Opportunities abound!

Crisp and fresh air this morning for our walk. Bruno loves to shuffle through the leaves and looks for long grass to waddle through to tickle his belly. The simple pleasures that this wonderful hound enjoys has taught me how to appreciate what I have and be able to live in the moment. The future will take care of itself. We did the “Reverse Bank” route and added a walk through “The Meadow.” It entails crossing Memorial Drive up Verbrick one block, right on Bouten, cut through Anchor Bank’s parking lot and then instead of turning for home, Bruno wanted to cross Memorial Drive to the Meadow. The Meadow is what’s left of The Hob Nobbin’ Restaurant – just a meadow. We shuffled through the leaves to the back of the Meadow and that connects to the back of #130 or as Bruno knows it, Uncle Rodger’s. Uncle Rodger’s belongs to friends who let us cut through their yard on the way back to our house, #9.

Yesterday had an exciting end to it! Around 2pm in the afternoon, I found a LinkedIn job post that seemed like a great fit for me. I sent my resume and cover letter to the recruiter and within 30 minutes, I had a phone call to screen me. Several calls later to further screen me and be sure I was interested in a move to Newark, New Jersey (we are!), and my resume was being presented to the hiring manager. Woo hoo! Then, at 3:30pm, another call. Could I detail my experience on 4 or 5 points in writing so that if challenged, the recruiter could speak on my behalf, and send to him within 15 or 20 minutes? OK, I can do that, I told him. And so I set about writing the reasons why I could do the job better than anyone else. It took me 40 minutes and I felt bad that I couldn’t do it in 20. I sent off my writings with a note that I would continue to write and send an updated version for him before the end of the day – he’s an hour ahead so my update would be in his inbox first thing this morning. I did the update, sent it, and now I wait. Again.

This post is later today than most because I’ve been working on three opportunities at School Specialty in Greenville. My friend Kim, an employee there, sent them to me. They aren’t posted externally but she happened across them this morning and got permission from HR to send them to me. I worked a good part of the morning crafting the right cover letter. This is really exciting! To have advance notice before a position gets posted is a big deal. And, these positions may not get posted if there are internal candidates, or if I am the perfect fit for one of them, which, of course, I know I am! Any of you who have connections at School Specialty please, please, please, call them and tell them about me. It is so important to have people speak on my behalf. I promise, I’ll return the favor – just ask.

So my week closes on a very positive note. This is just what I needed because Bill and I are off to Lake Geneva tomorrow for a fun-filled day and night with former high school friends of Bill’s. I can’t imagine still having friends from senior year of high school. I mean, I still see them every five years at reunions but we don’t keep in touch like he’s been able to do. It also boosts my ego a bit. They’re all 10 years older than me so when they talk about high school and college times or the early 70s, I just say, “Oh, I was 8.”