. Wearing shoes in your dream suggests that you are well-grounded or down to earth. It also represents your convictions about your beliefs. If you are changing your shoes, then it refers to your changing roles. You are taking a new approach to life. If you forget your shoes, then it suggests that you are leaving behind your inhibitions. You are refusing to conform to some idea or attitude. To see old and worn shoes in your dream indicates that you will find success through hard work and diligence. You have come to terms about who you are….To dream that you are not wearing any shoes indicates that you have low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in yourself. You are dealing with issues about your self-identity.  Alternatively, to dream that you are not wearing shoes represent your playful attitudes and relaxed, carefree frame of mind. You have a firm grasp and good understanding on a situation. If you dream that you lose your shoes, then it suggests that you are searching for your identity and finding yourself.’

So what did I take from this…Um, I’m soul searching, sometimes I’m too hard on myself and a change and good things are coming :). Anyways time to get ready for work.

At work that day we had a pizza lunch with cake to celebrate the work anniversaries. My manager gave a little speech and thanked us for all of hard work and said how much she appreciates us. She also told us that changes are coming…joy.  My mentor (who happens to be my manger’s boss) gave a speech as well thanking us for our hard work but also told us to get out while we still can lol. Just as everyone was finishing up their cake, my phone rang. It was a private number. I don’t usually answer private numbers but something told me to. I dismissed myself from the party and found a quiet corner in the lunch room to take the call. I answered it and was ecstatic to find out that it was a HR rep from a company I had applied to. I had a phone interview right there on the spot. Although I was prepared for it, I felt like my personality came through a lot more. She told me I’d hear back from her in the next couple of days. I went back to my desk smiling and feeling confident. That was two phone interviews in two days. I was on a roll and then I humbled myself. No need to get overly excited because I still had a ways to go.

I spent the next few days studying for my exam. It was hard to focus because all I could think about was the second phone interview I had. Monday morning I was doing some last minute review for my exam when my phone rang, another private number. I started shaking, nerves. I just knew it was the HR rep calling back from my second phone interview. I let the call go to voice mail. She left me a message saying the hiring manger wanted to meet with me.  Good thing this was a message I was listening to because I let out a little scream.  As soon as I calmed my nerves, I called her back and set up a time to go in for an interview the upcoming Thursday. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. Once I was finished smiling my face off, I got ready and left to write my exam.

Once the exam was out of the way I spent the rest of the week preparing for the interview. What was I going to wear? What are they going to ask me? How am I going to answer? Thank goodness for Lola, she saved me and let me borrow a nice navy blue button down shirt to wear under my blazer.  Mr. Man would randomly ask me interview questions to help me prepare.  Shaunie and Aly were very supportive and told me not worry, I would knock them dead.  And there were was my family who told me the job was already mine and I just had to claim it.

Maybe my dream was right, maybe I’d be changing roles….

A December to remember…part one

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now but kept on getting distracting with life.  This post is late and long so I’ll be doing it in parts, sorry.

In December I celebrated my five year anniversary of working full time with my company.  I started working there on a student contract in July 2008 but for some reason they use December as my start date because that’s when I became a regular full-time employee.

December was hectic for me because I was getting ready to write my exam for that blasted class.  I was applying to more jobs than ever and making sure to take the time out to personalize my cover letters for the position I was applying for. I had friend and family gatherings to attend; to say I was tired and almost burned out is an understatement.  What I really needed was to take some days off but I was saving my vacation (and sick) days in case I got a call for an interview.

I remember sitting at my desk and seeing the email notification light on my smartphone go off. I checked it and saw that there was an email from one of the companies I applied to right after I did a resume makeover. The email asked if I was still interested in the position and asked about my salary expectations. After the last email I received asking about salary expectations I decided to ask around a bit and asked my mentor for some advice.  After speaking with her, I realized that I was in the right range the whole time.  Actually her range was a bit higher, she told me not to sell myself short.

The next morning I replied to the email and said I was still interested in the position and gave me salary expectations; within the hour she called me for a phone interview. Because I had just walked into the office I asked to reschedule for 1130.  In the meantime, I started preparing myself. I did some quick research on the company, printed my resume so I could follow along and prepared some questions to ask the HR representative. I went to a Tim Hortons close by and called the HR rep back. I found the interview to be very weird. She started by telling me the current company I worked for was in trouble and asked why I wanted to leave considering I’ve been there for long. She told me I was a ‘lucky one’. I corrected her and told her my company wasn’t in trouble, we had just purchased a company overseas for over $1billion. I told her I’ve been working for the company for five years and was looking for an industry change.  Her next question was why I wasn’t pursuing my accounting designation.  In my cover letter and resume it clearly states that I working towards a designation, so I’m not entirely sure where she got this from. The whole interview threw me off and it didn’t help that her phone kept chipping in and out. She told me I would hear from her in the next couple of days but I felt like I wouldn’t.  I went into this phone interview prepared and left feeling like I wasn’t at all. I brushed it off and looked at it as experience.