Rejection?

Rain. Not the most pleasant weather to walk in. Bruno doesn’t like getting those big paws wet but did he seem to enjoy our walk this morning. We did the “Reverse Seymour” route today. We crossed Memorial Drive and turned left to Seymour, then right on Seymour and this time, Bruno wanted to cross Bouten before we made our right turn onto it. Each side of the street smells different to him and this is about walking his nose, not his legs. So it was down Bouten to Verbrick, right on Verbrick and back to home. Breakfast was served and for the first time I noticed that Lily waits for me to change Bruno’s water bowl so she can drink from it. She has her own but his water must taste better. Another revelation was that when this little eight pound cat drinks, it sounds like the Fox River.

It was a hectic morning today. Bill had a dental appointment at 9am and I had mistakenly scheduled an appointment with my professor at Fox Valley Tech at 10am. This wasn’t going to work easily because we’re down to one car. If I hadn’t found a good job by July 1st, our plan was to sell both the convertible and the truck to get something more economical yet able to accommodate the dog or to haul things should we need to sell something or move. We did that on July 9th. It was a heartbreaking day but as I’ve already said, it’s just stuff. And we’ve grown to love the Toaster (a 2005 Scion xB for those who aren’t familiar with this cultish mode of transportation). Luckily I was able to change my appointment with my professor so Bill is off at his cleaning and I’ll get to my appointment with ease.

Yesterday was a typical job hunt roller coaster day. I finally heard from HR at an Appleton opportunity but the news wasn’t exciting. It’s a marketing communications manager position – a good one at a solid organization – but they’ve had internal candidates come forward that they’re going with talk to first. Not a rejection quite yet but disheartening nonetheless because internal candidates can be the kiss of death. The outright rejection came later in the day but I’m not sure if it really was a rejection. I’ll explain. At the end of August I found a really good opportunity with Travelers Insurance – you know, the red umbrella people. I sent some of you an email asking for contacts internally and thankfully I did receive replies. The day after I applied, I was put into an email screening process. When I successfully answered an email, I received another looking for more detail in a particular area. I passed the email screen and was to be scheduled for a phone interview. I waited. I followed up. Ten days later, I got an urgent email that needed to schedule the phone interview with a senior HR recruiter for the company. I answered quickly and two days later learned of the appointment day and time – another five day wait. The call came and went well. Within 25 minutes, the interviewer said that I needed to talk to the hiring manager and he’d get that scheduled quickly. I waited. I followed up. Eight days after the phone interview I was asked when I was available to talk with her. Another appointment was set for a 30 minute conversation. She called and it felt like it was going really well, and long, 50 minutes. At the end, I asked about the timeline. She was taking the rest of the quarter to find the right fit because this was a new position. OK, I get that. “How may I communicate with you going forward in the meantime,” I asked. “You’ll need to stay in touch with whomever you spoke with in HR. Thank you for your time and you’ll hear from us.” Not being able to get her email address or phone number is a sign. I tried to be hopeful but I wasn’t holding my breath. Yesterday it had been eight days since the interview so I followed up with my HR contact. Within a couple of hours, I had my rejection. Or, was it? Does it count when you know it’s probably coming?

On a lighter note, I am hopeful about opportunities, yes plural, with Humana Insurance in Louisville, Kentucky. I was screened by phone on Saturday and now I’m waiting to see if I’ve been selected to go on to a full interview. I should know by Friday. My screener was recommending that I go on to the next step but he didn’t have final decision power, someone else does. So I wait.