Day 2 of Wings

Yesterday was day one of winged eyes... My right eye was easy but my left eye was hard!  I had to re-do it twice.  I also think it was a little exagerated, which was fine because it was the weekend.  Today, however was kind of a failure.  My pencil ran out so I could only do a very short wing.  When I looked online they recommend a liquid eyeliner... maybe I will try that.

A note on my hair: It feels like it was literally chopped.  It's straight, no real layers.  Let this be a lesson to acting on impulse... mmm... let's see if I learn my lesson in a few months once it grows out a little.

Also, in an effort to not comform to the blandness of corporate I have updated my notebooks with a little label.  It's not much but at least it adds some color.  I hope it also helps me to be organized.  I hope to have one notebook per project as opposed to one for everything.  Happy Monday!

Finding a New Job Part 3

You are probably thinking... damyum girl how many parts are there?!

My answer is... Well gurrl, finding a job is hard!  So the story continues!

That day I was very sad.  I may have shed a tear in the privary of the courtyard at work.

BUT since "mujer preparada vale por dos" I  had not stopped networking.  The week of the second interview another position became available and I applied for it.  I was scheduled to have an interview the Monday after I was "rejected" for the Chicago position.  That weekend I was sad since my "life plan" was not going to go as planned, but I knew I needed to get over it, shake it off and prepare for the upcoming interview. 

By Sunday I had still not "shaken" it off.  Ugh.

Then I heard this reading at mass:  (it's long, but come on, it's the Holy Gospel, you must read)

Holy Gospel

John 20:19-31
Thomas no longer doubts the resurrection.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”


Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”


Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This is exactly what I needed.  I needed to believe that "something better" was going to come along.  That a better job for me will be coming my way.  What is meant for you can't nobody, but God take away  (Co-worker's words).

In other words, I had the blue attitude when I needed to have the red faith.  (Who doesn't love color coded life lessons?)
That night I finally decided to let go of my sandness, have faith and prepared for my interview.  The next day I rocked it and then a day later got an offer.

So what does Oprah have to say about this? 

“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.”

... and ...

"God can dream a bigger dream for you... far beyond...what you could ever dream for yourself."
 
Lesson Learned?  Do your best.  Prepare to the max.  Rock it.  Pray and accept the outcome because God has your back.  Amen.
 

Some flowers from blogger Heart of Light because the day I got the offer it felt like God handed me this mini bouquet.  Yes, I am cheesey, eat me (and vulgar).

Finding a New Job Part 2

The story continues...

That Friday I received a call around 4 pm.  Needless to say it was the longest day ever!  Every time the phone rang my heart would drop to the floor!

The hiring manager called me and said they couldn't make a decision so they were going to interview me and the "strong internal candidate" once again!

I thought, well at least I am still in the running!!!  (Stay positive Eva!)

The next week there I go again back for another round of interviews.  This time the interview was from 10-12:30 (no lunch).  It was a total of three interviews with four people!  Again, very intense!  I swear, this postion was "just a financial analyst" not CEO!  Again, I left feeling good with my performance.

I thought, well I did my very best so whatever the outcome I will be ok with it.  I know I am more than qualified so if they don't select me it's because of my personality and that's something I cannot or am not willing to change.  If they don't think I fit their team, well then I probably don't and that's that.  I was getting myself ready for whatever came my way.  This is not to say I didn't want the job.  I DID!  I crossed my fingers, my toes, my eyes! 

A week passed by and no news.  I thought no news is good news, right?  Well on Friday I got a call and I had not been selected.  After all that, they decided to stay with the strong internal candidate.  Well so much for all that preparation.  My fabulous life in the city came crumbling down.

Finding a New Job Part 1

Just wanted to share the journey of finding a new job/position.

It all started at the beginning of the year.  As soon as I decided to proactively look I set up informational meetings with a few different managers.  This informed me of the what opportunities where out there.  Not all these managers had positions open, but I met with them with hopes that something would open up and then they would think of me.  Just getting the ball rolling on "the search" made me feel that much better.

Then in March  I learned that a position I had been interested in for over a year was becoming available.  Yey me!  This position was in Chicago, so what this meant to me was that I was going to be able to move back to the city!  This position was also very interesting.  It would complement my previous work experience while allowing me to expand my cost accounting knowledge.  I was beyond ecstatic!

When I applied to interview for it I noticed that they already had a strong internal candidate for the position.  This was so heartbreaking since I had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.  I decided that was not going to discourage me because I truly believed I was the best candidate.  I prepared for the interview by practicing questions and also by interviewing someone who had previously held that position.  I also had some help... there was a friend who was also interviewing for that position before me and he was kind enough to let me know what questions they asked him.  I was more than ready to rock this!

The day of the interview I arrived 45 minutes early and reviewed my answers AGAIN!  The interview was pretty intense.  It was from 10 am to 1 pm (lunch included).  I was interviewed by five people!

I left feeling pretty good becase I did my best.  I prepared, practice and showed up! 

The manager said they would be making a decision by that Friday (a couple days after the interview).  I also asked my previous manager and my current manager to call the hiring manager to recommend me.  Yes, I pulled all the strings I could.. this job was mine!

This was me!

Ready to run up the corporate ladder!



You mean you are not completely miserable at work?

The title is what kept going through my head while working at Montreal.  The people at the office were just so different from the people back home.  Maybe it seemed that way because I only spent three days there, but they were friendly and during lunch they talked about other things other than complain about work!

I met one lady who had been with the company for 37 years!  She is retiring in August.  This was her only job ... ever!  Crazy!  I am not sure if she held the same position, but I don't think so.  I really wanted to ask her what they used before computers...but I felt that was very disrectpectful so I shut my trap!

Office Observations:

• People are more laid back.  They have breakfast together from 9:30-10 am EVERYDAY.  They actually sit in the cafeteria for 30 minutes and eat their cereal/yogurt!  I really really liked that.
• They dress more stylish.  There is one analyst who looked looked like Blake Lively and she wore very cute clothes.  She was probably the only analyst in my age group, but everyone else was also had style.

Blake Lively

Financial Analyst
• Since the office is in an actual plant they get to interact with the plant hourly employees.  I found it nice that they all say hi to each other at lunch.  I find that the people from corporate lose touch with reality and don't realize that the decisions made at the corporate office actually affect real people at the plants.
• People are nice!  So all the cafeteria employees spoke French at first, then I would say "Sorry, I don't speak French, can I have a ham and cheese sandwich?"  Yes, that's what I ate because I didn't know how to order anything else!  They were patient with me as I pointed to what I wanted on the sandwich.  Over at corporate you need to have your order ready and yell it out as soon as it is your turn or else you get yelled at... yes, lunch is stressful like that!  Also, today I asked the guy at the register for a straw, but he didn't know what I meant, so I signaled my juice and I think he understood and pointed me to somewhere.  I said thank you, but decided to just drink straight from the bottle, well once I was sitting he came by my table and handed me a straw!  That surprised me!

I really hope that the "nice" rubbed off on me.  I want to go back to work with a better attitude y "con ganas de trabajar"! 

Oh!  I should mention that the reason I traveled for work was because their responsibilities are being sent to corporate and therefore they are losing their jobs, yes and they were still nice to me/us.  I felt like this girl from "Up in the Air", even though I was not the one who broke the news to them I still felt bad.  I really wish them good luck because they are a good group of people.

This Pretty Much Made My Day

At work I support 2 bakery plants and 1 cheese plant.  Let me just tell you how much I appreciate them!  They send me gifts, they ask about my well being when the weather is bad (a lot this winter), and sometimes they are a pain with all of their questions...but sometimes they crack me up!

See this IM conversation with the bad boy of Atlanta, that's the analyst at one of my plants.

Plant: I'm looking at my GR variance report.  It appears to be unhappy.


Me: Tickle it.  That might help.


Plant: OK...hold on

Me: Ok.


Plant: It just stared at me and mentioned something about a lawyer.
 
Ha, ha.  I couldn't help him with his report or analysis, but this pretty much made my day.
 

Sweet Appreciation

Suspicious package arrives at 10 am.


Everyone gathers around my cube wondering what is in package. No mail is EVER received on this side of town.

After five minutes of struggling with packaging tape and scissors … I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

One of my plants sent me this package.  It has been one of the nicest suprises I have received.  I know it's small, but it really meant the world to me.  Specially because the card was signed by all the office employees there.  Awww, me blushing.
(In case you are wondering, yes I do have my gift displayed as such on my desk…I have no shame!)

On other work related news... One of my best buds has left the company.  Yesterday was his last day so it was specially nice to receive this today since we were feeling kinda down and missing his craziness.