some good thoughts would be appreciated

[FrogMan]

warning: long personal story to come, don't say I didn't warn you ;)

Some of you may know that my wife's work situation has been kinda sucky in the last year. In short (and you probably know it won't be ;)), after coming back from a one year maternity leave in January of 2005, she decided to leave the place she'd been working at for the previous 5 years in an attempt to move from a job she didn't like anymore to one more involved in the R&D of plastics parts, the domain in which she has studied. She had found this new job before coming back to her old job, meaning that the guy replacing her could stay and she wasn't leaving them in trouble with only two weeks to find a replacement.
This new job was one as a designer/drawer of plastic mold with basically the same pay as the one she had before, maybe a tad less. She'd not done any drawing for about 4 years and while she enjoys it a lot, maybe she was a bit slower than some of the younger fellows coming out of school, and definitely slower than what she used to be some 4 years before that. They showed some great commitments to allwoing her time to learn when she first went there but they let her drift alone for a few weeks only to let her go in April or so, telling her some ugly stuff like that she was "too slow" and "would probably never be good in design". These started her on a downward spiral, mentally and emotionally. For a couple of weeks after that, I got home to her crying in more than a few occasions.

Because she'd been on maternity leave, on unemployment paid by the government, for a year, she was ineligible to unemployment then. As much as I wanted to let her take it slow and take her time, I knew we couldn't last for long on only my salary. Not that my salary is not good, it's nice, but we've got it all budgeted on her bringing at least a little something every week. Think about the situation. I'm paying the bills week in, week out and I'm seeing what little we had go up in flames and I just couldn't bring myself to get to start applying to jobs and anyway, there weren't many jobs in her field at the time.

After that couple of weeks, she started sending out resumes and applying for jobs here and there. Her selfconfidence was pretty shaken though and she took a big hit when in one job interview, they asked her to step in front of a computer to draw a part very specific to their business and she froze...

She had her eyes set on someday being a project manager in the plastics industry. She's a mechanical engineer but she also took a technical two year training in plastics transformation before coming back from her first maternity leave so. While her first job, the one she left at the start of this story, was in plastics, it also had mostly to do with quality assurance in the bottles industry, an area where very little designing is done in house and where most clients come to a bottle manufacturer with they mold and plans. She finally applied and got a job as a mold adjuster, a job on the production floor all day, very physical. While she knew it would probably be on the evening or even night shift, and she even asked me if it was all right by me, I think she underappreciated the effect that the combination of night shift + physical work would have on her. Night shift work can screw you pretty good, now on top of it, she wasn't even asked to work as a mold adjuster, but more as an operator, emptying the bins at the end of a plastic molding machine. The "shit I've not studied that much to be doing this crap" comment has come up very often from her lips in addition to the unexpressed guilt of not earning a lot of money from that job. As I said before, to keep living in the house we live in, we just need her to bring in a little something home. Well let's say that this one job was just that "little something" and not much more but I was okay with it if she could use it as a stepping stone to go on to better things later on. She got so down at one point, she started being very down, very often, again crying. She would sometimes come home crying, relating to me that some dude had told her she'd done this or that thing wrong. That's not the FrogWoman I'd grown to know. She really was down on herself, often saying stuff like "I can't do it, I'm no good"... I got her to see her doctor who prescribed her some meds which helped her a lot, combined with her seeing a psychologists for some time.

Fast forward beginning of December, she is still working at the same place but they've been having a rough time getting new clients in and she'd been "downgraded" to operator full time. The good thing is, she was now working the day shift. She kept reminding herself that this was temporary and that she'd someday move on to better thing, maybe even within that company as they do most of their design in-house. She also kept looking out for jobs in her industry and started sending numerous resumes specifically applying to announced jobs with not one response.

I sayd beginning of December, more specifically December 3, the day that my current employer held a big Christmas party for the kids of their employees. Now, I work for a coach manufacturer and there are about a thousand employees in the three plants we have around here so you can imagine the kind of huge gathering that this made. Welcomed by the president/CEO at the door, the main plant had been decorated but with leaving the coaches in their respective state of production. They had set it so that there was one area where kiddos could go see Santa and they were given each a gift, honestly, very well done. Being the mechanical engineer that she is, she was very impressed by the plant but also by how we were treated. I must say, that party also made me proud to be working here. Going out the door on our way home, she even told the CEO something along the line of "very nice company you are running here, makes me want to send you my resume", to which he replied, the most naturally, "please do, please do". The idea had been planted...

We don't do in plastics per se, even though there are many plastics part in a coach.

A couple of weeks later, she came to me asking me if I knew where to send her resume to make sure it would be read. Now, to be sound to full but I've got a pretty good track record around here and my name is pretty good. I forwarded her resume to on HR lady who got back to me the very next morning. She told me at the time that she had nothing for my wife's profile but she was expecting some news on a new position. Sure enought this new position came open about a week later, in the week before we went off for the holidays. She then told me they were waiting to see if anybody was to apply for it in-house but she said that if not, they would be VERY interested in meeting with my wife. The news came yesterday, nobody in-house applied for it/qualified for it. They want to meet with my wife next Thursday :)

Here's where the request for good thoughts comes into play. I was able to get a job descprition of said position to my wife and she said she would love that kind of work, would feel up to it and actually believes in herself that she could do a good job at it. This is something I'd not heard from her in a little while :) Fer her to get a day job that would challenge her skills and intelligence would simply be awesome. On top of it all, this would be a very well paid job and while money isn't everything, when you bring some money, you don't feel like a liability. Not that I'm making her feel like one, but I know she feels like it.

Anyway, this is what the long story is all about. She's got an interview next Thursday afternoon and in my mind, this job is hers to lose. I mean, she's got all the qualifications to do a great job in it. I only hope they see it and they don't take the "you are overqualified" route although I doubt they would. This is were the good thoughts could hopefully help :)

If you are still reading, well thanks!

FM

[George]

Wishing her, and you, the best.

[cubboyroy1826]

Keeping you guys in my prayers. Go Mrs frogman.

[Raiders Army]

Good luck to you guys.

I really applaud you, too. So many people bitch and whine about their job but they don't do anything about it. Sounds as if your wife is going to do something about it.

Again, good luck!

[DaddyTorgo]

Go FrogWoman! I would definately think she has the inside track on it, since she's more of an "insider" than anyone else, and the HR woman did actually get back to you about it.

That's (potentially) great news!

[SnDvls]

If you are still reading, well thanks!


You are welcome :)
and sending you good thoughts from AZ. Sounds like you wife will do well

[Celeval]

We don't do in plastics per se, even though there are many plastics part in a coach.
I imagine you're talking about the Pat Rileys of the world here?

Best of luck..

[Honolulu_Blue]

Good luck!

[Passacaglia]

Good luck! I'm starting to look for new jobs myself, so I'm right there with you guys!

[vex]

Good luck!

[Raiders Army]

You are welcome :)
and sending you good thoughts from AZ. Sounds like you wife will do well
Funny but I read that as "sending you good thoughts from A to Z"

[Icy]

My thoughts are we you both.

I was facing a similar situation until a year ago. My wife studied in the university to be a lawyer related to worker contracts (I don't know how to properly say that in English, it's the qualification to work as HR in big companies or syndicates). The city where we live (Toledo-Spain) is a tourism and services city (it's the state capital), not industry at all, just museums/ruins/hotels/bars and government buildings. The thing is that it was pretty hard to find a job for her studies unless starting her own office, that is impossible without experience, no way to get customers.

After a year, she accepted a temporal work at the biggest cell phone company (Vodafone) as call center customer support (answering 8 hours per day without stop to the phone calls from the angry customers). The job was a stressing brain burner. They had 2 free days per week, but rotating, so she had to work 2 weekends per month, that made us miss a lot of meals with friends, family etc. Also she only knew the schedule with a week in advance, not allowing us to plan any travel. The payment was not so good either.

After 5 years working in the same company and not able to find a work related to her studies, she was really burned, bordering the depression. She had same issues than your wife, lack of self-confidence, etc, plus not being able to enjoy the weekends, to make plans in advance for anything, stress because the work nature, etc. I wanted to ask her to leave it a lot of times as money was not an issue for us, but on the other hand she is a really active women, not the one that wants to expend the day at home so I knew that she would be in depression also if she would leave the job without finding another one. Those were really bad days for us.

The good thing is that a year ago, her company added a new section, the GPRS one (internet access through cell phone) that has less customers, are usually more educated business men and that specially offered a reduction of the journey, to work only 24 hours per week versus the standard 40 hours per week that you work in Spain. She phoned me from work as is she wanted to apply, she had to do it that morning and there were only 10 spots. Her main question was that of course her income would be less than before so she felt bad, but we were lucky that my online business was going better and better so I told him to go for it. She applied, and got the job!

She only works now from Tuesday to Friday, from 9am to 3pm. We can enjoy the full weekends now and even Mondays. The job is not as stressing as there are less customers in that service and their education and cultural level is higher. She is also pregnant (7 months already) so this schedule will be great to be able to take care of our girl. I also work from home and have total freedom of schedule, so we can do a lot of things together. At the end, the life turned well for us and I’m sure it will for you too.

Good luck mate.

[vtbub]

Go get 'em.

[CamEdwards]

Good luck to FrogWoman!

[Cringer]

IF I send good thoughts do I get a percentage of her paychecks? :D

Good luck.

[BuffaloHuskey]

Good luck to Frogwoman,

She would not working in the same department correct?

Not to put the horse before the carriage but if she does get this job, make sure that you communicate on your 401(k) allocations. You don't want to both be taking a whole lot of company stock if you can avoid it.

[path12]

Best of luck to you both.

[terpkristin]

I'm sure she'll knock 'em dead!!!

Good luck to her on Thursday!!! :) :) :)
Good vibes are on their way ;)
/tk

[oliegirl]

Go Mrs. Frogman! I'm sure she'll do great and they'll beg to have her come work there! :)

[BrianD]

I've gone through unemployment and jobs that really weren't a great fit, and I can understand how self-valuation can go down. I'm glad to hear that your wife has made it through all of that, and I hope she gets the job.

[WVUFAN]

Best of luck to you both! I'm sure things will work out fine.

[FrogMan]

thanks everyone for the kind words, very appreciated!

I'll reply to a few below...

FM

[FrogMan]

I really applaud you, too. So many people bitch and whine about their job but they don't do anything about it. Sounds as if your wife is going to do something about it.
Thanks. It's very hard to even simply find a job you think you can do when you're so low on yourself. I mean, there were a few jobs I saw that she printed out but she ended telling me something along the lines of "bah, I wouldn't be able to do that" even though she could do it. Sure there are always learning moments, but she's no dumber than anybody else...

FM

[FrogMan]

Go FrogWoman! I would definately think she has the inside track on it, since she's more of an "insider" than anyone else, and the HR woman did actually get back to you about it.

That's (potentially) great news!
Agreed. I had an interview with that lady for an in-house promotion that I ended up declining, so she sorta knows our story, like that we've lived in the States for 18 months and all that, so she knows what I can do. I can only hope that my good name can brush off on my wife and give her a boost...

FM

[FrogMan]

I imagine you're talking about the Pat Rileys of the world here?

Best of luck..
hehehe, actually took me a little bit of thinking to get that one though :)

FM

[FrogMan]

Good luck! I'm starting to look for new jobs myself, so I'm right there with you guys!
Good luck Pass, may you find something that you like and that fulfills your needs...

FM

[FrogMan]

My thoughts are we you both.

I was facing a similar situation until a year ago. My wife studied in the university to be a lawyer related to worker contracts (I don't know how to properly say that in English, it's the qualification to work as HR in big companies or syndicates). The city where we live (Toledo-Spain) is a tourism and services city (it's the state capital), not industry at all, just museums/ruins/hotels/bars and government buildings. The thing is that it was pretty hard to find a job for her studies unless starting her own office, that is impossible without experience, no way to get customers.

After a year, she accepted a temporal work at the biggest cell phone company (Vodafone) as call center customer support (answering 8 hours per day without stop to the phone calls from the angry customers). The job was a stressing brain burner. They had 2 free days per week, but rotating, so she had to work 2 weekends per month, that made us miss a lot of meals with friends, family etc. Also she only knew the schedule with a week in advance, not allowing us to plan any travel. The payment was not so good either.

After 5 years working in the same company and not able to find a work related to her studies, she was really burned, bordering the depression. She had same issues than your wife, lack of self-confidence, etc, plus not being able to enjoy the weekends, to make plans in advance for anything, stress because the work nature, etc. I wanted to ask her to leave it a lot of times as money was not an issue for us, but on the other hand she is a really active women, not the one that wants to expend the day at home so I knew that she would be in depression also if she would leave the job without finding another one. Those were really bad days for us.

The good thing is that a year ago, her company added a new section, the GPRS one (internet access through cell phone) that has less customers, are usually more educated business men and that specially offered a reduction of the journey, to work only 24 hours per week versus the standard 40 hours per week that you work in Spain. She phoned me from work as is she wanted to apply, she had to do it that morning and there were only 10 spots. Her main question was that of course her income would be less than before so she felt bad, but we were lucky that my online business was going better and better so I told him to go for it. She applied, and got the job!

She only works now from Tuesday to Friday, from 9am to 3pm. We can enjoy the full weekends now and even Mondays. The job is not as stressing as there are less customers in that service and their education and cultural level is higher. She is also pregnant (7 months already) so this schedule will be great to be able to take care of our girl. I also work from home and have total freedom of schedule, so we can do a lot of things together. At the end, the life turned well for us and I’m sure it will for you too.

Good luck mate.
our situations are closer than you'd think Icy. We live in the Quebec City area which is the Provincial Capital area, so very government driven. The odd thing is both me and her have studied in production management/engineering, so far from government related fields of work. This can explain in a way why it's hard for her to find something in her immediate field of study (plastics)...

Thanks for the comments and good luck with the upcoming birth, stock up on those nice nights of sleep ;)

FM

[FrogMan]

IF I send good thoughts do I get a percentage of her paychecks? :D

Good luck.
nope, but we'll send you some chickenpox samples, would that be all right? :p

FM

[FrogMan]

She would not working in the same department correct?
Actually, yes, although I'm sort of an oddity in that department :D I'm more production planning although I'm in the Materials department while she'd be more toward the quality of vendors. I currently have some interaction with the guy she would be replacing (he's getting a promotion within the company) but it's like a question regarding the schedule every other week or about... They're are actually seeking two person to replace this one guy because they are expanding his duties. The second one would be even further away from me as that new one would be looking over the quality of first parts, or quality of new suppliers...


Not to put the horse before the carriage but if she does get this job, make sure that you communicate on your 401(k) allocations. You don't want to both be taking a whole lot of company stock if you can avoid it.
we're in Canada and it doesn't really work that way. You can't get company stock as a retirement plan (that's what 401(k) is, right?). We have what is called RRSP, Registered Retirement Savings Plan which is like a mutual fund that grows but on which you are not taxed until you retire from it. Working for the same company wouldn't have any effect.

The biggest drawback of us both working at the same place would be in a case of a strike/lockout, but that has happened once in the last 25 years or so...

FM

[FrogMan]

I've gone through unemployment and jobs that really weren't a great fit, and I can understand how self-valuation can go down. I'm glad to hear that your wife has made it through all of that, and I hope she gets the job.
yeah, she's come a long way since September, when she first went to see her doctor. Now, she really need to be challenged and get out of the physical work kind of job.

To top it, she learned that she will be going back to night shift around the end of January, as Team leader since the current Night Team Leader is going on paternity leave. Think about that, they put her as an operator for a couple of months and now boom, she's asked to be in charge on the night shift in a couple of weeks...

FM

[CraigSca]

Good luck, Frogman - I'll be rooting for her!

[Eaglesfan27]

Good luck, Buddy. I'll be sending good thoughts and prayers for you and your wife.

[daedalus]

Tell her good luck for me, Frogger. :)

[3ric]

Hope this works out for you guys, Steve!

[hoosierdude]

As I read this, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop...


"And now my wife is my boss, and neither of us could be happier."

Something along that line. Great story, and I wish you guys the best, and our prayers are with ya.

[Emiliano]

Go FrogWoman!!!

[fantastic flying froggies]

Good luck, mrs Frogman!

Steve, be sure and let us know how things go.

[FrogMan]

Thanks agains for all the good thoughts, very appreciated!

Steve, be sure and let us know how things go.
don't worry frog cousin, I will, although it may be a while before something happens for real. The ball should get rolling on Thursday, after who knows how fast it will go. We're hoping as fast as possible in the right direction :)

FM

[Craptacular]

Good luck to Mrs. Frogman. My wife has just recently begun to seriously question her current job, and is looking at other things she could do. I'm trying to be supportive, of course, but we both know that most things she would switch to would either require going back to school, a pay cut, a loss of schedule flexibility, or all three. I'm hoping it's just another temporary "I hate my job" cycle. :D

[FrogMan]

Just wanted to bump this as my wife's interview is later this afternoon. Keep the good thoughts/vibes coming, we need them :)

Also realized I initially wanted to comment on this:

Good luck to Mrs. Frogman. My wife has just recently begun to seriously question her current job, and is looking at other things she could do. I'm trying to be supportive, of course, but we both know that most things she would switch to would either require going back to school, a pay cut, a loss of schedule flexibility, or all three. I'm hoping it's just another temporary "I hate my job" cycle. :D
Juggling the work situation of the two person in a couple can be a daunting task. When I got my first job out of college, I relocated to Montreal while she was working nearby Quebec City so a 2.5 hours drive from one another. I was renting a room while she was in our main apartment. She got pregnant and I got a promotion to go take charge of a plant in Massachusetts, so that kind of settled things for a little while but a couple years later when the company brought me back to Quebec, I started getting the feeling that people in my line of employment (managers and such) were almost expected to move from plant to plant every 2 to 3 years. First thought was for my wife: How could she plan any kind of career if we'd keep on moving around?

We've since settled down in the Quebec City area but as I said in response to Icy, this is not an area that's very big on manufacturers, so it's always a challenge...

Anyway, best of luck to you and your wife Craptacular. Sometimes, questioning your current job can be good if you think it through and don't do it on a whining moment :)

FM

[sterlingice]

Hadn't seen this originally. Good luck to her

SI

[FrogMan]

Well... This is how she first described how it went, just well, not great, not bad, just "it went well". That's what she told me from her cell phone around dinner time as she was going to a class. At the time, I was kinda bummed, but was also thinking it could have been her lack of self-esteem that made her see everything as "oh, I don't know", maybe...

We talked quite a bit more about it later when she got home and I can see why she may be unsure about how it went. She said she was getting a good vibe from the HR lady, which I was certain she would. I mean my wife would fit really well and would be an asset for the company and I'm sure the HR lady can see that, now, is she a good fit for that job, that's another question. She said she was not sure she'd nailed the answers to the very job specific questions asked by the guy who would eventually be her boss. While I still think she could do that job really well, from talking with her about the questions they asked and the job definition they gave her, I'm also seeing that they are really changing the job from what the previous guy was doing. They're almost looking for a superman, capable of analyzing manufacturing processes of suppliers, processes he/she knows nothing about (seriously, we have about 350 suppliers) but yet would be asked to understand them quickly and pinpoint quality problems. I'm not sure there are too many people like that. I mean, she's got a mechanical engineering education with strong training in quality assurance, coupled with 5-7 years in manufacturing businesses but she's not been really involved in analyzing/changing the processes. As a comparison, the guy who's doing right now the job she would take over came to the company as a logistician, basically someone who orders parts and makes sure they get to production on time. He eventually learned about parts quality and is doing an awesome job about it, it's not rocket science. I know there are tons of consultants who do that as professionals, but this position is a technician position and while the pay would be an awesome upgrade for us (given how little she's earning right now), it's probably not up to consultant-level payrate... I'm a bit afraid they'll turn her down despite not finding anybody else as they keep digging for mister perfect. They've been known to do that and take sometimes up to 6 months to find some employees who, frankly, have not impressed me when the heat is on...

I'm now kind of hoping they can see what she can bring to the company, despite some shortness she may have in very few areas. I realize I'm biased but I see who works around here and I tell you, she'd be a upgrade over many of the persons currently in place in some department but heh, now the waiting period has begun...
I'm ranting now as I feel a bit down about it. She was told that the need for the hire was immediate but that they had other candidates to interview in the next week and they would get back to her but probably not before the end of next week. As I said, I feel a bit down about it maybe a bit "downer" as it was confirmed to her by her current employer that she's going back on the night shift starting this Sunday night... :( This means daddy deals with the two kids in the morning and we see each other something like a couple of hours around dinner time since she doesn't sleep all that well in the day and takes a nap in the evening, before going back to work...

I'll keep you posted when we hear something.

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts, very appreciated. Keep 'em coming. :)


FM

[oliegirl]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your wife :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Will do Frogger! Good luck to you and your wife.

[Craptacular]

As I said, I feel a bit down about it maybe a bit "downer" as it was confirmed to her by her current employer that she's going back on the night shift starting this Sunday night... :( This means daddy deals with the two kids in the morning and we see each other something like a couple of hours around dinner time since she doesn't sleep all that well in the day and takes a nap in the evening, before going back to work...
One of the things my wife is thinking about doing would probably require working the night shift for a while. We don't have kids yet, but I'd still like to see her more than an hour a day.

Hopefully everything will work out soon for the two of you. We'll keep sending good vibes your way.

[FrogMan]

One of the things my wife is thinking about doing would probably require working the night shift for a while. We don't have kids yet, but I'd still like to see her more than an hour a day.

Hopefully everything will work out soon for the two of you. We'll keep sending good vibes your way.
The "for a while" is key in situations like these but it does take a whole lot out of you. Not having kids would certainly give you a break and seeing her would also depend on how she adapts to sleeping in the day. We need to have dinner at about 5 because we have a two year old who's gonna go crazy if not. Without kids, maybe your wife could sleep until later on and you could have dinner then and she'd stay up for most of the evening, time that you could spend together. For us, with that kind of early dinner, my wife wakes up around 4pm after going to bed around 9:30-10am and for her, she really need to take that 1.5-2 hour nap from about 8 to 10pm before getting ready to go back to work...

Thanks for the good vibes, we'll need them. My wife, in her round of checking job openings this evening, came upon the exact same job announced on jobboom.com (a Quebec kind of job website). Thing is, it's from the headhunters that usually recruits for our company and the job ad is dated as of yesterday... Sure thing, she's now thinking she's got no chance and she feels already out of the running, sigh...

FM

[Lorena]

I just came across this thread.

Applause to Mrs. Frogman for leaving a situation she wasn't comfortable in. There's so many people that stay at a job feeling miserable because they feel they "have to". God, I've had plenty of those. NO JOB is worth your sanity/mental well being. If I ever come home from work crying, I know the job wasn't for me... time to move on.

You're a great husband in supporting your wife like you have been FM. Hope it works out for you guys.

I'll send some positive thoughts your and Mrs. Frogman way okay? If it was meant to be, it'll happen.

[FrogMan]

sorry for the lack of update for all this time, but there simply was nothing to report, until today :)

Sadly, my company has not given my wife any sign of life over this job. :( She sent the HR lady and her possible future boss an email almost two weeks ago but they didn't even reply to it, nor gave her any indication that they'd made their decision. From the inside, I know they have not hired anybody but I don't want to ask too many questions since I wouldn't want to be seen as the dude that will always bitch the minute something happens about my wife if she'd be working for the company. Be transparent has been my motto since pushing her resume to the HR. Furthermore, some big cuts have been announced yesterday and for that reason, all new hires have been frozen. Now, in the running or not, getting that job is not gonna happen, at least not for now. Frankly, I'm a little bummed about how they dealt with it, not giving her any kind of feedback for almost a month now, but what can I do...

Since then though, she'd sent her resume to a couple of place and had an interview last Monday for a job as a professional estimator (or evaluator, having a hard time coming with a translation here) for a plastic mold manufacturer. She'd basically work with a project manager in evaluating the costs of different mold projects, in the plastic field, a field in which she' s studied and for which she has a passion. Again, coming out of the interview, she'd told me it had gone well, telling me she didn't think she'd screwed it up too much. That's about how she always respond. Anyway, that new company is a client of her current workplace and this morning, at the end of her shift, a guy from that company showed up at her workplace to take a look at some work they had in progress. That guy was there when she interviewed for the job last Monday. She eventually asked him if they'd come to a decision and he told her that, well, you know, he shouldn't be telling her that, but they HAD DECIDED TO OFFER HER THE JOB!!!!! :D

I only talked to her on the phone and they have not really confirmed it her but she sounded absolutely ecstatic about it. Let's just hope it's not only false hope. Keep thinking good thoughts until she actually starts working there and thanks for the good thoughts already sent our way :)

FM

[fantastic flying froggies]

Great news! Hope the offer's real...

[3ric]

That's fantastic news, Frogger!

[sterlingice]

Good news. As to the others, about places being slow as molases to respond, it's easily the most frustrating part of the job interview process. It drives me nuts- "we'll put you on hold for 6 weeks of your life about one of the most important things in it while we play solitaire in our office for 7 hours a day"

SI

[daedalus]

Congrats, Frogger. Tell her hi and congrats for me. :)

[Icy]

Great news Frogman, i really hope all will be ok, keep us updated.

[Toddzilla]

w00t FrogMan! Good things happen to good people once in a while, so I hope this is one of those times!

[Antmeister]

Wow FrogMan, just came across this thread. Anyways, I definitely know how it can be in regards to struggling, different shifts, etc. When she goes on an interview, she has to believe that it will be their loss if she isn't hired. She should never feel like it is her loss. If things don't work out, it may possibly be because there is a more compatable company out there for her. I believe that things will eventually work themselves out in the end. Although there is a lot of struggling going on now, it usally ends up working that way as long as she continues to go after that goal. Wishing you guys the best and I the current news sounds promising. Good luck to her.

[Emiliano]

Good news Frog! I'm happy for you and your wife.

[FrogMan]

First off, thanks everyone for the good words and thoughts. Very appreciated. Got a few replies to do...


Good news. As to the others, about places being slow as molases to respond, it's easily the most frustrating part of the job interview process. It drives me nuts- "we'll put you on hold for 6 weeks of your life about one of the most important things in it while we play solitaire in our office for 7 hours a day"
yeah, my feeling toward this one situation is that she wasn't absolutely what they were looking for even thought she's got all the education to learn the ropes of what a coach is made of as she goes along. They've shown me over the last year or so that they can be very stubborn as to what they want, even though this could mean taking up to 6 months to find somebody "they" think is perfect for the job when my common sense tells me that the 6 months could have been used to train a new person...

FM

[FrogMan]

Wow FrogMan, just came across this thread.
That's because you just discovered my sensitive father side. Prior to that, my posts flew under your radar ;)


Anyways, I definitely know how it can be in regards to struggling, different shifts, etc. When she goes on an interview, she has to believe that it will be their loss if she isn't hired. She should never feel like it is her loss. If things don't work out, it may possibly be because there is a more compatable company out there for her. I believe that things will eventually work themselves out in the end. Although there is a lot of struggling going on now, it usally ends up working that way as long as she continues to go after that goal. Wishing you guys the best and I the current news sounds promising. Good luck to her.
That's been her toughest challenge so far, building self esteemed. I see what kind of good, loyal to a fault employee she can be but all she kept seeing were her little failures. I don't know how many times I've told her that if it were of only me, she'd have been hired long ago. To which she replied that it was because I loved her, yaddi yadda... Then, to send her resume for jobs to which she seemed to have just about the perfect profile and not even get an acknowledgment that they had received said resume, that kind of hurt her confidence too. My attitude has always been a bit like you say, they don't want me, screw them but the plastics industry in the Quebec area isn't a big one. Every time she was getting turned down, she was seeing her chance of working in a field she just loves shrinking a little bit...

Anyway, she's still to get a clear confirmation of the offer, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Thanks again everyone for the good thoughts.

FM

[Eaglesfan27]

Tell your wife congrats from me too :)

I hope everything works out well and that she is happy in the new position.

[FrogMan]

well, we got some great news!!! They indeed called her this afternoon and they've offered her the job, she starts on March 14!!! WOOHOO!!! :)

I don't know much as I just got home, but as I passed by the computer I thought I had to pass the good news along.

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts, I'm positively certain they did help. I'll post more as I learn more about it but so far so good :)

FM

[WSUCougar]

Great news!!! w00t!!!

[Antmeister]

Congrats to you and your wife. Two happy Frogs are better than one.

[path12]

Congrats to you both!

[sterlingice]

Good news :D

SI

[terpkristin]

Great news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:) :) :) :) :) :)

/tk

[FrogMan]

thanks everyone, the FrogWoman couldn't be happier right now, she almost doesn't believe it :)

The guy who called her was at the interview and he's the main person she will have to work with. He said that there were two candidates that came out on top but that her knowledge in plastics and the experience she'd acquired with molds at her current workplace dictated her as the best choice. I think it's great that finally the going back to school has paid off for her and has given her some sort of advantage over somebody else.

He also told her that the lady she will be replacing wil train her for a month before going off on maternity leave. She has already told them that she will not return so my wife's position is not one of maternity replacement. He also told her that lady's current work time is split 80/20 between the estimator job and some project management where she's in charge of some mold projects. This is what my wife would eventually want to do so you'll understand that she was ecstatic to hear him tell her that they eventually would want her to split her time 50/50 between the two jobs. He asked her if she'd be all right with that, guess what she answered? :)

Anyway, for now it's all looking good. Only to go back to the day shift and know that week in, week out, you are working from 8 to 5 (or whatever time you have to put in) and not have to ask what your work schedule will be on a Friday for the following week, well this is worth a whole lot.

I've said it before, night shifts are evil. She is tired all the time right now. The weekend comes and she wants to sleep for 8+ hours at night and she naps all the time during the day. To switch back to a normal schedule will be a godsend, for her as well as for the rest of the family...

FM

[Icy]

Wow awesome news, congrats!

[Neuqua]

Great to hear.

Give her my congratulations.

[Eaglesfan27]

Great news Frogman. Give her my congrats too :)

[SFL Cat]

Yeah! Congrats to both of you.

[Galaxy]

Great news! Congrats.

[Craptacular]

I'm late to the party ... but congrats!

[FrogMan]

it's never too late Craptacular ;)

Thanks again everyone. Not much to add, she just left for her last night shift of the week, then two more weeks and she'll switch back to normal, hopefully never to see a night shift in her life again. :)

FM

[FrogMan]

well, a few things worthy of a late update...


Tonight marks the last night that, hopefully, my wife will ever have to work the night shift ever. She starts her new job on Tuesday morning, leaving her with 4 "regular" nights of sleep before switching back to the day shift for good. :)

My current employer, with whom she had interviewed in the first place, finally gave her some sign of life a couple days ago. We've hit some rough times over here and some 225-250 production have been laid off following a slowdown in production. All hiring have been frozen so it could explain some of the long time it took them to get back to her, not all of it but some of it. They told her she had not been retained for the job and that they are going to hire one and not two person. The one person they have come upon knows the automobile quality standards inside and out, which my wife didn't really. Knowing what she had coming very soon, in the plastics industry no less, she kept a straight face on the phone, telling the HR lady that she could understand how they came to that decision. She didn't tell the HR lady that she's starting a new job next week and was told that they will keep her resume for a little while in case something else would open up. As I told my wife, you can always listen to any offer and decide to pass...

Now back to her new job, well, she's really psyched about it. The HR lady of that place called her last week and they told her about the salary and advantages which while they are not astounding, are still not bad and much, much better than her current job. Not that she had a huge salary to start with at her current job, but the 24% or so increase in her salary will help immensely.

Again, thanks to everyone who kept us in their thoughts. Very much appreciated. FOFC is an amazing place, in which I consider that I have many friends, even if I've never met any of you... :)

FM
PS: if anybody is wondering about my job security, don't worry about it. I'm one of only two senior planners in the place and while they may make cuts in the office part of the plant, they should not cut either of us here.

[FrogMan]

Just thought that maybe some of you could be interested in hearing about an update.

Well, life's so good now. Seriously she's happier now than I've seen her in maybe the last 4-5 years. Job's demanding but she enjoys doing it and best of all, she's getting good reviews from her bosses and coworkers. They asked her to go to Chicago for a big plastics show at which their company will have a booth. For those from Chicago around here, the show is called NPE2006 and is like the biggest show for companies doing business in the plastic transformation industry. She'll be there from June 18 to 24 and she's really psyched about it.

While she first started as a technical estimator, they started giving her project to manage on her own about a month, month and a half into the job. Project management in the plastic industry is her dream job, what she's always wanted to do. To see her have that much fun while working is making me just so happy for her.

Thanks again for the good thoughts, I'm sure in some weird way, they were very helpful :)

FM

[Ksyrup]

Great news!

[WSUCougar]

Happy to hear it, FM!

[wade moore]

Woohoo!!!

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm very happy to hear it, FM :)

[cubboyroy1826]

The power of positive thoughts!! Congrats to Mrs.