August 02, 2004

Mysterious ways

Today was Darla's first day at a new job. Once again, we have seen the Lord work in ways we didn't--and still don't--completely understand. Darla started today as an administrative assistant for the regional manager for a well-sized bank.

Seven months ago, before she came to work in the business office at the newspaper, Darla sent an unsolicited cover letter and resume to a local bank branch.

The letter was forwarded from that bank to another local bank. A helpful and friendly employee at the first bank knew that "the competition," where her sister worked had some openings.

Darla soon had an interview for an administrative assistant position at the second bank, and we were prepared for an offer. But we didn't have peace about accepting, and the Lord closed the door at seemingly the last minute. Not much later, that bank tried to interest Darla in a teller position. That did not appeal to Darla at all, so she said no while keeping the door open for the future.

Then the position opened at the paper, where Darla was offered the job with the understanding that she could use the newspaper as a job search platform.

A couple weeks ago, we got a message on our answering machine from that bank, again looking to fill the administrative assistant position. To us, the message was out of the clear blue; this was definitely not like any other of the jobs we've pursued. You never hear back from people; you have to keep contacting them.

Darla interviewed a second time and was given an offer. Through the offer dialogue, it was evident that the company wanted her, so they sweetened the deal. It helped that Darla had made significant improvements to the newspaper's business operation.

In the end, we had peace about the job this time around, and this job will be a much better fit for Darla's skillset than what she had been doing at the paper. She will have to commute to Harrisonburg, which will be a 45-minute drive. Thankfully, though, we have a second vehicle now. And it still beats her 2+ hour round-trip subway commute in NYC. We appreciate a boss at the paper who has been completely understanding and supportive of Darla's career move.

Posted by JRC at August 2, 2004 10:03 PM | TrackBack