Exactly What We Didn't Know We Were Waiting For

Where do I begin? I have had a crazy whirlwind week. 

Long story short...
I have a job and I start on Monday!!!!

Long story long...

I got an email last week Monday from Steve Scholz, the Executive Director for the Spartan Foundation. He informed me they had a job opening for a flexible 15-20 hour/week administrative position, where some work could be done from home. He got my name from Dave Loewen (Superintendent at Surrey Christian, where I did an interview a couple months ago), who gave me a raving review and highly recommended me for the position. He's seen my working style as I've been doing some data entry from home for SCS and I guess I did a good job?? Steve said based on Dave's review, he wanted to see if we can work something out and I can come work with them. Wow. That was unexpected. 

At first I was hesitant; I wasn't really looking for work, although we've been in a bit of a financial pinch lately with Dave's work being slow (which is slowly picking up by the way). I talked to David, some friends, and my parents. The general consensus was GO FOR IT! Everything seemed too good to be true, and being the cynic I am, I let that get the better of me for a couple days. The more I talked and thought about it, the more clear it became; this job was created for me. This is exactly what is supposed to be happening right now. This wouldn't have been placed in my lap if it wasn't meant to be. Alas, I pursued the opportunity.

I spoke with Steve on the phone for 45 minutes to introduce myself, so he could talk about the position and foundation and what they stand for, and to do a sort of telephone interview about work experience, etc. The whole time he kept emphasizing his understanding of the importance of being home with my kids and being there for my family. He continually said to do what worked for me/us. Before I could even share my piece, he said, "I want you and your husband to talk tonight, and I want you both to be completely on board and excited about this opportunity." What a nice man. Seriously. He suggested some days that might work for me to be in the office, but again emphasized I needed to let him know what would work for me. What a foreign feeling it is to be "pursued" or "sought after" like this. I'm not used to someone giving me an option when it comes to work. I've always worked where you work when the manager tells you to work and there aren't any questions. 

I emailed him the next day and we set up an "informal interview" for yesterday with him and Cheryl. Cheryl is sort of the other half of this position. The previous admin assistant was a part-timer, but they increased the position into two half-time jobs, so it added up to one full-time. They could have hired one full-time employee, but I guess they wanted to give more flexibility to the people they brought on, and have a more diverse team. Cheryl's position is largely the event planning side of things, and the position I was interviewing for was the administrative side: Data entry, donation tracking, filing, organizing for the bookkeeper, etc. Aka. all the things I do for fun because I'm a nerd. 

The informal interview was held at their offices in the Langley Events Centre, which was a quick 10 minute drive from home. I got there and immediately felt at home and comfortable with Steve and Cheryl. I'm not used to such a warm, welcoming atmosphere. I felt like we all hit it off and we talked for over an hour. They had interview questions in front of them, but mostly we all just talked about ourselves, our stories, how we got to where we are, and they asked me a few extra questions. Just a complete 180 from the corporate, business, black & white, red tape atmosphere I left at Fraser Health. SO MUCH MORE ME. Again, there was just so much "meant-to-be-ness" going on. 

Another random thing is that Steve seems to know many of the same people I know (or that my parents know), but he doesn't know my parents. I found it odd that he wasn't familiar with the last name Gerber. I am used to Gerber being a name-drop haha. (I like that he doesn't know my parents though. It feels like this is happening because of me, not because of who my parents are, and there's no conflict of interest). However, he coached for a long time with someone my dad works closely with, I was recommended to him by my mom's boss, he works closely with someone I grew up around, and there were many other random connections. He also used to work in marketing for real estate developments in South Surrey, in a business he started up with his brother. (Potential networking opportunities for Dave???). Yet another random moment was as Cheryl was sharing her story of how she got this job (she just started a few weeks ago), she shared that she came from working at a facility working with marginalized persons, many of whom were dealing with substance use and homelessness. Hmm... sounds familiar. What the heck. 

He has two daughters who are in University, and Cheryl has 4 kids who are aged 12, 13, 13, and 14. (13 year old twins - wow she is a trooper). I then have my two little ones, and we commented how it was cool that we had so many stages of life covered in one office. 

One thing I was (mostly jokingly) worried about, was that I figured they were related to Trinity Western, and I worried I'd have to sign some sort of covenant about not drinking alcohol. NOT THE CASE! The Spartan Foundation is completely independent from Trinity Western, and this will not be an issue. They host fundraisers where there is beer tasting as well as good wine and good food (this is my love language... good wine and good food), the founder's brother (I think) started up the Trading Post Brewing Co., and there is a wine tasting fundraiser at the Sparkling Hill Resort in Kelowna. Whew! I'll fit in just great here. 

At the end of the meeting he asked a question and said I had a day to answer. 
"What was your best mistake?" I thought about it a lot, and sent in my response this morning, as well as letting him know that, if they'd have me, I'd love to come and work with them. Wouldn't you know it, I was welcomed with open arms. 
(I'll probably post my answer to this question in a separate post as this one is already way too long).

It all still feels too good to be true, and I keep waiting for the "just kidding" moment. I cannot think of a more perfect opportunity to come along. I think I owe Dave L. some beer and a thank you note!

I start my new job this coming Monday. The pay is about what I was making at Fraser Health, which is more than I would have expected, and my in-office hours will be roughly:
Monday (8-2)
Wednesday (8-12)

During this time David will stay home with the kids and schedule his work around my time out of the house. How are we so blessed? This is exactly what we didn't know we were waiting for. 

Oh another thing!... Yeesh... good week for us. 

I've been delaying sharing this information until something was set in stone, but Dave and a partner are collaborating and starting up a video production company, and they just booked their first paid gig. They are creating some new content for Surrey Christian School as they're redoing their website. They agreed on a quote and will be starting work soon. This new business they're starting has the potential to become David's dream job. (I'm aware I switch between calling him Dave and David - it's just what happens haha). 

David has been SO supportive of this change (once he got over the initial emasculation of it all haha). It'll be an adjustment for him, and I so appreciate him encouraging me throughout this process and allowing me to think about myself. It's going to be weird (good weird) to have a new identity as a working person again. I'm not "just" Mom anymore!

Moral of this story... It always pays to go for the interview, even if you don't get the job!