Thankfully Employed

*Note: I'm starting this MUCH later than I anticipated so I may post it in pieces if I start rambling or nodding off to sleep.*

After nearly a full year of job searching, I have found a job in a most unexpected place. It may take a bit to explain so let me start near the beginning. Hopefully, you'll see why it's been a while since I've posted anything of relevance.

At the start of June, I completed a on-campus interview with Florida Gulf Coast University. I really loved the campus and felt that it would be a good fit for me to utilize my experience as well as further develop professionally. Unfortunately, they felt that another candidate more strongly suited their needs. However, while I was in transit to Fort Myers, I received an interesting call from one of my friends.

Meghan has been teaching 3rd grade at Peak Preparatory in Dallas for a year now through Teach for America. She always talks about how much she loves the school, staff and students and how comfortable she feels working with the administrators. While flying, she called and texted me and seemed to have something important to pass along. During a layover in Atlanta, I called her back and found out that there was a unique position being developed at Peak that she thought I might be interested in pursuing.

Essentially, one of the principals was taking on a new role as Executive Director for the entire K-12 school and was looking for an assistant to help balance out her workload. Meghan knew some of my work experiences (we've worked together in a variety of roles so she's got a great idea of what I'm capable of as well as areas of growth for me) and offered to contact me with the possibility that it was too far out of my interest level to appeal to me.

I've mentioned on here a few times before, but lately, I have had a hard time facing the reality of not finding a job in higher education just yet. With that in mind, I decided to at least take time to contact Teresa, the new Executive Director, to get a better idea and make a more informed decision. After a bit of phone tag, we finally connected with one another and had what I still can't classify as an interview - it was honestly more of a conversation focused on filling the position.

Teresa mentioned that though she had an idea of what role this position would take, it was fairly fluid based on the needs of the school and the person who is hired. I discussed my concerns about coming from an entirely different background and needing a supervisor who is willing to help acclimate me to the new area. After nearly an hour and a half, most of my fears were allayed and it seemed as though hers were as well. Well, I had collected a great deal of information about the school, staff, position and Teresa which left me with a lot to consider in addition to a great deal of time to wait out the process.


Okay, that seems to be a good stopping point for this evening. I'm hoping to finish the rest of the story tomorrow sometime!