A Fresh Start

Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Back in January, I submitted my 1028^th resume in response to a posting on the Work in Texas website. The qualifications required generally matched my experience, though the field is not the construction areas I'm specifically experienced in. I didn't hear anything until the first week of February, when I got a phone call to set up an interview. My typical preparation for interviews is to do whatever research I can on the company, in order to have some information going into the process, and to print out some questions that are a combination of general information questions, such as why the position is open and what the timeline to fill the position is, and more in-depth questions, that I believe demonstrate both an interest in the position, but also an ability to think ahead, such as "What are the short and long term goals for the position?" I felt pretty good going into the interview, and that I was as well prepared as I possibly could be for the interview, as well as the abstract reasoning, spelling, and MS Word/Excel testing that I was told to expect. After I finished all of the testing, the interviewer called me back into his office to discuss my salary requirements, as well as let me know that I had scored quite well on the tests. Based on that conversation, I did expect that if I did get an offer, it would be significantly lower than what I'd really like to be making, and certainly not enough to get me back out into my own place before sometime next year. I was fairly confident that I'd interviewed well, with all 3 people who were involved in it, and frankly, was willing to accept a reasonable offer, however I tried not to get my hopes up, or feel too confident. On the 9^th, I got the call back, asking me to come in on the 10^th, (which, coincidentally, would have been Mom's 71^st birthday) and discuss an offer. The money was more than I had hoped for, and one of the best things is that I will be working 4 10-hour days each week, with Fridays off! I am THRILLED with this, I assure you. All was contingent on a clean background check, but since I've not been in trouble, I had no qualms about passing it. On Thursday I got word that the check had come back and I was cleared to start tomorrow. I also received my tentative 11 week training schedule. 1 week in the office, 4 weeks in the field with an inspector, then back to the office to learn the next steps in the process, each building on the previous. I am very excited about the opportunities it is affording me for personal and professional growth, and while I fully expect to take a few days to get back into the swing of a work schedule, I have no doubts about doing it now. I am going to work for a utility engineering firm, and my construction admin background will definitely help, however my understanding is that this is earlier in the process than what I'm accustomed to (as I would assume that by the time construction is actually happening, permits have already been surveyed, applied for, and processed.
My lunch is packed. I've a suitcase packed with an extra day's clothes, just in case the weather turns bad, or is likely to turn bad enough that I wouldn't be able to get up or down the hill safely here at home to get there on Tuesday. Now I'm off to bed for a good night's sleep… it's already not going to be 8 hours, but I'll take 6 or so and be pleased with that!