IMR: 1998: September: 16

IMR: 1998: September: 16 -- Wednesday, 10:35 p.m.
Our Apartment, Makiki, Hawai`i

I've been offered a full-time job.
I went in today for the interview. They want me to start next month.
What's more amazing is that after all the convoluted applications I'd filled out in the last six months and all the rejection letters I'd collected in my desk drawer, this opportunity came out to get me.
They interviewed me on a recommendation from Ruth, who once cracked the whip as Associate News Editor when I was a lowly staff writer at Ka Leo. Even though that was six years ago, we always kept in touch, even after she had moved to Atlanta. This company liked her so much they flew her back to hire her. And now they trusted her judgement enough to give me a chance.
So I met with them for two hours. And I was completely blown away.
This company's outlook -- or its philosophy, its mission, what have you -- was so compelling I had a hard time sitting still. Despite the high tech focus, there was much more to be said about its underlying values.
I immediately knew I wanted to work with these people, and it was all I could do to keep from blubbering like an idiot. When Ruth first told me about the job, she had a hard time explaining what made the company different. Now I understand why.
I even had a chance to meet with the boss, a man so disarming and thoughtful it was no surprise the company was growing despite all the bad news about the local economy. He had a lot of the same views on information technology that I did, and it was difficult for me to discuss them without sounding like a preprogrammed Yes Man.
(We also discovered, by sheer chance, that we're related. Well, sort of -- He's the brother of my stepmother's brother's wife.)
Full time but adjusted to fit around my class schedule. Good benefits. Salary to be determined, but definitely "competitive." From the practical standpoint alone -- especially since both sides of my family are a little concerned about the wisdom of our fantasy, single-income household -- its quite a windfall.
But, more importantly, I feel like I did when I started working at PBEC: the best part is the people I'll be working with and the things I'll be doing.
The only thing I'm dreading, and dreading so much that my stomach hurts, is telling my three wonderful employers that I'm leaving. The people at both my campus jobs would bend over backwards to keep me around, and nearly did when my student status was in question last month. And I haven't even been working downtown a month yet, haven't had a chance to really show what I can do.
It's not anyone's job to be liked, so it's a blessing to work with people you like. People you may even consider friends. Even though I know that this new job is something I can't pass up, and even though I know my current coworkers understand (they'd been following my job hunt for some time now), it won't be easy to quit.
Aw, who am I kidding. If you've seen one student employee, you've seen 'em all. They'll probably hardly notice I'm gone.
And frankly, I'm too thrilled about this opportunity to worry about it.
As far as I know, there's only one downside to this new job. Okay, two.
First, for complicated reasons, they greatly despise the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. On that, I guess I'll just keep my loyalties to myself. Second, they apparently don't allow any "outside" work in the same field, i.e. web design, i.e. the likely end of poor, fledgeling Leahi.Net.
It has always meant a lot to me to do my online version of "community service." But as much as I love maintaining a dozen or so small sites for campus departments and non-profit groups, it doesn't put food on the table. I guess this is one of the "hard decisions" one has to make in life, but for me -- at least as I look over at Jen and Katie dreaming on the bed -- it really isn't hard at all.
Wow. I was just getting comfortable with Windows NT and Microsoft's dizzying, Swiss-army suite of applications. Now I'm going to have to pick up Lotus Notes, Symantec Visual Cafe, Active Server Pages and dynamic database integration.
I'm majoring in journalism why exactly?

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