Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Non-Knitting Stuff

I really need to start posting more often. I had one post that I had saved in a draft and finally posted it today. It's been over two weeks since I have added anything. No excuses other than being absolutely lazy. Now to get you all caught up to date on everything. On the weight-loss front: Things are going good. I had lost almost 4 pounds one week only to gain .2 back. I was so happy that I didn't gain anymore. I had a bad week but kept to program and it paid off. I need to talk to my members about that. I ended up picking up two more meetings during the week both as receptionists one is in Paddock Lake and the other in Union Grove. My boss came and evaluated the group on Sunday. We got a really good review. She really didn't have anything to talk to us about that we were doing wrong. She loved how I brought my laptop to the meeting and featured the Weight Watchers Walking Kit. The members enjoyed watching it. I had brought my computer in to talk about music and play them my theme song for my weight-loss journey. I had picked "New Attitude" by Patti LaBelle. It was a very good meeting. Deb had complemented me on my facilitation skills. She said that there is a huge improvement since she last coached me. I am doing my meetings now with no notes. I find that if I use notes I rely on them too much. It's much more fun just to wing it. I have a few questions under my belt and then just let the meeting take on wings and see where we go with it. Interesting developements on the job search front. I met with a recruiter on September 11th. She agreed to take me on as a client. Today is the first day that she actually sent me something to consider. She sent a posting for a Fund Administration and Compliance Department Compliance Administrator. If I were to pursue this opportunity it would be a lateral move for me. I read the job description and I'm not buying into it. I just can't see myself doing this job. It has a lot to do with banking, in my opinion, and the SEC. I don't have a very high opinion of the banking sector (they buy each other way too much for my liking). So, I will be sending her a very polite "no thank you" and state my reasons. I am in the middle of interviewing for a position within my company right now. I was talking to my girlfriend Pam who works in the International division. We somehow got on the topic of my job search and that I am getting frustrated about not getting any interviews for a promotion. I had mentioned about something that is going on in the department, which is kind of making me think about going a different way to get the promotion. I'll explain about that in a little bit. Well Pam had mentioned something about a grade 9 that had just closed. I had asked her to talk to the manager for me to see if they had found anyone yet. Well I got a call from her and an email telling me to send the hiring manager my resume as soon as possible. I did that on Thursday morning. Within ten minutes of sending it, I got an email from the manager asking me when I am free to set up an interview because they would like to interview me as soon as possible. I replied and the interview was set up for Friday morning. Later that night when I got home I stayed up and prepared for the interview. Usually the managers around here do targeted selection interviewing, on this interview I got the typical questions: "What are your strengths, What are your weakenesses and where do you see yourself five years from now?" Those are the exact questions that I prepared for. This was one of the best interviews that I had in a very long time. I also found out that the department that I would be going to I know and have worked with both of the girls that are there. Later that day, two of my co-workers came rushing in my cube to tell me that they had over heard my boss saying to someone "yeah she's good" they assumed that the hiring manager was talking about me. Yesterday, I got another invite for yet another interview. This is what I believe to be the final stage, I am meeting with the Vice President of International. I think that I got the job! but I still have to be offered the position. It would be a lateral move and one that I believe would help me further my career. On other news, last week I attended a mentoring session that my company has. I had identified someone that I actually know in the finance area and asked her to be my mentor and she accepted. I have my first meeting with her tomorrow. I am going to have to do some prep work before we meet tomorrow. I had the second interview this afternoon. I think that it went well. I basically interviewed him. He gave me some good career advice. So time will tell if I get the job or not.

No comments: