Too Late

Three hours after my interview was supposed to take place yesterday, I received an email from the company stating that the interview time I had selected had already been filled. That would have been nice to know three days earlier when I picked that time. They asked if I would be able to do the interview today instead. I work today, so I couldn't (tis why I chose Monday). I emailed them back immediately explaining this and got an automated message back saying she would be out of the office until today. Interesting that I got this message only a minute after she emailed me and in the middle of the day. I haven't heard anything else back yet. At the moment I don't know if it's even worth trying to set up another interview.

Call Me Maybe?

I am currently hanging out, waiting for my phone to ring for my interview, wondering if this thing is actually going to happen. As more time goes by, I am leaning towards probably not. This is a first. I can't say I've ever had a company just not call me. What do I do now? Do I email them and try to set up another time? Not that they've emailed me back about this interview either. Do I even want to work for a place whose communication is this poor? (Maybe that's why they need to hire me.) Maybe I'll get an email later explaining why they were not able to call. That has happened before; except it was sent at the time of the call, which was more convenient. 

I think I'm going to give them fifteen minute before I continue with my day. It was only supposed to be a half hour interview, so that's halfway through the time it was suppose to last. I've checked and double checked the time change. I know Atlanta is an hour ahead of us, so a 10:30 interview puts me at 9:30, which is now fifteen minutes ago. Guess I'm not having an interview today. Strange.

Phantom Interview

I still have not received a confirmation email for my phone interview tomorrow morning. I'm assuming the time I chose works, and I'll get a call tomorrow. Usually I use Glassdoor.com to look at companies; however, I can't find anything on this company, which is a little disconcerting to me. I'm still not completely sure what the place actually does or what I would be doing for them. I guess I'll find out that stuff tomorrow, as their website isn't much help. I can't really find any reviews online either, which I always look at before an interview. I can't help but feel like I am going into this blind. I don't like feeling unprepared, so we'll just have to see how this goes.

I Want You to Want Me...I Think

I've been working at Nordstrom for about two weeks now, and I'm getting into the flow of things. Today I sold four $700+ suits to one guy! I should get commission for that kind of work. So far I am enjoying the job (and the discount). I've found that time goes by pretty quickly most of the time, so that makes me happy. I am grateful to have my job, but there is still a part of me that wishes I could do something in my field.

When I got home from work today, I found an email waiting for me from a company I applied with on June 18th. They want to have a half hour phone interview with me on Monday or Tuesday. The company is based in Atlanta. While I love Chicago, and I am having fun living here, I have not been able to shake the desire to move to Atlanta and experience somewhere completely new. I have to say this interview has come as a shock since I've taken a break from applying for the time being. I decided I wanted to get settled and start my Nordstrom job and give it a chance before I continued the job hunt.

I emailed the company back to set up a time for the interview. I figured there's no harm in at least interviewing for the job. There's definitely no guarantee they'll even offer it to me, so I'm trying not to put the cart before the horse in this situation and relax. I guess we'll see how this goes.

I'm Still Alive!

No, I did not die! Nor have I forgotten about my little blog here. This week has been crazy. First thing first, I have an apartment at last! We are only two blocks from Wrigley Field and a few from the L (train), making it, in my opinion, the greatest location ever. Even though we are so close to the stadium, it's pretty quiet on our street. As a White Sox fan, it is fun to sit and watch the fans of those lovable losers enjoy umm..losing? The people around here are by far the happiest people I've ever seen coming out of a stadium after their team was just slaughtered. It's more of a social event than a real competition to most people it seems.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning the apartment. It was rather disgusting. I'm not sure how I always manage to find the dirtiest apartments to move into. The weekend was spent packing up my stuff at Purdue and driving it to Chicago, then unpacking it here. I'll make the five hour round trip again next week to get the rest of my stuff from school. Then I will only have belongings in Chicago and at my mom's house. I'm condensing my spread.

Our air conditioning units are being installed in the apartment tomorrow, which is quite exciting. The apartment is still quite sparse. I sadly realized walking home from work that our neighbors have more furniture on their front porch than we do in the entire apartment. ha I am currently sleeping on an air mattress in my room; which is far better than just sleeping on the floor like I was last week. I spent an entire summer on an air mattress last summer, so I'm content for the time being. No more 2 hour commute in and out of the city each day makes for a lot more free time to have a bit of a life.

Whilst trying to decide what I wanted for dinner, I found that 462 restaurants would deliver to me. Honestly, how can you get any better than that?

Wrigleyhome?

After work yesterday, my roommate and I went to Wrigleyville/Lakeview to look at another apartment. The apartment was a block away from Wrigley Field! (!) which was really exciting to us. There are bars and pretty much any restaurant we'd want within a couple blocks. Our favorite bar is a mere three blocks away. yay! The red line is just two blocks from the apt, so not a bad walk at all, especially in the snow. (bleh)

The apartment was by far the best we have seen so far. It was very small, however. The bedrooms were described as large and medium. I would hate to see their idea of small. The room that would be mine was a glorified closet. However, the living room/dining room spaces were nice, and there was a back yard with a deck for grilling.

We are really trying for the Lakeview area. It has a walkscore of 97, so it's a really safe place to live, which is a definite priority for me since I won't bet getting home from work until 10pm when I close.

My roommate is viewing another apartment in the same area tonight, and we hopefully have another one tomorrow too. Things are staring to look up! Only issue now is how am I, a Sox fan, going to survive in the land of the Cubs...

First Day

Yesterday was my first day of work! It went really, really well. My manager and co-workers are all really nice. I couldn't believe how quickly time went by. I worked six hours, and it felt like I was there for two. I've found I really like working in the men's department, as when guys need help they tend to look completely lost. ha It makes it easy to pick out who needs help. A lot of the time it was a guy wondering around with a dress shirt looking at ties with a look of distress on his face. I am going to become an expert tie-picker-outer pretty soon I think.

When I was hired on I was told I would get about 30-35 hours, and eventually they would increase. My manager gave me my schedule at the end of my shift yesterday, and I am working a full 40 hours this week! yay!! Today is my day off. I work Wed-Sat learning how to open and close. It's great to work for a place that actually trains you and insures you understand what you are doing rather than just throwing you to the lions and yelling at you (erm McDonalds). We had someone call off yesterday, so instead of just shadowing like I was suppose to, I was actually put to work on the floor, which I liked. I worked the fitting room, organized ties and dress shirts, and helped people who needed assistance.

It's pretty fast paced, which I love. There isn't really any standing around with nothing to do, so that made time go by really quickly. Plus, I get to talk to people as part of my job, so I thoroughly enjoy that part. Most people seem pretty happy to tell you why they are buying their clothes, what the new dress shirt is for, how their day is going. In just a day, I have met a lot of interesting people.

Tomorrow I close, so I will learn what that entails, cleaning the store and getting it ready for the next day. I'm trying to stay out of the women's department/shoes/accessories so I won't spend my paycheck before I get it. ha I was afraid to open my mouth while we were in the stock room yesterday in case I started drooling. I'm quite excited to get back to work tomorrow, especially since I'm closing I can get up at a normal hour. I was up at 5am and in bed my 9pm yesterday. I fear I'm getting old.

Apartment Hunting

The Great Apartment Hunt has begun and there is one word to describe it, depressing. We've seen five apartments in two days.

The first apartment waaayyyy north, I feared for my life, and it was raining so hard we had to practically swim there.

Second one was also way north, too far north (about an hour) from the loop and about two blocks from sketchiness.

Third one was an okay place in an okay neighborhood, not great.

Fourth was the same, ok place, okish neighborhood. I don't think my knowledge of English or French is going to help me there.

Fifth was absolutely gorgeous and way out of our price range.

We then just walked around and got information off For Rent signs on buildings. We'll start calling those tomorrow. (After my first day of work!) We inquired about a lot of places Friday night, so hopefully we will hear back from some of them tomorrow.

Kalamazoo Heat DCW is out!

The latest newsletter edition of Drum Corps World came out today! Click on the link to get there. My article is on page 24. This newsletter covers shows from July 3rd to July 9th.

This has been a very exciting years for DCW. According to my publisher, we have only not covered five DCA/DCI events this entire season so far, which is the greatest amount of coverage the magazine has ever had. We are covering so many shows that our publisher has had to add these supplementary newsletters in addition to our full issues. The last issue released last week was over 100 pages. A year ago, DCW had a circulation of about 6,000; now we are nearing 30,000. I love being a part of this publication!

The Great Apartment Hunt of 2012

My roommate and I have commenced on The Great Apartment Hunt of 2012 in Chicago. After using many different apartment search websites, I have settled on hotpads.com as my site of choice.

I don't understand why people don't post pictures of their apartments. Why should I believe your written description of a place? Just because you say it's a castle in the middle of the city, doesn't make it true. I don't want to waste my time going to look at a place that you were too embarrassed to even put pictures up. People who put up floors plans or dimensions are the best.

Hotpads.com has a cool "street view" application where you can look at a 360 of the view of the neighborhood around the apartment. When a matter of a block could be the difference between college housing and the projects, it's important to know exactly where the apt is. I have found that using the street view then looking at the cars parked on the street is really helpful. If there is a BMW parked on the street, I figure we're probably ok. If all the hubcaps are missing from the cars, should probably avoid that area.

I will be in the city Thursday and Friday and will try to see as many units as I can during that time. We are hoping to move-in as soon as possible since I start work Monday, and my roommate is already past sick of the commute. I would prefer using my money towards rent rather than train tickets.

So far I've request information about eight apartments and have received responses from three. Good odds? I should probably be getting back to the hunt. Onward!

What Options?

I just finished writing my next article for Drum Corps World. It should be in the next newsletter to be released on Friday July 13th. I had more trouble writing this one than the others for some reason. Probably because I have seen some of the corps four times now, and it's getting harder to say something new about the shows that haven't changed much. I did get to see the Madison Scouts for the first time. They were absolutely amazing.

Nordstrom sent me my paperwork to be completed before my first day of work (a week from today). I'm struggling with what to do about my living situation at the moment. I am still applying for other jobs in my field, so I don't necessarily want to sign a lease limiting me to one place for the next year. However, after some calculations it looks like commuting will cost almost as much as paying rent in the city would, plus a four hour commute each day. The more time I spend commuting, the less time I will have outside of work to work on my writing jobs, which are so important to me. Keeping my options open, as I feared, is getting harder and harder as time goes by.

I got a job!!!

I got the job at Nordstrom Rack today!! I went into my interview at 11 am in the State Street store. It lasted about an hour. During that time I had three interviews and two walk throughs. I originally came in to interview for a position in the shoe dept. I met the shoe dept manager and interviewed with him. We then did a walk through of the store, focusing on the shoe department. After that he went to get the store manager so I could meet her. Instead the manager of the men's dept came in to interview me, so I interviewed for that as well. Finally, the store manager came in and talked to me in a less formal interview manner.

They asked a lot of standard questions:
Why here?
What's your greatest work related accomplishment?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What skills do you offer than can better our company?
Describe a situation where you...

Stuff like that, three interviews I'm not going to try to list them all. After I finished talking to the store manager, the men's manager took me on a walk through in the men's dept. He explained the basics of what happens, where things go, that kind of stuff. I was asked if I had any preference in what department I worked in, I didn't. I just want a job.

The shoe dept was only hiring part-time. The men's dept was hiring full-time and part-time. They said it was possible I could be hired part-time and eventually work up to full after people start going back to school and such. I could also work part in shoes and part in men's making me full-time. They said they would be in touch with me within the week, but they hoped it wouldn't take long. However, they were interviewing other people, so it would take time.

About an hour later the manager of the men's dept called me and said he was so impressed with my interview that he wanted to offer me a full-time position with his dept! Yay! I will start on Monday, July 16th. I'll start at 30-35 hours a week and increase as I get trained and people start leaving for school. I will be working the fitting room, stocking, inventory, customer service, ect.

They stressed throughout my interviews how Nordstrom usually hires/promotes internally and with the rate they are growing there will be room for growth quickly. They said this job could be a stepping stone to eventually working on the Nordstrom marketing team, which would be amazing!

Funny story, I was hired and rejected by the same company on the same day. About ten minutes after I accepted the job, I got an email from a different Nordstrom store telling me they were going to interview different candidates. I found this rather amusing.

Finally, I have a job where I get paid! I will hopefully be moving into Chicago as soon as possible. I just have to get the whole housing situation figured out. That's all I have for now, more details to come I'm sure. Now I'm off to celebrate!

DCW #2

The July issue of Drum Corps World has just been released! My article is on pages 38-41. There are eight pictures with my article, which is pretty cool! Because this is a full issue and not just a newsletter, you will have to go to www.drumcorpsworld.com to see the magazine.

I will cover my third show this weekend, so that article will be in the next newsletter.

My interview in Chicago is tomorrow, so I'm getting ready for that today. We're suppose to set record high temperatures in the city tomorrow, so that should be toasty. I'm a little nervous since I haven't interviewed for a retail position in years. I'm not sure what they are going to ask, so it's hard to feel prepared.

5 Minute Phone Interview

I just finished my phone interview with Nordstrom Rack in Chicago. I have an onsite interview this Friday!! The phone interview lasted a whopping 5 minutes and one minute of hold while she scheduled a time for my next interview.

Questions asked:
Why do I want to work at Nordstrom?
Do I shop at Nordstrom?
Why the shoe department?
Why would you work well with customers?
Tell me a time when you had to use customer service skills.
Tell me a time when you had to manage multiple tasks at the same time.
Nordstrom is a diverse workplace. When is a time you dealt with diversity?
When are you available? (all the time, I have no life ha)

Friday I have an interview with the Shoe Dept manager. Looks like I'll need to get a hair cut before then. yay :)

DCW Kalamazoo

I just received a new assignment for Drum Corps World! I will be covering DCI Kalamazoo in Kalamazoo (surprise!) Michigan. The competition is at Western Michigan University. I've never been there, so I'm pretty excited to see the campus. DCW originally had someone else covering it, but they never got back to my editor, so he gave me the assignment. yay! I'm excited to finally get to see the Scouts after the disappointing rainout in Merrillville last week. Of course, my Blue Stars will be there too! This will also continue to boost my resume. I'd like to get as many articles published as I can before my interview with Halftime, so I can show that I have a solid foundation writing for nonacademic publications.

Also, more exciting news, I just found out one of my friends from school is going to be at the show Saturday, so I am quite excited to see him as well. This Monday isn't turning out too badly.

Blockage

My second article for Drum Corps World has just been sent in! Yay! The next issue should be released later this week. The article had a rough start, but I think it turned into a decent piece. I always start writing early in case I get into one of those weird funks where I just can't seem to write anything decent. That happened to me yesterday. I sat down to write three different times, and although I pretty much knew what I wanted to say and had a notebook full of notes from the show, the words just would not come. At that point I know if I try to force it, all I am going to end up with is garbage. So, I went to sleep and woke up this morning ready to write.

Even in school I'd always found that allowing myself at least a week to write a major paper was always the best route. I never understood my roommate who would start a paper hours before it was due. Working under pressure isn't always a bad thing, but when you're down to the wire there's no time for edits. I like being able to walk away from what I've written and come back later with fresh eyes to be able to really evaluate my work. But, hey, whatever works I guess.

Tomorrow I have my phone interview with Nordstrom Rack. Bad news, I have a sinus infection that's doing strange things to my voice. It seems today will be a day full of tea and sinus meds in hopes that I can sound somewhat normal tomorrow. Wish me luck...

Halftime!

I have an interview for the editorial internship with Halftime Magazine!!  Because they are under deadline right now, the interview won't be until mid-July. I should get an email in a week or two to set up the date and time.

Halftime is based in Cincinnati. The internship is mostly work from home with occasional onsite meetings and events. I would give me experience writing, editing, and managing their social media. I would be able to continue working with and writing about music and marching.  So keep your fingers crossed!

Now I should really start writing my article about the show last night, which was amazing. The next issue of Drum Corps World should be out later this week.