Feast or Famine, Begin the Feast Dreamed 6814 days ago | | 553 words

I threw applications out everywhere I could find. Web design jobs, paid internships, help desks, tech support departments, even a couple of newspaper design and print shops.

And waited…

I had settled in for a long wait. I knew from experience that jobs never come quick for me. I would most likely be flat broke before I even got an interview.

However, this was not to be the case. Within 24 hours I had an interview with Alphagraphics in Richmond. Shortly after that, I had a second offer to design and maintain the web sites for all the student mediums at VCU, my alma mater.

I was shocked. I did know what hit me. Here I am with a job offer and an interview less than two days into my renewed job search. I was overwhelmed and had the weekend to figure things out. All this news came on a Thursday and my two meetings were on Monday.

That weekend, I found and packed nice clothes and left for Richmond where I crashed with Kelly for the weekend. Sunday I scouted where I was going for my interview the next morning. And the rest of the weekend is really a blur. Everything was happening so fast my head was spinning like a rubber ducky in a bath drain.

I show up for the interview Monday morning and wait around nervously in the lobby front of the store for them to see me. I look at the print samples on the wall and check out what sort of machinery they had.

Shortly, I was called back into the office of the owner for the interview. They were impressed with my background and understanding of print and the printing process. They were pleased with my technical background and smiled when I mentioned I rebuilt PCs on the weekends for fun.

Basically, I left feeling absolutely amazing! I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks but also trying to contain my enthusiasm, figuring they’d find someone better.

I went to my car and headed down towards VCU for my next meeting, which was an actual job offer, not an interview.

Fast forward a couple hours to my VCU meeting. I met with Mrs. Wirt and we talked about The CT and how things were going at the school.

We talked for a couple of hours which was great because it got me caught up on how the paper had changed and the school had changed (to be brief, VCU is overhauling the mass comm program and it’s going to suck!) since I left one year ago.

I told her I accepted the offer to be the web designer for the student mediums. However, this acceptance hinged on my interview with AlphaGraphics earlier that morning which she said was fine.

I left knowing that it was me they wanted for the position. Not someone else, me. I knew the system, I knew the paper. They knew I had a passion for design and could do it well, since I was the Production Chief at the paper for two and a half years.

On the drive home that evening, I felt good. Really good. I knew that if all else failed, someone was going to pay me to do something for them in the near future. I just didn’t know quite how near that would be.

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