Author Archives: Wife of a Sailor

Everything happens for a reason.
~My mom 

If you remember, I had another opportunity last April and was selected as one of the most highly qualified. I didn’t get the job due to someone taking it in a lateral transfer. But I had met the supervisor while I was volunteering at the airport helping military families coming home after being displaced by the tsunami. We seemed to click well enough. He’s been getting my resume from several different people he and I both know, including me sending it to him when I came to the area almost two years ago.

Then in November, right after I was laid off, a community relations job opened up in the Navy too, with the same supervisor. It was perfect for me. Like it was written for me. So I applied. And waited because I felt this was exactly what was meant to happen. The supervisor seemed eager to know I was applying.

But I didn’t get it. Heck, my resume didn’t even make it to the supervisor. I wasn’t sure why, but I figured I just hadn’t figured out the new system the Navy uses to screen resumes (USAjobs). I had CHART down but the new system might have been looking for something different.

So I agreed to do the three month active duty Navy thing that I’m doing right now.

Today, my CAPT walked in and looked at me and said, “You need to call XX because I just heard from the admiral this morning that that position opened back up again.” <side note: the CAPT knew about the job because if I had got it, I couldn’t have done the three months active duty for him>

So I called the (hopefully future) supervisor and he said he was glad to hear from me. He told me the person they had hired had quit three days before she even started the job. So he said the job was open again and said he didn’t see my resume the first time around. I told him I did apply but hadn’t made it through the automatic computer screener.

He then told me that he has no idea why it didn’t make it through except that maybe the other people had more eligibilities. I told him I had the VRA but that my military spouse preference had expired in May. He said he was going to be opening the position wider but that he was limited in what he could open it to due to it being a term position. He then said that he doesn’t know of anyone else who has the resume I do for this position. He offered to meet with me and let me ask him any questions I might have. We have to do it soon because once the position opens, he can’t really talk to or help any candidates or potential candidates. So we have a meeting in a few weeks to chat. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

I do have a job interview on Friday. It’s a great job and may just be local (instead of Seattle) but I’m not sure. Their website says they have offices in Portland and Seattle, but the CAPT (yup, same one as above) told me about the position and seemed to think they had an office locally. That would be AWESOME.  This job pays decent money and is more sales and member relations. While I can certainly do sales and am good at it, I’m more interested in the member relations part. I’m excited to hear more about this position.

When it comes down to it, I just want to work for a company that is solid, dependable (read: won’t lay me off after just a few weeks so they can rent a building in another state) and one that appreciates me for my skills and one I can wholly get behind and enjoy coming into work each day.

I still have more than two months left of active duty but it’s getting to the point where I need to start getting job interviews if I’m to have a job by the time April 1st rolls around and I’m no longer on active duty. It takes a while to go through interviews, then second interviews and then the offer. I still have time, but in another three weeks or so, if I don’t have progress, I’ll start panicking a little bit!