Jake and I had decided that our seasonal jobs were basically over and instead of getting more dead-end jobs where we didn't want to stay, we'd move to a new place and try our luck there. Arizona appealed to us because of the warmer weather and it seemed like a natural post-BYU stopping place. So we applied for an apartment in the same complex as some of our friends that moved down here recently and got a little one bedroom apartment down here. It's a little smaller than our place in provo, but the living room is bigger so the space is more usable. We can actually fit both couches in the same room now!
We were a little anxious about moving down here without any firm job prospects, but my parents were really supportive and told us they'd back us up. Honestly it just made sense for Jake's career plan for us to move down here. There's a new assisted living place practically every 20 feet, so lots more job opportunity. And for me, there's about 4 times as many people in Mesa as there was in Provo, so there's bound to be more editing jobs just because of population density.
After about a week of looking, we'd applied to literally hundreds of jobs (and I actually mean literally). We had a couple of interviews pretty soon and then we got hired! Jake is working at an assisted living facility called Osbourne Health and Rehab as an assistant activities director. It's only part time for now, but it's more hours than his Toys R Us job, high pay, and most importantly: it's actually in his field! He's one of the first guys they've hired in his position, I think so I think they're still learning how to incorporate his talents. He's been baking cookies for a bake sale and painting nails on "spa day" so he's certainly learning some new skills! (He assures me his nail-painting skills are fine, but he's never been able to help me with mine without it ending in disaster, so I'm skeptical.)
I interviewed at a couple of places, one I thought I'd really like to work at, and another at an accounting firm as a "correspondence coordinator." I couldn't tell what that meant, but I was qualified so I went into the interview and about halfway through they were asking questions like, "So what made you apply for this job?" "Now that you've learned more about the job, does it still sounds like something you want to do?"So basically we were both wondering what in the world I was doing there.
Luckily I got a job at the first place I interviewed, so we don't have to worry about how sad my life would be at the accounting place. So now I'm a Junior Content Coordinator at Textlinkbrokers.com. I edit articles to post on third party sites to help promote client websites. We do other things too, but I'm not doing those yet, so I'm still a little fuzzy on how they work. For the most part, my job will consist of editing articles like the ones I used to write for my freelance job.
I like my job, it's editing and all the wonderfulness that I've missed so much. They told me I got the highest editing score on their test, so they're glad to have me on board. This is the lovely photo the entire company was emailed earlier this week:
The caption said: Kelsey Webb has joined the Marketing Fulfillment department as its newest Jr. Content Coordinator. In April 2013 Kelsey received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. While enrolled at BYU she worked on the student journal as an editor and most recently was employed as a freelance guest blogger at Boostability.
So I'm having a grand ole' time editing and reading articles and learning the ropes. The only drawbacks so far is that since I'm new they put me in an available cubicle, and I'm kind of by myself away from the rest of my team, so I feel a little lonely. That's really not that big of a deal, the main issue is that they use AP style and are strong against the Oxford comma. *Cue weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth* THE HORRORS! Needless to say it's going to take a little time for me to let go of my editing style in order to let the house style take over.
Other than that, we've been to a new ward a couple of times and it seems like a "Nearly dead and newly parented" to paraphrase an old saying. Most people seem over 60 or under 30 with 2-3 young kids. There aren't enough young men to pass the sacrament and such.
We're still working on unpacking, so I can't post pictures yet because I can't find the camera charger. Harley seems to be adjusting okay to the new place. There's lots of new windows to look out, and since we're on the second floor there's tree top birds to look at. We have venetian blinds on the windows so she just forces her way through them and sits in the window.
