As of this past Monday, I am now once again gainfully employed. It happened fast, too!
Long story short, I connected with someone on LinkedIn who put me in touch with a local someone else who forwarded my resume over to another person. This third person (a recruiter at a staffing agency) contacted me for a position which I was very interested in, but I think they were further along in the process by the time I got in the pipeline because they didn’t call me.
It put the organization top of mind for me, though, so I started looking to see if there were other opportunities. Fortunately, one popped in my hometown!
At first, I contacted the staffing agency recruiter to tell him I was interested, and he said well, he was getting an OOO from HR, they weren’t returning his calls, blah blah blah.
Sunday evening I said screw it, and applied directly online on the company’s website.
Monday afternoon HR calls me to schedule an interview for 9 am Wednesday.
The interview was over by 9:45 and by 2:20 I had an offer!
So, as of August 12, I am now working as an account representative for OneBlood. It is my job to get people on the Big Red Bus to donate blood.
I am so excited! This is a fantastic organization doing literally life-saving work and I am so honored to be a part of it.
I’m a bit young for retirement and Og forbid anything happened to Ivylad before I could tap into my 401k. This way we can put the final polish on our funds.
Congrats! And here is an absolutely true story that could help your recruiting. Blood donation saved my life - as a donor. I donated at least twice a year ever since college. I went in to donate and got rejected, for the first time in over 35 years, for a fluttery pulse. I had a lot of Mountain Dew for lunch, and I thought it was that, so I went to my doctor (my checkup was 2 weeks before) to get a note allowing me to donate. Turned out I had Atrial Fibrillation. I’m on a blood thinner and I’m fine, but I could have keeled over at any moment if the blood center people hadn’t taken my pulse.
Can’t donate any more, alas, but I can cheerlead.
ivylass, congratulations! As others have said, you are in a life saving business.
Also, thanks for those documents you sent me, I’m looking them over.
Do you mind if I include a link here to a story about an Australian man, a blood donor? His name is James Harrison, and he and I have one thing in common, a dislike of needles. I, like he, have never seen the needle in my arm. But he’s WAY ahead of me in donations.
I dunno… I retired two days ago, and already had a friend trying to get me to give it up for a huge lucrative freelance project.
I could use the money, and I really want to help my friend, who’s in over his head with this client. So I downloaded a ton of deep background, learned everything about the client, and… it’s over my head as well.
They wanted to hire me because I’m a smartypants. But if *I *can’t understand what this client should be doing, I’m not surprised that they can’t either.
So, I bowed out. I feel terrible disappointing a friend, but I doubt we would’ve ended up friends after we ultimately couldn’t actually help the client. (Oh, and getting paid would’ve been tricky)
I celebrated by walking to a poké place, then having a beer at a local boathouse. No regrets… ahhhh, freedom.
So big congrats to you, ivylass, but I’m still retired!
Congrats to you, ivylass!!! I’m curious, if you are willing to share, how the compensation works…do you get paid based on how many people you recruit to donate or is it a straight salary? How much does such a position pay?
Baker, that’s a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.
Enola, I get a salary plus a bonus for every month my area meets its goals. I am already chomping at the bit…there are SO many places around here that would be perfect for a blood drive that aren’t even partnered with us yet. For instance we have a local winery and they have events regularly that are a huge draw.
Whoo…signing up high school kids is both easy and tough. One teenager asked why we took blood. I explained people who have cancer and people in car accidents may need blood. She said, “So you take blood from people to put in other people?” Um, yeah, that’s how it works (with numerous steps in between, of course.) I think she was a little appalled (and from what I could tell, under the minimum weight anyway.)
Mom is a retired Hospice Nurse and has worked Red Cross Blood Drives for many years, volunteering up front with Registration. Ooooh, the questions people ask her !
Congrats on this situation. It’s not a job, it’s a calling.
