I finally got a (real) job!

It only took, well...5 1/2 months, and it isn't what I studied or even a full-time position, but it is a good job as a secretary/assistant to an attorney 3 days a week and I'm happy!

Since being back home in Iowa I have slowly been able to earn money in various ways to pay back loans from 7 years of studying music (and German). The best surprise for a job has been playing in the local symphony, especially I didn't know they would even be looking for a replacement principal oboist until I moved back. Working at the fine jewelry counter in the department has been a fun job with really nice co-workers, but unfortunately just not enough hours (though I'm still "on call" there). Add in the school concerts, the extra music gigs, and that one-day-job in the previous post, and you have a potpourri of odd-jobs, slowly putting pennies back into the bank account.

But needing something a bit more consistent, I signed up with the job placement agency after not having much luck of my own with the local job market. After a few false alarm job options, the first one being a position I was trained in for which ended up being cut entirely, as well as a few others that didn't work with my inflexible schedule (symphony school concerts, trip to Chicago) the search was put on hold.

Since then, however, I've been back and ready to start a job. I've also been counting the days until my first hefty student loan repayment bill comes due this month. Last weekend I signed up with a nanny agency and that has already shown some serious possibilities which I will have to consider. But, as far as immediate work, I finally decided I needed to bite the bullet and apply for the part-time position cleaning rooms at a local motel. Almost as soon as I made that decision, I got a phone call from the job placement agency, telling me I had an interview the next morning at a law firm.

The interview went well and I was asked to start Friday (today). I was excited, but with my experience from the last agency-recommended jobs, I wasn't sure if it would end up working out as planned. Sure enough, inevitable drama ensued and I found myself caught up in the middle of a debate between the employer and the job agency. Turns out the employer didn't want to necessarily pay the agency their steep service fee for "finding" me, therefore breaching their contract. So the agency basically told me the job was off and I was not to go in on Friday.

However, in the midst of several phone calls, finally a compromise was made: The agency would discount their fee dramatically, and the employer would pay IF I committed to working for at least the next 60 days (so as to make it worth paying the agency fee for finding me...). Well, what the employer suggested next caught me off guard: If I committed to working at least the next 60 days and then for some reason I left before the 60-day period was over, I would need to pay half of the fee back.

If it had been much more than 60 days, I would never have consented since I really can't promise I will stay here. But since I know that I will be here for at least the next 60 days, I did commit. So the employer, the agency, and I all decided I would, indeed, come into work on Friday since an agreement had been met. (In case of having to sign a contract committing me to the fee-repayment, I did write my own contract protecting myself in the case the employer wanted to abuse my commitment in any way).

With a bit of trepidation, I went to work today curious to see what it would be like to work with this person, but am happy to say that the issue was thankfully not brought up, absolutely no contracts were brought out, and it seems that everyone is happy. I liked my first day and the work seems like it will be interesting. Yay!