Ununemployed

It's so pervasive to me that I haven't thought till now to document it in my blog:

I HAVE A JOB!

Yes, God has again pretty much dropped a life decision right in my lap. This time I was really prepared to roll up my sleeves and slog through a long and time-consuming job search. I didn't interview senior year, and I really didn't do much for two months after graduating, but then I started to do the things that good job hunters do: go to Career Services, work on my resume, sign up with Pitt's job hunting online service, and go to a job fair. Nothing was really clicking though, and I kept feeling like I was butting my head against a wall. Then one day not too far in I was looking over employees who had interviews scheduled at Pitt, and there was this company called Guardian Industries that was located in Jefferson Hills.
I did a double take.
Jefferson Hills?
That's where the Harveys live!
That's . . . really close!

Indeed, it was true. A classic starting chemical engineer job right down Rte. 51... 20 minutes from home and totally opposite downtown traffic! The responsibilities sounded intriguing (learn, troubleshoot and improve the glass-making process), and the interviews were in only a few days!

I signed up and sent some emails, and they ended up cancelling the Pitt interviews, but I got a phone interview a few days later. I remember studying up on the company like crazy when I found out, and basically being pretty worked-up about the call. It was my first real job interview ever, and all the mystique and foreboding and craziness I'd ever heard about seemed looming on the other side of that cell phone ring. But it came, I talked reasonably well, and most importantly, I didn't bomb :-) I asked some good questions at the end, and I guess they liked me, 'cause a few days later they called back and invited me for a plant tour and a series of in-person interviews.

That was on a Friday, from 9am to about 12:30. I got a long plant tour and then interviewed with four people, all the way up to the plant manager. All the interviews went very well - almost surprisingly easy and natural. The plant was pretty interesting - way way smaller than NOVA's huge spread-out multi-area site. It's one long warehouse-type building with silos and a furnace at one end and offices and glass plates at the other. Spanning the length is a long bed of liquid tin on which the glass floats, gets shaped, cools, and then is scored and broken into squares. It's a pretty nifty process, and it cranks out about 350 million tons of glass a year, running 24/7/52. Guardian itself is a 19,000-employee privately-owned company, 3rd or 4th worldwide in glass manufacturing and growing markedly for the past 20 years.

I guess they continued to like me 'cause Jake the HR guy called me back a few days later and said there had been a lot of positive comments after my visit and they wanted me back for a more in-depth plant tour and some more interviews. That was the day that I felt like the job was mine - it seemed more like my first day of work than an "interview." I talked more with Earl, who'll be my direct manager, and I hung around with Brian, the other process engineer, and I learned a bunch more about the process. The people I met were just nice normal folks, and I started to have a pretty good feeling about the prospect of working there. I left with an application form and a free Quaker Steak 'n' Lube lunch in my stomach.

So that was it for awhile, and I dutifully went to another job fair, finding only dreary prospects that left the Guardian job seeming all the brighter and better. Then I got the call on the way to Harrisburg, I got the details Monday, I got the offer letter and benefits info Friday, and I signed myself away Wednesday. My background check has gone through fine, and now we await only a clear physical (Tuesday) to confirm my tentative start date of April 30th (Two weeks from today, seeing as it's no longer Sunday).


So, I'm planning to enjoy my last 2 weeks of freedom, and I'm contemplating the prospect of 50 years of working every day. That's part of being a man, and I'm ready to start, but I'm also interested to see if God brings some different things in the coming years. In my mind I'll be at this job for a year or two before I move up or out, which is expected of this position since it's a starter ChemE job. Whatever I end up doing, it will be great to start my career in operations, learning a real day-to-day manufacturing process.
I'm also anticipating being challenged in making new friendships and being a witness for Jesus Christ in a new and dominating context. I think God will have a lot of growth for me, and... well, I'm just not quite sure what it will really look like for me to settle into a job that won't just be over in 4 months or let me sit back and chill as a student. I believe that grace is there, and I'm ready to walk into it, but I'm not quite sure what I'll find when I get there :-)

And for now Dad's cool to let me live at home, so I'll be savin' like a fiend. Real life awaits, and it's nice to meet it with some money in the bank.

What a life I've been given! When I see where God has allowed me to start from, all I can really respond with is a desire and a determination to use it however He shows me to. Why the free engineering degree? Why the great job? Why the stable home and loads of life teaching and training? I can't say, and I won't feel guilty about it, but by God I'll do whatEVER He wants me to with it. And even as I looked over my offer package, I knew that 401K savings can melt away like snow, full bank accounts can shrivel to nothing in an instant, houses can crumble, and nations can collapse in a day. When I think of a wife and kids depending on me I already feel pangs of anxiety, but below that I know that if I'm where God wants me to be, I will be secure, and He will never let me down. Whatever He gives me, I'm grateful for, and wherever He takes me, I'll follow confidently.

Here I come! *dun dun dun*

--Clear Ambassador