It All Works Out in the End

The day I went back to work after a seventeen-day holiday gave me a positive outlook. As much as I wanted to be sitting on a beach in Portugal and as much as I didn't think about work while on vacation, things were going well at the office. The team told me over and over that my supervisor did well with our quality assurance and kept everything smooth, but commented about his stress level and that I was missed. People liked seeing me return and I did enjoy seeing the people again.

My supervisor's boss (C) approached me as soon as she saw me inside the building. Touching on the human level, she asked about the trip. As soon as the human side had been visited, she got straight to the business of telling me what she wanted to say.

It turns out my former supervisor (who ditched me for a daytime shift last July) just received notification of a promotion to a branch. His new job would make him the manager of a local branch. The title comes with added stress and hours, but also with a hefty raise. C told me about his news as he was telling his team. I was the first person outside the supervisor pool to be told.

An hour later, she approached me again. She said, "The position is posted now. I just did it." I got the hint, logged onto our jobs site, and clicked the "express interest" button.

Right before the trip to Portugal, there was big news in our call center. A new team of bankers would be added, creating the need for a new supervisor and new team lead. I had applied for the job, keeping it a bit low-key. When I do apply for jobs, I don't like everyone knowing. That's a part of my personality. I interviewed for the job and had a great interview with C and the center manager, E. E was not prepared to hire anyone from inside our call center for the position and I had figured this would be the case. I really went into the process knowing that I would not be chosen for the job. The benefits to experiencing the process would be the interview, getting my name out there, and finding the areas and C and E wanted me to work on developing.

The day before my holiday started, C pulled me aside to give me the feedback on my interview. She told me, "It was great. There is nothing I can say that you did wrong. You took over and sold E and changed his mind about hiring from the inside." She also told me about plans to have me help out supervisors until another position opened. The man they hired for the job was someone with 7 years call center management experience and more qualified than myself. I had no problems with the feedback I got. In fact, I was happy to hear the news.

The timing worked out perfectly for the next position to open. I did apply, knowing that I was hoping to take over a team of existing bankers and an existing lead (whom I helped train originally). This was something I thought would be a great experience.

Then my grandma passed away and I was out for most of the next week. The day I returned, I was scheduled for another interview. This time I would be meeting with the HR representative at our call center. This interview went well, in my opinion, it was casual and light.

The thing that did throw me off for the second interview was news I received a few minutes before I went into the office with the HR Rep. As it turns out, E and C decided that a brand new team of bankers could benefit with someone who had experience with NABABNA. The manager they had hired for the new team was going to actually take over the existing team. That meant that the position I was interviewing for would be for the new team, yet again.

I was told during the interview that an offer would most likely be made during the following week (this current week for those following the timeline). I figured I would have an answer by about Thursday of this week, not expecting anything too quickly.

After the weekend (filled with wonderful times at karaoke and relaxing at home), I went back to work. I had no more than logged onto my computer when C asked if I could talk.

She brought me into her office and closed the door. Then she asked me, "Would you like to be an officer?" [This is the technical term for the job.] Of course I said, "Yes!"

I got the job as supervisor for the new team! The bankers will be out on the floor in about two weeks and I'll be working with them and getting to know them while they are in training. I will also be in the process of hiring a new team lead (read as interviewing A LOT of people). My supervisor now also has to hire a team lead, so we'll be doing joint interviews. It is a job with more responsibility and accountability. It comes with a bit of a pay bump and an extra week of vacation (which is nice, since I used most of my vacation time for Portugal! - Well worth it!!!) I am extremely excited. I am a bit scared, the first couple of months are going to be a bit of a trial on my nerves as I try to get our team to perform at peak performance.

I got more hugs from people today and huge smiles as the news went around. My current team congratulated me and I was happy to be able to tell them that I'll still be sitting near them and working the same hours.

I am really, really excited about this job. It is going to be a challenge and quite an experience. I'm even going to have business cards! Three people today called me, "Permagrin." This is what I used be called at the pool hall and it feels great.