The hunt is over!

I was laid off from a job that I really enjoyed back in January.  I was pretty disappointed. At least I had the luxury of not having to find another job right away.  Last year, we made some changes to our budget because we thought we were going to have a child home with us in January, and I wouldn't be working as much.  Well, that didn't happen.  And God knew that wasn't going to happen, and He did know that I was going to lose my job.  We managed pretty well just on James' income.  I thought I'd have another job rather soon.  I'd been laid off before, and I was able to find a job the same week that I was laid off back then.  But that was 5 yrs ago.  The economy was better then.  Part of my severance package was a career coaching service.  I decided not to use it right away, I mean surely I wouldn't need that, right?

I began seriously looking for a job a few weeks after I was laid off.  I applied for job after job.  I went to interviews. I called a hiring manager that I knew. Nothing.  It became my daily habit to spend a few hours searching for jobs on sites like monster and indeed, apply for two or three, and not expect to hear anything back.  I probably applied for at least thirty different jobs. Even Walgreen's is having a statewide hiring freeze. I began to wonder if I should be trying to get unemployment. I got random calls about jobs that were either 90 miles from our home or clear on the other side of the state. If someone had told me that I'd be in this position three years ago, I would have laughed at them.  All in all, I had six phone interviews and five face to face interviews.  I got one job offer for a night pharmacist position at a long term care pharmacy in early May.  It was a 7 on, 7 off position.  You work a week, then you're off a week.  No vacation.  That's right - no vacation.  That was a deal breaker for me.  I almost accepted the position, but the more I thought about it, it made my stomach hurt.  I didn't want to say no.  I mean, I'd been looking for three months.  How long would it be before something else turned up?  I said no.  Shortly after I turned that offer down, I decided to use the career coaching service that was part of my severance package.  I kept applying for jobs, and I got two calls one morning about a couple of part-time jobs that I had applied for.  My interviews were a few days later.  The interview for the job that I really wanted was very brief.  I didn't know what to think when I left.  But, I got an offer from them!

I'm working part-time (which is what I wanted) at a specialty pharmacy that serves transplant and cancer patients.  I'll be working two or three days a week.  This was my first week, and it's been really good to be back at work.  I feel a little rusty.  This is extremely different from my last job, and I'm handling medications that I've never dispensed before, but I'll catch on.  I couldn't ask for better hours.  The pharmacy is open 8am-6pm, closed on weekends and holidays, no "on-call", it is not open to the general public, and in three days I haven't even seen a bottle of Lortab - much less had someone cuss me out because I wouldn't fill it 15 days early.  This still feels too good to be true!