Good news, everyone! I have landed a new job!
It all started a few weeks ago. I got home from work one night and decided to see what the job market looked like. I do this from time to time to exercise my resume, and see if there's anything out there that looks like a major opportunity.
I ran across a Mortgage Closer spot located here in McKinney, among others and applied. The next morning at about 9:15 I got an email back from the one here in town wanting an interview. I have literally never had such a quick response, and since Jamie and I had the afternoon off anyway to complete the refinance on our house, I thought that afternoon might be good for an interview.
So I called before the ink dried on our refi and we agreed to meet that afternoon for an interview at 4. I was a little nervous, but suited up and went in to make an impression. The interview lasted about 45 minutes, and it went pretty well.
It's a law firm that does doc prep instead of a lender, but I remember some former coworkers got into the end of that business, so I figured why not. I had several questions and there didn't seem to be many dry spots in the interview, and the interviewer had plenty of questions for me.
After sending a thank you email that night, I got a response early the next morning wanting me to call in because they had an offer ready. I called in on my morning break to find out what it was, and it was pretty dang good! Enough of a raise to cover certain losses from where I was working, and benefits to cover it, as well as the added convenience of traveling 2 miles to work instead of 20. And no tolls on top of that.
As far as quick responses, the interview response, and the offer response, it was one of the fastest moving blessings I've encountered. But it was my turn to be fast. I had maybe a couple hours to come up with a 2 weeks notice. It sounds easy to throw one together, but it's a great deal harder after being loyal to a company for six years.
I knew I would have to face my team lead and answer a lot of questions I was still trying to answer myself. So, when I got up the huevos to go for it, I did. And it went really well, actually. I had the resignation letter in hand and asked my boss if I could borrow her for a minute. What probably came off as a quick comment about something trivial was much more heavy and that was one heavy piece of paper in the moment.
But I dropped the bomb and it sailed gently enough that once I handed in my two weeks' notice, she seemed to take it pretty well. She was actually proud of me! She even took the letter well, and said "Awww!" while reading it to herself. That was a real relief.
Over the next two weeks, I felt kind of awkward. My boss told me it would be a good idea to keep it under wraps for a few days so nothing negative would get passed around. I held out for a week. April 1 was the one week mark but I still wanted to hold out. The next morning my boss asked me, "Hey Mitch, are you going to let anyone know you got a new job, or just come in next Wednesday and walk out like 'Deuces!'?" So I told her I was thinking of telling people that day because the day before was April Fools' and no one would believe me.
So after that it was sort of open season for everyone to know and a chance to say goodbye to all the people I've worked with over the years. It was bittersweet and for a while there, I had some slight tugs of regret. But those were soon replaced with tugs of hope, and those feelings that come about when changes are soon to come.
I started to not care about my awful afternoon commute that I'd gotten used to. All those daily habits, dietary, scheduling, otherwise, sort of melted into this pool of uncertain and hopeful future.
On my last day I was busy, said goodbye to my team, and finished up. The four-day weekend that followed was the last step of preparation, and yesterday I walked into my new job ready for action.
The last few days have been really nice. Things seem to be coming together pretty well at the new place. I got a chance to meet everyone who works there. It's a good environment, and very hospitable. It's busy though. The new boss says "We'll keep you busy." Music to my ears! Gaining almost five hours on the commute alone takes stress off and allows me some wiggle room when it comes to sticking around late or working on different projects.
It's the middle of a big change, and so far it is going well. There will be more soon!
