Job hunting is beginning to feel like a job in itself.  I started at 11:00 this morning and didn’t finish till nearly 5:00.

I actually left around 10:00 this morning in case I had a problem finding the first place I had an interview lined up for.  I got there half an hour early and sat in the truck reading my devotions till time to go in.  The interview only lasted about ten or fifteen minutes at most.  The interviewer congratulated me on being one of twenty five people out of several hundred that they chose for the first round of interviews.  I felt a little out of my league when he told me what the job entailed.  He said he’d call by tonight if I made it to the second round of interviews, and he hasn’t.  I’m actually relieved!

I had a few minutes to spare so I dropped in on Dad and Elaine, not realizing that they were about to have lunch.  They invited me to join them, which turned out to be a good thing because I wouldn’t have had time to eat before my next interview otherwise.

My next interview was quite a distance away.  When I had first applied for the job the ad said it would be in Tigard, which is near where we are staying, so I thought this was just going to be an interview at headquarters and then I’d be working locally.  Not so.  But there’s more to the story of this place…

I have been praying for several things about whatever job I get: 1) that I’ll have evenings off to spend with Mom, 2) that I’ll have Sundays off to spend with God, and 3) that God will place me where He can best use me.

I had to wait a while in the reception area and while I was waiting another woman walked in for an interview.  The receptionist was a warm, chatty woman who found out independently that we had both come from Wisconsin and was delighted that we had something in common.  I started talking with my co-applicant and she told me that she’d had an interview earlier.  Rather than talk at each other from across the room, I invited her to come and sit next to me.  From that close range I was able to give her some information she needed, and she let me pray for her while the receptionist was out of the room.  I don’t know what it was that tipped the receptionist off, but she made a comment to see if I’d affirm that I was a Christian, and when I did she came over and sat next to me and told me this company needed more Christians and that she considered it her ministry to pray for the employees.  To me, that sounded like a sign from God that this was an answer to prayer number (3) above.

The co-applicant and I were called in finally to take a test in the computer lab.  The test had an audio section where I was supposed to listen to orders and fill out an order form using the information I received.  The second part was a typing test to see how quickly and accurately I could type.  I’m sure that under normal circumstances I type more quickly than I did on the test, but I typed thirty seven words without mistakes in one minute.  I wasn’t used to having keys that were kind of hard to press down.

After the test, I had an interview with a man who told me that the job would be there instead of in Tigard, that the hours would probably be variable, I could be working holidays unless I worked overtime before hand, and that there was no guarantee I wouldn’t be working on Sunday.  The woman I saw next verified that for the three and a half weeks of training I would be working Sundays, and after that there is no way to guarantee I would have Sundays off.  She did say that she could check to see what kinds of openings are currently available, which would tell me how many would involve not having to work on Sundays.

I left there confused.  I told God that it was like getting mixed messages from Him.  On the one hand, there was the receptionist’s comments about this company being in need of more Christians, and on the other hand, I might not get Sundays off.  What was God trying to tell me?

I had one last stop to make before heading home.  Jon, from Goodwill, had given me an application for a housekeeping job at a hotel near where I am living.  I had filled it out last night so I went to drop it off on the way home.  If I have to do housekeeping again, I will, but I kind of feel like I’m becoming typecast.  I was hoping for something a little different here.  I’m also not sure if I will be able to have Sundays off on the hotel job.  I won’t know till I hear back from the Housekeeping manager.

When I got home, Mark told me there was a message on my answering machine.  It was from the woman I spoke with at the temp agency yesterday.  She said a job had come in that she thought might be a fit for me.  By the time I called her back she was gone for the day, but that will give me a lead for tomorrow.

Mark and I were comparing our day over dinner.  Mark had been scheduled to go to UPS for a driving test this afternoon, but when he got there the woman didn’t have him on her calendar for today and there was no one to take him for a test run.  However, as long as he was there, she gave him some paperwork and sent him to have a physical done so that he could get his CDL updated.  He passed the physical, so he is now eligible to drive semis again.  He’ll be going back tomorrow for the driving test.

After dinner, Mark went to the store, and while he was gone I called my sister, Sherill, to get her input on the mixed messages I felt I had gotten from God today.  She said that I needed to get my answer from God, but she did delve into my feelings about the job as it was described to me.  The job is a long way from where we are living, the schedule described to me was variable but includes holidays unless I work overtime, and they can’t guarantee I can have Sundays off.  Based solely on my feelings about the job as described, I would be inclined to turn it down if they offered it to me.

This has been kind of a frustrating and exhausting day, but waiting to hear from the woman at the temp agency gives me hope that tomorrow will be better.  She knows what my criteria for a job is, and if she thinks this job fits me, perhaps it will be the one.  I’ll keep you posted.