The Haps - Nervous and Excited

Oh heavens. I have been so busy - I didn't even post my Healthy You Check in. The scale, she says I eat too much. Bah. It is frustrating. I did go candy-free last week, except for two slip-ups. I grabbed a mint on my way out of a restaurant, and another time, I had yuckity breath and the only thing I found in my purse was a hard candy - no gum. I still consider the week a success, in that I did not, after dinner each night, go in search of the gummies. Hooray!

But now instead of weight loss matters, I want to talk about exciting things. A few weeks ago I posted about a job I interviewed for, then promptly thought "Oh, well, that was a mistake." because the HR recruiter seemed to have a checklist for marketing manager thingies that I did not fill. I made peace with the fact that someone encouraged me to try out for this job, and then I did not meet the needs, and I went back to my regular, safe, satisfying job. Fast forward to three weeks later, and they pass me on to 2nd level interviews. The interview is with the most lovely woman who is in that position now, only more senior in another office, and the 45 minutes is basically spent with her telling me what the job entails. She also wants to make sure I do know how to coordinate a webcast for large groups, order catering and use the company-branded templates. And I assure her with confidence, that's 30% of my job as an admin. (Secretly, my response is "Uh, yeah. With my eyes closed." But that would be rude, so I don't say that.) She also wanted to hear about my attention to detail and my extracurricular audits of other offices. A very pleasant interview. I even felt comfortable enough to tell her - how do you know which groups of people to pull together to meet and chat about Human Resources issues? To which she was so generous and told me exactly how she executes her job. It was a fabulous experience. The next day, I met with my boss(es) (the merger has muddied the waters a bit as to who is in charge of my personal development) and I let them know that I had applied - and they were incredibly supportive. I seriously work in the best office ever. They wanted to know what the position was, and told me that they don't want to see me go, but of course they support me trying on something new.

The day after that, I am invited to meet with the big boss, and an Account Director. The big boss is the woman that I met with to say "I need more responsibility!" that scares the hell out of me. I have 9 days to prepare a knock-out interview. To say that I'm excited, is an understatement. I can't believe that I've made it to the final round - and I also am relieved to find that I really want this job. I made a pros and cons list, and sent it to my Mom and a friend, and they both said - whatevs, just go for it. I know that I have many advantages to being an internal candidate, but the fact that I have little to no experience with coordinating "strategic thought leadership" is very intimidating. Basically, I'm frightened of leaving my safe job where I excel because I've been there for nearly 6 years and can do it with one hand tied behind my back. I'm afraid that I'll fail in this position, but speaking with that woman who does the job now, she made everything seem engaging, fun and doable. Really it comes down to the fact that I currently work as an administrative assistant - someone tells me what to do. This job requires creative energy, and coming up with my own ideas. I've never been paid for my ideas, you know? I love that this job is a mix of coming up with creative events, but also has a nice mix of following required initiatives. I'm a sharp girl that can go for it. Right? Right. So anyone reading this, keep your fingers crossed for June 30th - I need to shine!