A Year Ago Today...

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Today marks the year anniversary of the day I got my current job. From the 8 hours of interviews over the course of 2 days they gave me the news that would save my current state of life.

 It can’t be a whole year that has gone by…Can it? Really? A year ago at this time my entire world got turned upside down.

I had been working for my previous company for 4 years and it was my saving grace. The two men I had worked for gave me the big break I needed to finish school & get my bachelor’s in Math. They let me go to school in the morning and let me come there to work in the afternoon. They didn’t care that I only came in for 2-3 hours, all they cared about it is that I finished school. The job was 5 minutes from my parent’s house, and I was lucky enough to be able to save enough money over the 4 years to put a down payment on my lil condo. It was great, but I knew one day I would leave the comfort of that office because there was no mobility at all & it was a tiny company. However, I didn’t expect to lose my job as suddenly as I did.

I’m still not clear about the actual sequence of events but trying to eliminate a partner in the company, took down the whole foundation it was built on. It was less than 3 months ago that I had signed the papers for my condo chaining myself to a mortgage, I had just finished my degree the summer before so I didn’t have a lot of savings left, and had a slue of health issues that required me to need health insurance and suddenly the floor got ripped out from under me. I panicked. They gave us a month left to work, no severance, no Christmas bonus, no continuing health coverage due to it being such a small company that was disbanding. It sucked, plain and simple.

I had already known the wrath of the recession; my Mom has lost 3 jobs in the past 10 years due to downsizing, changes in ownership, and relocating to save money which caused me to leave my original college plans; but this job loss could have cost me everything. 

But one day my Mom found a letter from a few years ago about a permanent job placement agency and I remember telling the lady as long as I have health insurance I’ll take anything. Low & behold a marketing analyst position was open which required a math degree and applied computer skills. Jackpot.   I wore my lil suit jacket, printed out my resumes, and strutted into my current office w/ my confidence flared. It was a match and they called me to start working April 1^st, 2011. 

A whole year ago. A friend of mine told me recently she hasn’t really felt the recession in the U.S. After I gave her a very cold look, I told her she was lucky, ever so lucky. I got lucky to find a job, and even though it may drive me crazy every other day, I am truly lucky to have my job.

 What a crazy turn of events, but I'm glad I panicked and called that agency a year ago. *Sigh of relief*