My first full-time job after I made landfall in Canada was in the call center of a major medical laboratory network. It was something of a dead-end job both in terms of salary and prospects, but it paid the bills and I made friends among my coworkers, one of whom told me I could do better.
So after two years there, I went back to college (a little apprehensively, because I could see my savings being funneled into a bottomless maw called tuition fees), and I got my medical laboratory sciences diploma in 2012. I'd always done well at college and I liked it, but now I was back to applying for jobs.
Then I saw a hospital position being advertised on the college's website, and the salary mentioned was the highest I'd ever seen. I sent off my resume at once, and then looked into where the hospital was located, because I'd never heard of that city before. Turns out it's on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Hence the high salary.
The hospital contacted me for a phone interview. I didn't think anything would come of it, but I thought this could be good practice for the real interviews I would have later on. So I was calm and confident, plus I answered all their questions easily and ended up getting offered the job.
I thought it over, discussed it with a few people here and decided to accept. It was only a four-month contract position, and it paid well. Plus, at the start I knew hardly anything about the place or the working conditions (and the people I interviewed with didn't mention little issues like the shooter in the hospital).
After I had arrived, and while I was still in the honeymoon phase of the job, they offered to extend the contract to nine months. I agreed, but by the time the seventh month rolled around, I was starting to burn out. Everyone worked a Monday-Friday day shift, but each week one person (in addition to working the M-F shift) would work alone Saturday and Sunday as well as being on call Saturday and Sunday night. I dreaded this. If there were several calls on Saturday night, I'd be completely exhausted the next day, and I never felt confident about working on my own. That would be fine for someone with years of experience, but this was my first job out of college. And there always seemed to be some crisis to deal with. Nothing was routine or stable.
What really scared me was that sometime during the eighth month, I stepped on a scale and saw my weight was down to 79 pounds. The hospital was on an island, which limited the amount, variety and freshness of the food that was transported in, plus I was so stressed I wasn't eating well anyway. By the time I came back home at the start of 2013 I was mentally and physically wiped out.
On the plus side, I'd earned more than enough to pay off my student loans. So I could afford to take time out to recover from the experience. I worked a part-time contract position which didn't put me under so much pressure, and that ended in late 2013.
I applied for jobs through 2014, without success, and that started getting to me. I felt like I'd gone from doing so well in college to making a disaster of my first job, and that hung over me like a cloud. I felt like a failure, although I did my best not to show it.
Then in late June, I heard from my friend at the call center, who said she'd seen a job advertised in the company and I should apply for it. She even emailed it to me. I'd gotten cynical at that point and thought it was probably the kind of job that's advertised to the public when it's actually going to be filled internally, but I couldn't disappoint my friend. So I applied for it, and got called in for an interview.
I felt the interview was a long shot at best, because they'd seen all the other candidates on Friday whereas I got squeezed in on Monday. I also suspected the long gap in my work history would be a pitfall. But the interview went well, and I think my extremely varied experience was a plus point. It's unusual to hear from someone who grew up in the Middle East, studied in Texas and worked in the High Arctic.
I was offered the job a few days ago.
It's a nine-month contract position, working the night shift in the lab (which I don't mind because I won't have to be there during the day as well, plus there'll be three other people working at night) and is in the same building where I once answered phones and looked out of the window and thought, 'I have to get a better job.'
So after two years there, I went back to college (a little apprehensively, because I could see my savings being funneled into a bottomless maw called tuition fees), and I got my medical laboratory sciences diploma in 2012. I'd always done well at college and I liked it, but now I was back to applying for jobs.
Then I saw a hospital position being advertised on the college's website, and the salary mentioned was the highest I'd ever seen. I sent off my resume at once, and then looked into where the hospital was located, because I'd never heard of that city before. Turns out it's on the edge of the Arctic Circle. Hence the high salary.
The hospital contacted me for a phone interview. I didn't think anything would come of it, but I thought this could be good practice for the real interviews I would have later on. So I was calm and confident, plus I answered all their questions easily and ended up getting offered the job.
I thought it over, discussed it with a few people here and decided to accept. It was only a four-month contract position, and it paid well. Plus, at the start I knew hardly anything about the place or the working conditions (and the people I interviewed with didn't mention little issues like the shooter in the hospital).
After I had arrived, and while I was still in the honeymoon phase of the job, they offered to extend the contract to nine months. I agreed, but by the time the seventh month rolled around, I was starting to burn out. Everyone worked a Monday-Friday day shift, but each week one person (in addition to working the M-F shift) would work alone Saturday and Sunday as well as being on call Saturday and Sunday night. I dreaded this. If there were several calls on Saturday night, I'd be completely exhausted the next day, and I never felt confident about working on my own. That would be fine for someone with years of experience, but this was my first job out of college. And there always seemed to be some crisis to deal with. Nothing was routine or stable.
What really scared me was that sometime during the eighth month, I stepped on a scale and saw my weight was down to 79 pounds. The hospital was on an island, which limited the amount, variety and freshness of the food that was transported in, plus I was so stressed I wasn't eating well anyway. By the time I came back home at the start of 2013 I was mentally and physically wiped out.
On the plus side, I'd earned more than enough to pay off my student loans. So I could afford to take time out to recover from the experience. I worked a part-time contract position which didn't put me under so much pressure, and that ended in late 2013.
I applied for jobs through 2014, without success, and that started getting to me. I felt like I'd gone from doing so well in college to making a disaster of my first job, and that hung over me like a cloud. I felt like a failure, although I did my best not to show it.
Then in late June, I heard from my friend at the call center, who said she'd seen a job advertised in the company and I should apply for it. She even emailed it to me. I'd gotten cynical at that point and thought it was probably the kind of job that's advertised to the public when it's actually going to be filled internally, but I couldn't disappoint my friend. So I applied for it, and got called in for an interview.
I felt the interview was a long shot at best, because they'd seen all the other candidates on Friday whereas I got squeezed in on Monday. I also suspected the long gap in my work history would be a pitfall. But the interview went well, and I think my extremely varied experience was a plus point. It's unusual to hear from someone who grew up in the Middle East, studied in Texas and worked in the High Arctic.
I was offered the job a few days ago.
It's a nine-month contract position, working the night shift in the lab (which I don't mind because I won't have to be there during the day as well, plus there'll be three other people working at night) and is in the same building where I once answered phones and looked out of the window and thought, 'I have to get a better job.'
