HIRED

So I got a job that is sort of in the feild I studied for in school. Hooray!

As you know I studied speech and in order to go on as a SLPA (my ultimate goal), I need to get certified. BUT the certification program is impacted with a 2 year PLUS wait list. So I can't do much with my degree now. (I feel like a broken record, I must have explained this a million times already).

Anyway, I've been really unhappy with my current job. I've been here for over 4 years and while I'm treated really well and have great benefits, sometimes I get fed up and just want to quit. It's the same thing every day. Nothing changes. And it's not even remotely related to what I want to do. That frustration has inspired me to browse craigslist.org for job postings related to my major. I found several positions for a Behavioral Therapist (ABA Therapist) working with children with Autism, but most required someone with at least 1-2 years of experience working with autistic or special needs children. I don't have any experience.

I finally found one company that said they preferred experience but were willing to train "the right person". I had a good feeling about this company and sent my resume a month ago but never heard back. Since then, I've revised my resume and added my experience from teaching Sunday School at church on to it to show that I at least have experience working with children. Recently, I noticed this same company continued to post on craigslist and I decided last week that I should re-submit my revised resume. There was just something about this company and I KNEW I had to try again. It's the only one out of several that I got such a positive feeling about.

Well, on Friday I got a call back. On Monday I had a phone interview. On Tuesday I had a face-to-face interview and after that, I was HIRED. They asked specifically about my experience teaching Sunday School, so I know that was what clinched it for me and I'm SO glad I decided to put that on there.

Training starts 12/4 and is one week long. Then I guess I'm out on my own. The job will consist of me going to appointments at a child's house or school to help them with a therapy plan. The goal is to help them improve their communication and social abilities which can be severely delayed with autism and other disorders. The position is part time and I believe it's just in the afternoons/early evenings, so I'm hoping to maintain full time status at my current job for the benefits. It's going to be a lot of work balancing a full time job and a part time job, but I imagine it will be kind of like when I was balancing a full time job with full time school. I'll have really long days and I might feel burnt out sometimes, but it'll all be worth it, I think.

This job will help me to make a difference in the lives of many special needs children and it will give me great experience for when I switch over to speech. You have to start somewhere and this is my start. The first job of my CAREER.