An Offer I Can't Refuse

After almost exactly 6 months of job search, it's finally happened!

This morning I received an email from Abilicorp with an attached offer letter for employment (and associated new hire paperwork) at a major banking institution in San Francisco. The actual gig has been described in earlier posts, but suffice it to say here it's a perfect fit (with growth room), and the pay offered is on the high end (reasonable) of my career expectation - and may include (as yet unspecified) benefits.

I'll start on the 5th of April (next Monday at this writing). The job is a 3 month temp position but an open-ended opportunity as the team I'll join is for the purpose of concept validation for a process that will be ongoing if successful (and you can bet I'll be driving for success - and to become indispensable to my employer). Employment (continuation) is still dependent on a (still pending) background check, but the signs there are good (if not perfect).

Needless to say all the paperwork and supporting documentation has already been faxed back. Also needless to say is I'm thrilled with the opportunity, and grateful to all who have kept me in their prayers and helped me up to this point. My "excitement" is tempered (in a serene way) by the full knowledge that this is but another step in a long process of rebuilding a "wrecked" life (hence my moniker), making amends as needed, and clearing up the wreckage of my past. The difference today is that I have a hope that is unshakable so long as I continue on the spiritual journey of recovery and maintain my connection with the (utterly mind-blowing) higher power I've come to know.

As always, gratitude is the attitude, and serenity is the state.

Movement - A Free Throw at the Line

This morning the employment ball got tossed to me - a rep at AbiliCorp e-mailed me the authorization forms for my background check (a requirement of the employer). I just got back from faxing the completed forms back to her, and now it's another waiting game; I'm told there's a backlog with the background research company, but in any case, the employer would want me to start on 4/5 if I'm hired, so no big issues for me with the wait. My AbiliCorp recruiter has told me things look quite good for my application - and any issues (there are a few potentials) with the background check (financial woes), we'll take them as they come.

So as it's been throughout this process, it's me doing that next right thing as I'm presented with it, and give all the rest (worries, outcomes) to my higher power, who's infinitely better able to handle all of this than I am. As complicated as things look on the surface, I've got a really strong sense that this is going to represent a watershed in my recovery - the God of my understanding leading me through the process of clearing away some of the major wreckage of my past, so I can be the more unburdened, and free to be a living example of the power to be had through the spiritual way of life given to me by my recovery program.

All good here!

Reconnecting in Recovery

Quick Update:

Had a wisdom tooth removed yesterday - local anesthetic and nitrous only. A pretty (amazingly) painless procedure overall, and doing well today.

Still in a holding pattern re when my 2nd interview will be scheduled, and still waiting to receive the authorization form for a background check - meanwhile, I've passed along to my AbiliCorp rep an updated references list, which brings me to the point of this post...

Re-creating and updating my references list for this promising job application process, I've had, in the past couple days, the opportunity to experience (again) what is probably one of the most profound and beautiful gifts (promises) of recovery; reconnecting and renewing my relationships with people from my past. From the standpoint of humility, some of these folks have every reasonable justification for wanting nothing to do with me ever again (whether I made amends to them or not).

Yet, thanks to a higher power (HP) whose mysterious ways I can't fathom, not only have *every one* of these people forgiven me, and spoken kindly to me when I called them to ask for reference permission - they've jumped enthusiastically at the chance to help me. In some ways, this isn't the least bit surprising, as the particular folks I'm interested in using for this purpose really are the "cream of the crop" - very good people whose kindness, patience, and tolerance I took extreme advantage of in my addiction. So, you see, my higher power was watching over me and caring for me even then - when I was oblivious, even militantly resistant to acknowledging his existence.

Where this puts me today is in a position of deep gratitude - for the amazing things my HP is doing for me today, and the ever expanding (and re-awakening) circle of friends growing up around me (another promise of the program). Crazy old alcoholic me gets to have the finest friends and colleagues anyone could ask for.

Recovery is good indeed.

Moving Forward!

I just got a call from my AbiliCorp contact indicating he'd spoken with the hiring manager (see previous post) and same wants to move forward with the preliminaries of getting me on board within the next two weeks!

Said preliminaries involve a background check (somewhat tricky on the financial side - again, see prior posts) which I must authorize (form being sent to me), a references check (I'll be providing some updates to AbiliCorp) and another interview with a counterpart of the hiring manager.

Needless to say, my AbiliCorp rep is quite confident that I'll secure this position; nothing carved in stone yet though, and unless/until I have an offer in hand, I keep guarded optimism - and gratitude that the process is still alive and certainly trending my way.

More to come as more happens!

Serenity Baby B-Day

I'm 15 months "old" today - "birthday" Dec 12, 2008.

Noteworthy, of course, on this birthday is the serenity attendant to my job interview yesterday. Details to follow, but first my profound gratitude and amazement at my acceptance today of uncertainty. Yes, I want this job - it really is a perfect mix of capability and challenges for me - a real opportunity for personal and professional growth. And no, of course, I don't know if I'll get it yet - and likely won't know until late next week when final decisions are made. The real difference my spiritual program makes for me today is that I'm perfectly OK with not knowing; whether I get the job or not, I can look forward to more growth and a better life than I can imagine - so long as I stay in fit spiritual condition by staying connected and working my program.

My personal experience of the interview yesterday and its result: awesome! Again, that's my perspective, and I can't account for anyone else's (including my interviewer - the hiring manager). And that's OK. What's awesome about my experience is that I really did go into the process with a deep serenity and conviction that I was putting my best foot forward, and offering myself up in service - just as my HP wants. What feedback I did get from my interviewer was largely positive; I was only once "sideswiped" by a question I didn't have the best answer for, and most of the process involved the manager explaining what he needed, and me explaining what I had to bring to the table to help him achieve those goals. Rigorous honesty was maintained, and at the end of an interview that took slightly longer than scheduled (good!), I was shown around where I might be working, and informed that I may have another interview (with a different person) before a final decision is made (also good!)

Another awesome thing about this process was that my AbiliCorp recruiter met me in a coffee shop just prior to the interview, for a last-minute prep talk that (he and I were both pleased) was barely needed, but much appreciated nonetheless.

The job in question is actually one position of several in a new project team the manager has received funding for to literally test the viability of (his) conceptual framework for managing security against cyber-attacks on a real-time basis. The data analysis piece I would be doing is to ferret out anomalies in event tracking data that could indicate malicious activity, and recommend approaches to dealing with same. The idea is to stay one (or more) step ahead of the "bad guys" before they can do actual damage. The challenge for me based on my experience is the "real time" quick-turnaround aspect; it's also the most exciting part of jumping on board with a new team. Teamwork is the emphasis, which fits in perfectly with the new "design for living" I've been given through my spiritual program. It's no longer about "I" and "me", it's about "us" and "we".

So today, it's guarded optimism, and no letting up on anything relating to my spiritual program or my job search process (including my DOR development plan!).

Banking on Amends

Tomorrow (3/11), I have my very first in-person job interview since I launched my job search last October. More on this below, but first...

One of the major financial amends I still need to make, is to the major banking institution that served me for many years (personal banking & credit services) before and during my alcoholic decline. These folks fronted me a great deal of money over that time; one perspective I've had was that they "gave me the rope to hang myself with" - and while that might be the case, I know today it wasn't their fault I chose to do so - winding up in serious default, teetering on bankruptcy (which could still happen, eventually). When I finally lost my job in late 2008, any chance of making good (as if I would have, in my then state), evaporated with it. Not surprisingly, I am now (probably via this institution filing) on the national "financial services bad list" - unqualified to hold any bank account at all (at major institutions anyway). As I continue to seek employment, the making of this (and other financial amends) starts to loom large on my horizon - something I'm actually grateful for today, as I do want to begin to clear up this self-inflicted damage as soon as possible.

Warning: The last sentence above is a bit of (literary) magician's sleight-of-hand - meant to lead you, the reader, down the merry path of dismissive assumptions, to the zinger coming below.

Back on the job search front, enter AbiliCorp - a disability-focused employment recruiting company, who got me the "hook-up" for the job interview tomorrow. I met with two AbiliCorp recruiting counselors on Monday - for the dual purpose of "interviewing" with them (I'd be an AbiliCorp contract employee for the first 90 days), and to prep me for the job interview at their client's office in San Francisco. These folks have "gone to bat" for me in no small terms, and they are convinced that I'm an excellent fit for a deep analytic consulting job on a short-term project the client is engaging to help them determine whether a longer-term project is viable. In other words, I'd be jumping in on the ground floor of a project that could literally take off for the sky...

The client? Well, it's inappropriate for me to name names here, but if you take into account my teaser above, you might have already guessed that the company I'm interviewing with tomorrow (hiring manager!) is none other than that very same major financial institution to whom I owe a ton of money. That's right, kids, I'm going into the lion's den and asking the lion if he can spare a pork chop. Surprisingly, even to me, the AbiliCorp folks (and yes, I'm practicing rigorous honesty here) think the issue won't be seriously relevant - and I shouldn't bring it up unless asked. Being as it's a major bank, a background check is a certainty - but the AbiliCorp folks believe (as I'm hopeful of) that given my good fit for the work, and assuming I interview well, my financial problems are pretty "typical" of this current economy, and the employer will probably disregard it as an employment issue.

Now enter my Higher Power (HP) - the reason I'm writing this post in the first place. I would guess that a lot of folks might think I'm a nut-case to waltz into the offices of a company I owe huge amends to and ask for a job. Maybe even the hiring manager would think that. But none of these (imagined) people know my HP the way I'm getting to. If there's one quality I can unquestioningly pin on my HP, it's a wild-ass sense of humor that ROCKS. The favorite thing my HP loves to do is shove my issues/defects in front of my face repeatedly in creative ways that I simply cannot miss - until I finally throw up my hands and say, "OK, I get it! I'll do it your way!" Case in point: this specific financial institution has been showing up in my job search (with near-perfect matching positions) over and over and over again, through online search engines, and numerous (same and different) recruiter calls. Up till now, I've been responsive, but lukewarm - but no more. This one is hot!

Here's the deal for tomorrow: I go in with no outcome assumptions at all. I might get a job, I might not. If I don't get a job, nothing bad has happened - I just keep rolling along with my job search, as I've been doing for months now. My job is to hunt for jobs. But tomorrow, with a fully prayed and meditated and "meetinged" (I'm able to attend one prior to my interview - thanks HP!) and therefor hopefully fit spiritual condition, I go, dressed to the nines, suit up and show up, to put my very best foot forward and explain to these folks how I might help them if they help me. Professionalism, humility, gratitude, and a willingness to be rigourously honest - because that's what my HP wants from me, no other reason - are my watchwords for the day. And there's the payoff, whether I get the job or not - I'll get the serenity of knowing I did the will of my HP, not my own (at least not my old will - the best result of which is a homeless shelter) - better than any prize I could hope to win. I do the footwork - my HP takes care of outcomes, and of me. That's the new deal in recovery, and it's a sweet deal indeed.