I am one lucky son of a gun. On the following Thursday after leaving VPH, I secured a job at the University of Southern California / Office of the Provost. Sure, it took a lot of hard work, but sometimes you need a little magic to pull it all together.
After the onsite interview on Wednesday, I knew there was a good chance I'd get called back for the next round. The interview was scheduled to start at 2PM, but arrived early at 1:30. We started right away. After about an hour, another USC staff member joined. She was in charge of a system that was broken and needed fixing. The next two hours we discussed the depth of the problem and options to help her and her staff. At nearly 4PM we wrapped it up. I was truly in the zone of exploring this issue and time flew.
Walking across campus back to the car, I stopped to take it all in. What a beautiful place. The managers I spoke to were really nice. We clicked. Yes, this could be a great place to work, I thought to myself. But there were more interviews scheduled, both in person and on the phone. One required a programming assignment which I had to finish. So, on to the tasks at hand. I kept my fingers crossed, but tried to put it behind me.
Above: Doheny Library
Above: Yet another quad on campus.
Above: I think this is Trousedale Parkway. Farmers market there that day.
Above: Bovard Building of Administration, home of the Office of the Provost. My new office is in there somewhere . . .
The following day I was on my way back home after my first meeting. I was scheduled for a phone interview at 2PM, and wasn't going to be home on time, the interview had run late. I had to pull over to a neighborhood street just at 2:03 PM to wait for the call. I waited till 10 minutes passed the hour. A call finally came in. But it wasn't the company that was supposed to call me, it was the agency representing USC. "They loved you" she said. "Can you start Monday?". Me: "Really, Yes. YES!!!".
I'm very excited and have a lot to learn about this place. Here are some of the things I've been looking at:
http://about.usc.edu/
http://www.provost.usc.edu/
http://itservices.usc.edu/webservices/
Are you familiar with USC? Got any tips? I would love to hear from you!