After my May vacation with my family, I threw myself into job hunting. I had found out in May that I wasn't going to get the job I had interviewed for at a nearby non-profit... but that was mostly OK because I had always wanted to work at a college or university. It must have been the turn of the financial quarter... or perhaps universities hire in the summer (?) but right around the end of July, early August, I started getting invited to interviews at OSU all at once. This was reassuring, because I felt like I had been applying nonstop and was hearing NOTHING back; but it was also nerve-wracking because I had so many potential options, and yet nothing at all was for sure! My graduate assistantship had extended throughout the summer, but my office didn't have the resources to hire me full-time, so my contract ran through the end of August. I knew I had to land something by then.
My top three interviews ironically fell in the same area of the university - medicine. I had an interview with the College of Medicine, one with the College of Nursing, and one with a graduate program in alternative medicine. They all went really well, and it just worked out that the first one to offer me the job (!!) was the College of Medicine. I was so excited and freaking out when they called to offer it to me. I had done a lot of research and worked with people in my own office who were career experts, and they had given me the advice to appropriately a) negotiate my starting salary, and b) to tell them I needed a few days to think it over. Both of those were so hard to do! But I was glad I did - I negotiated a higher starting salary than they first offered me, and I survived the three-day wait until I officially accepted the job without spontaneously combusting (which felt like a real possibility).
The hardest part of everything was calling the other two locations that I had interviewed and telling them I had to pull out of the interview process - especially when the College of Nursing told me I was their top candidate! So flattering. But in the end, I felt that the position at the College of Medicine (a program coordinator position working with first- and second-year medical students) was a better fit for my career goals and interests.
I gave my summer job a week's notice, and took 5 days off for myself (one of the best pieces of job-hunting advice I'd gotten) before starting at OSU's College of Medicine at the end of August. And the rest, as they say, is history :) It's been just over 3 months now, and I love my job! As I said, I'm a program coordinator in OSU's med school - I coordinate a certain class that all first- and second-year students take on a daily basis. I work with some fantastic people, and even have my own lovely office :) and BUSINESS cards! Who gets excited about business cards? This girl.
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| look! that's me!! ^ |
- I'm still living in and loving on Grandview.
- I had to skip my family's annual trip to Michigan due to work, but HEY I landed a job so I'll make it there next year (I have VACATION time, what?!).
- Emily and I have made progress on planning her wedding and all the fun stuff that goes along with it.
- My cousin Erin got engaged :)
- Ben's little man Adry started kindergarten (WHOA!) and is doing fantastically; making friends and writing notes and just generally being a skinny, happy little genius :)
- I went to two OSU football games; one in 90 degree heat and one in 16 degree frigid-ness. Go Bucks!!
- I've grown distant with some people, and become closer to others, and made a few new friends along the way.
- Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I ate my heart out with my family (I made these).
In general, I just feel really joyful and happy and thankful and blessed that I've got nothing to complain about. I know myself, now better than ever, and I never feel pressured to do or act a certain way that's not me. I may have some different interests than other mid-20's millenials - I may like my alone time, and may not be THE most social of butterflies, and may get really geeked out sometimes over a budget, or a book, or learning about how carbohydrates affect the body, or a new dinner recipe, or an old episode of Friends that I've seen approximately 1000 times... but I'm surrounded by people on all sides who know me and support me, and who I have fun with and love.
So! Before this gets any longer, I'm gonna sign off. I'll be back soon! Hopefully before another six months goes by :)
-Sammie
