Check-In #10 (the final check-in)

Well, if the last one was long-overdue...

The first three weeks (actually, each of them only four-day weeks, for one reason or another) at the new job have been a whirlwind; with an entirely new industry to try and digest, and the shock to my family's system of me getting back on a regular work schedule.

But looking back at the last check-in, it's amazing how much I'd really figured out in the mere - what - two and a half months since I'd first gotten my notice? The three "things" that I'd found (everybody knows everybody in the nonprofit world, the nonprofit world energizes me, and I'm more connected than I initially realized) all ended up coming into play, and may all be - to a great degree - why I ended up where I did.

In many ways - I could not have drawn up a more satisfying conclusion to this odyssey. I'm working in the North Side of Minneapolis. At a nonprofit. In a research/data capacity (as opposed to on the "front lines" - as a program manager or case worker or something else I'm not sure I'm cut out for). And - miraculously - brought in at a salary that's around 90% of my Big Buy salary.

Somehow, I managed to find a lateral way into this sector without having to pay the dues of going back for years and year of school, or "working my way up" through the industry. And - while I consider myself the beneficiary of good fortune, here; part of my learnings I had over the past number of months was to trust in what I had to offer a prospective employer. Early on, I saw lack of a "professional" background in the nonprofit world as a game-breaker in making a transition over; but by the point I participated in this particular interview, I had come to realize that I had a lot to offer an employer, and it was just a matter of me having a chance to convince them.

In this particular instance, my for-profit background was a positive. The idea that I had survived seven-plus years in that environment and was able to passionately convey my interest in finding something more meaningful. The years of volunteer work in theatre and my neighborhood - something I've undertaken with a relatively selfless objective - ended up really helping to make my case, as did the extensive networking I'd done over the past couple of months (and, really, with Northside movers & shakers for years prior). I don't want to say "for the first time in my life," but...it sure felt like for the first time in my life, all the groundwork that was laid, incidentally, over a lifetime of simply doing the right thing came back to reward me. It was my own little "It's a Wonderful Life" moment.

Funny - cause, for a number of people working at my new organization - they're into it & all; but for me - this is, in some ways, the last major missing piece to a perfect life (I say that realizing there's LOADS of petty frustrations & works in progress still abounding in my life; but I feel like the major bases are now kind of covered). I'm currently still a bit overwhelmed at the tsunami of information I need to wrangle, surrounding an industry at which I have next to no experience. But I'm determined to excel.

Signing out, for now, from the check-ins. Back to your regularly scheduled blog.