A little post-interview blogging

Well, I’m 95% sure I got the job. I might have to meet one more person who was supposed to be there today, but everything else went great. The HR guy was not at all cultish or “We’re so great!” so maybe that’s only true in the retail and wholesale sales companies and the publishing world is more straightforward, I don’t know. Or maybe I’m just too cynical. Anyway, he still asked the cheesy questions, but after my whole rant about “honest interviews” I actually said some things I normally wouldn’t (about difficult people I’ve worked with) and that really worked in my favor in this case, because apparently their reservation with candidates is finding someone who can handle the stress level of dealing with some difficult characters, which I can definitely do with my experience.
Getting this part-time job would be amazing and scary. It’d be my first foot in the door at a publishing house, but it would also mean I’d be working 7 days a week, and I’d prefer to have 1 day off to run errands and such during the day. See, I can’t quit my other job because a) I’m in the middle of a huge inventory project they just paid a couple thousand dollars for, b) they give me free health insurance and the part-time job wouldn’t provide any option to even buy in for 3 months and then, it’d be expensive, and c) I can’t live on a 20-hour a week salary. I can barely live on my 32-hour a week salary without dipping into my savings. Also, I’m supposedly getting a raise at my job this week, so it’s not exactly the perfect time to leave.
So, I’d be working Monday, Wednesday (9-4, before my 4:30-6:30 classes Mon and Wed nights which ends April 24th), and Friday (9-5) at the new job, and Tuesday, Thursday (10-6), Saturday (10-5), Sunday (12-5) at the old job for at least three months before the publishing thing could become a permanent, full-time position. It’d probably be closer to 6 months.
That’s kind of scary. I’m hoping I can maybe cut back to three days a week at the old job eventually, but I’m kind of lucky they’re paying for the health care as it is because it’s technically only for full-time employees. They only offered to add me because they valued my work as much as any of their full-time people. I know they won’t be thrilled to hear about the new job, because I know they want to retain me, but it’s just not my field and it’s not something I see myself doing forever. I like them and I love learning some of the things I’ve learned, but it’s not a long-term situation.
I’m not sure if publishing is “my thing” either. I know I’d do well in advertising, marketing, publishing, something like that. If I could move up at this company and then make the leap to New York or somewhere after becoming a managing editor, I wouldn’t have to go through the terrible “no money” phase and then I could go into magazine publishing… I don’t know. Anyway, it’s a great thing to add to my resume, diversify me further, show that I can cut it at a publishing house.
So, I’m happy and terrified. And soon to be overworked. But, I actually like working, and I think I’ll like it better if it’s not a lot of days at the same place. I’m a little ADD still, so rotating days is probably a pretty good schedule for me.