As School ended I had feared the worst, I had the curse of the server. Although I had worked hard to get through school and I wanted to be better and get better for my girls, I feared no job would take me as I had no other experience besides serving. I had put out over 400 resumes and not one of them called me for an interview. I had many meetings with my career counselor with DeVry and although she had great advice and information, I felt as though the school really didn’t care if I got into my major, they just wanted to be able to say, “we got her a job”. My time with her was coming to an end as well and they were quick to boot me out the door if I failed at getting a job other than server.
Devry had recommended that I use LinkedIn to connect to people in my field. She tried to tell me multiple times what I should and should not have on my LinkedIn. I didn’t put much stock in finding a job through social media but I would try. As I scrolled through LinkedIn I came a crossed a man that had his EnCe which would be something that I may have to get if I ever really wanted to break into the field. He reminded me of a character from A Knight’s Tale, a movie in which I had gotten my daughter’s name and decided to extend an invite to connect.
A couple of days a later, he messaged me and asked how we knew each other. That he has given plenty of speeches and I would have to refresh his memory. I simply told him, that we had not in fact met, I just noticed that he had his EnCe and he has a job in the field I was pursuing. He asked if I had time to chat one day and I said yes. He called that Friday and we had a conversation about our future and families, wants and all that. He said he knew a lot of people in his field and maybe he could pull some strings for me in Chicago.
With that thought, I had more hope than I had felt in a long time. Sure, my boyfriend had told me it would happen and even in this way, but I wasn’t nearly as optimistic as he was. I called him that day and told him what had happened and he was a bit skeptical but thought maybe it would work out for the best as well.
I messaged the gentlemen on LinkedIn again and he stated he had to leave the country but would get back to me on his return. As the weeks past, I slowly started to give up hope, when a message came up on LinkedIn asking if I was still interested in moving to Sunnyvale California. I, of course, said yes absolutely. I ended up interviewing with his assistant manager and he stated I would know by the beginning of December 2015. I waited for about 2 weeks and messaged him, asking if they had decided. The answer was not what I was looking forward to “we decided to promote from within.” My heart sank and I went back to feeling quite scared about my future again.
About a week later, I had a voicemail. I’ll never forget this voicemail; this voicemail is the voicemail that changed the course of my life forever. “Hey, Heather, I have put in a project for my company that was approved. We need a contractor for about 6 months. Basically, we have about 14,000 hard drives and we need to determine the user and prepare the hard drives for destruction. I know this poses a problem logistically, however the position does pay 50 dollars an hour and it’s yours if you’re still interested in moving to the San Francisco Bay area.”
I couldn’t dial him back quick enough. My heart was racing, I was excited beyond all belief and I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I had no idea what I was going to do with the girls or how I was going to manage the next 6 months, but in my mind, there was no way I could turn this offer down. I called him back that second and said yes, I’ll take it.
In this very moment, I was happy for a lot of things in my life. I had two beautiful girls, loving supportive parents that I’m sure was going to help and I had my boyfriend. A boyfriend who was not going to make me feel bad for what was about to happen in my life. I called him up and he didn’t answer, I blew up his phone until he finally was able to answer. “Guess what just happened?!” I told him and his first reaction was so spot on “you have to take this.” He supported every decision and he stood behind me. He knew moving to California may cause a gap in seeing me, but he knew what exactly this position meant.
I drove home that night girls in my back seat and all I could say was “Holy shit!” “Holy Shit!” “Holy Shit.” Did that just happen to me really? Was I just offered a job in the very thing I went to school for? Am I really going to jump from 2.50 and hour as a server to 50 an hour? Was I really going to pack up everything I own and change life as I knew it? My heart was racing and I felt like a kid before Christmas all over again. Did my 4-year struggle just turn out as a success story?
My conversation with my parents didn’t go as well. They had their doubts about the situation, thinking it sounded too good to be true and that I really need to think this through. I couldn’t help it, I was grinning ear to ear and there wasn’t a bad thought going on in my head. Never once did it occur to me that this guy was in any way ever going to hurt me. I had full faith in him and everything he had told me. My parents would need more than just a job offer and that was soon to happen, so was my first anxiety attack.