My Job Search

I've been all over the country since last April interviewing for jobs. From Texas to Michigan, from Florida to Oregon. I make a good resume, and must get through good preliminary interviews and have good references, because I'm getting these expenses-paid trips to have a final interview, but don't have a job yet.

I'm not really dejected about this; money has been really tight at times, and all my student loans are being deferred because those payments just aren't in the budget right now. But some really good things have happened to me and my family in this year. I've got a great part-time job. I've spent a lot of quality time with my family. I've been able to do some volunteer work and start playing soccer again, which I haven't done in years.

In the next 5-6 weeks, I'm interviewing for 3 jobs and may have a completed offer for one other. The first of these interviews is this weekend. I'll be in the Richmond, VA area. The next is a couple of weeks away and takes us to Spokane, WA. The final interview is also in VA, but in a DC bedroom community in Northern VA. I have an offer from my current employer for a full-time position, for at least two years, contingent upon some grants being awarded. They have not given me any details on compensation or anything like that, but have told me the job is mine if I want it.

I'm sharing this with you to ask if you have any information on any of these areas as far as schools, cost of living, good, bad, frustrations that come with the area, etc. PM me, or put your stories on here. Jim's already shared info about the Spokane area, but if you know it, don't let that deter you! Help me out, while I make a huge decision that will have a giant impact on my family. Thanks.

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Comments

Bigshizza

Glad you got it done! Enjoy the ride, too bad it wasn't out here...

webmost

This is how good stuff gets done.

macs-smokes

Cool stuff... nonprofit organizations are good for the soul.

Martel

Thanks, guys. Now I need to find a buddy or five to herf with in the Memphis area.

The organization I'm with focuses on job skills and employment, graduating 90 some odd people each year from the program with a high job placement rate. But the program is maxed out on space. The GED component runs separately to some extent, so we are moving out of the main offices to another site. I will basically be coordinating and facilitating the spiritual aspects of the program along with teaching. Basically, I'll act as a chaplain to the students and teachers as needed while I work on gradually expanding the job program to our new facilities as well.

To start, we're going to try to incorporate a "job lite" program as a voluntary "honors" component to the GED classes. Mainly, this component will allow our GED students access to our job referral, placement, and recommendation pipeline. We have more jobs and apprenticeships to offer than we have graduates from the job program, but we need to have some more contact with the students before we're comfortable referring them to our employers, and some of them do need additional skills. We don't want to dilute our "brand image" by recommending bad candidates.