I'm going to be working as a Marketing Communications Specialist for a company that designs content management software for libraries. What does that mean? Well, remember how much it sucked to use card catalogues and dos-prompt computer searches at libraries? This company designs the fancy-schmancy interfaces that allow you to search library content, article databases, and the web all at once so that you can find what you need easily.
What *I'LL* be doing is helping pick up the slack in the marketing department, working with sales, writing press releases, planning industry events, fixing up the website, creating RFPs, and generally doing whatever else needs to be done.
( Read on to see why I'm excited! )I'm very excited, for a bunch of reasons:
1) It's a growing and stable company. They seem to have laid down a good set of policies and generally have a plan for what they're doing and where they're going. Sounds boring but it's a big deal. Call me cautious.
2) It's definitely NOT an entry-level position.
3) It's a significant pay raise from my last job. (Yay $$)
4) I LOVE what this company is doing. One of my big goals for this job search was finding work that I could really get behind because I realized how important respect of an industry is for my emotional and intellectual well-being. Now I get to work in a non-for-profit sector. Who doesn't love libraries!
5) I'll be working in Fremont, less than a mile from my house, right next to the Fremont bridge and on the ship canal. My building is kitty-corner to the grocery store at which Justin & I shop and to my new (awesome and f*ing expensive!) fitness center. The location is IDEAL... I can walk to work in, oh, fifteen minutes and bike there in five. I can swing by the grocery store to pick up fresh ingredients for dinner or stop in at any number of restaurants for take-out that will still be warm when I get home. I thought I was lucky that my last job was in the U-District. I'm even more fortunate now. Nothing compares to Fremont, it's the self-declared Center of the Universe! (It's also my favorite neighborhood in all of Seattle.)
Yeah, the work/home balance is a big deal for me. I'm really thrilled to not have to commute and to have the flexibility of staging my working life so close to home. I also have a really good feeling about this job, much more so than when I was first starting out. I think I have a better picture of what I really want.
If you get anything from this post, however, it should be the story behind how I got this job. It's a classic bit of serendipity, the kind of sychronicity that shows up sometimes when I feel life is flowing as it should:
I've been blogging for a long time. Numine.com is only a year old, but before that I wrote in another blog, now hosted at schoolgirlsophistry.blogspot.com. I started that blog in 2001, the beginning of my Sophomore year at the University of Oregon. One of my readers, Jeff, introduced himself to me after making a donation to help me replace a tire and gear set stolen from my bike in 2004. We emailed back each other a few times over the next few months-- it was his way of commenting when I wrote about something major.
Well, shortly after I moved up to Seattle to live with Justin, Jeff, who lived on the east coast, was recruited for a job in Seattle. He relocated here early this year, and Justin and I met up with him for sushi at Toyoda's. When I decided to change jobs, I blogged it and then I got in touch with all my professional contacts. I thought about emailing personal contacts, but I wanted to wait a bit to see how other things panned out. A few weeks passed after I wrote about the change, and I got an email from Jeff indicating an opening at his company he thought I should check out. I knew where he worked but not what he did, so I looked into the company and the job, and applied. After hours of interviews, callbacks, and chats, I got the job. I don't doubt that Jeff's personal recommendation played a part-- nor do I doubt that I strongly help my own. In the end, I had several options to pursue and this was the one that felt best, most balanced, most secure, and most satisfying. It's just so odd to sit back and think that without my blogs, without moving up to seattle, without chance, coincidence, and friendly connection, there's no way I'd be where I am today.
That's a good feeling.
Posted on October 15, 2006 @ 7:59 PM | 9 comments
Comments:
Kat, that's thrilling! I hope you have an awesome first day, and pick up some tasty veggies for dinner.
Congratulations!
By 
inkandpen, at
9:27 PM, October 15, 2006
Congratulations!!
I hope it goes really well, and I envy your non-commute. I have to schlep halfway across London on the horrible tube to get to work...
By 
, at
1:35 AM, October 16, 2006
wow congrats on the new job! I wish I could find an ideal job to utilize my chem degree so close to our house. Now I drive about 20 miles to work everyday. I don't mind the drive in...but coming home it feels long.
By , at
7:00 AM, October 16, 2006
OH YEAH...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!!!
By , at
7:11 AM, October 16, 2006
Happy happy beautiful!
By inkandpen, at
8:17 AM, October 16, 2006
Happy birthday Kat, you old lady! Aaaand what a great and excellent opportunity. It's funny the paths that lead us to where we are.. I often wonder what would have happened if I did or didn't do this or that.
By Lazy Lightning, at
9:34 AM, October 16, 2006
Ah coincidental connections. Life is awesomely interesting like that sometimes. Yay new jobby job!
By Rachel, at
10:18 PM, October 16, 2006
P.S. If by "cautious", I think you mean you have reasonable professional expectations of your workplace. It's of paramount importance that employees know that their livelihood is secure so that they can be productive and creative at their jobs. Companies who do not have such practices and policies in places are slow-motion trainwrecks waiting to happen.
By Rachel, at
11:17 PM, October 16, 2006
Thanks Kat! Just want to say that I saw an opportunity and knew someone who would be able to take that opportunity and run with it. I may have spoken to a few people during the process but you are the one who sold yourself to those who are now your colleagues. I know your capabilities, skills and talents and am just pleased to be able to give you the chance to show others how far you can go... :-)
By , at
6:51 PM, October 17, 2006
