I have not been blogging lately and it was due to the fact that I had been struggling with darkness in my life and my blogs when I have some depressed feelings are too dark to read. Very simple, I did not share the pain, you did nothing to deserve any of that stuff.
But, this week I am in Northern Virginia starting a new job in a converting plant that takes giant rolls of tissue and towel and cuts them to size and packages them for distribution in your local stores. I will be a Base Paper Engineer and be involved with product development, manufacturing trouble shooting and most importantly, interfacing with the roll producers to get the best product into the plant. So my career path now veers back into manufacturing after a 26 year stroll through the supplier forest. All the technical information that I have gathered over the decades will come to play in the new role and also people skills will definitely be challenged. Converting is stressful and not everybody is on the same page, so to speak.
A job search at age 63 is brutal. The majority of the companies that I contacted and applied are not interested in an experienced person of my age. Too old. They do not say it, but their intentions are crystal clear, we are not interested. I applied at least 75 times to jobs I felt I was qualified and about a third did nothing, another third just waited you out and the remainder acted professionally and started a dialog at least. Most of them threw a lot of experience out the window--their lose. I really want to work another 5 or 6 years.
After eight months of grinding, late December appeared to finally show signs of the end of the job search. There was three possible roles for me. Mercury Paper--my current employer--found my application on Indeed and called my back immediately and started to recruit me hard--finally somebody is pushing to get me on board. We set up an interview at the plant two weeks before Christmas, Another job I had been trying to get an interview for 2 months and it was going to finally happen the week after interviewing at Mercury. A third job I had interviewed in late October and I asked for a decision by December 27--ten weeks after the interview. They felt they could not make a decision around the Holidays and they were out in my opinion--they got fair warning. I cannot retire waiting on your decision!!
Once I had my final interview with Thiele Kaolin, I already had an offer from Mercury and at that point, I had something in the bank and I could get my decision made. Thiele took another two weeks to make a decision and I was using a head hunter on this job and she did the heavy lifting of keeping my informed on the delay. The decision was between me and another guy. The CEO wanted me and the the rest of the staff wanted the other candidate. After a two week stare down, the CEO backed down and I was out. In late December I made an agreement with Mercury and here I am. Glad to be back to work. Thiele paid a lot more and would allow us to stay in Tennessee if we wanted, so I really wanted to wait and see it if would be something worth seriously considering.
We are still trying to sell our house in Brentwood. We had two signed contract that fell apart before we could close and it has been really hard to continue to keep it prepped to show and stay positive about the outcome. Our realtor has been busting her butt to get this thing sold and we have also dulled down the kitchen and eliminated a lot of colors so it appeals to a larger and much more boring demographic. The daffodils are starting to bloom and the Spring colors should help the process, we are hoping. Last weekend, we had 6 scheduled showing and things are active--we just need to get it sold. Saint Joseph is buried in the correct position and Linda had a shaman (I think) calm down any evil spirits last weekend so we have positive energy all around--great!
Throw this mess together and and it has been a dark Winter for me. Things are picking up and we will not be burning 401K cash to survive--the stock market last year was great and that really helped get us through much easier. I actually get paid this week too! Next step is to find some short term housing and work on getting moved. The company has a relocation plan for me and that will do most of the expensive part of the moving, whew!
The area I am currently working is very near the Shenandoah National Park entrance and the Appalachian Trail. As the weather improves I will get to exploring some of the local scenery and challenges on the trails. Training has been really spotty this season, too busy with house showing and other stuff to be interested in any real training. The indoor season may get skipped. Little training to date and I do not have any time off for a while to travel to meets. The new people have to start over on vacation accumulation. 😫
Things are getting better, believe me, they are.
But, this week I am in Northern Virginia starting a new job in a converting plant that takes giant rolls of tissue and towel and cuts them to size and packages them for distribution in your local stores. I will be a Base Paper Engineer and be involved with product development, manufacturing trouble shooting and most importantly, interfacing with the roll producers to get the best product into the plant. So my career path now veers back into manufacturing after a 26 year stroll through the supplier forest. All the technical information that I have gathered over the decades will come to play in the new role and also people skills will definitely be challenged. Converting is stressful and not everybody is on the same page, so to speak.
A job search at age 63 is brutal. The majority of the companies that I contacted and applied are not interested in an experienced person of my age. Too old. They do not say it, but their intentions are crystal clear, we are not interested. I applied at least 75 times to jobs I felt I was qualified and about a third did nothing, another third just waited you out and the remainder acted professionally and started a dialog at least. Most of them threw a lot of experience out the window--their lose. I really want to work another 5 or 6 years.
After eight months of grinding, late December appeared to finally show signs of the end of the job search. There was three possible roles for me. Mercury Paper--my current employer--found my application on Indeed and called my back immediately and started to recruit me hard--finally somebody is pushing to get me on board. We set up an interview at the plant two weeks before Christmas, Another job I had been trying to get an interview for 2 months and it was going to finally happen the week after interviewing at Mercury. A third job I had interviewed in late October and I asked for a decision by December 27--ten weeks after the interview. They felt they could not make a decision around the Holidays and they were out in my opinion--they got fair warning. I cannot retire waiting on your decision!!
Once I had my final interview with Thiele Kaolin, I already had an offer from Mercury and at that point, I had something in the bank and I could get my decision made. Thiele took another two weeks to make a decision and I was using a head hunter on this job and she did the heavy lifting of keeping my informed on the delay. The decision was between me and another guy. The CEO wanted me and the the rest of the staff wanted the other candidate. After a two week stare down, the CEO backed down and I was out. In late December I made an agreement with Mercury and here I am. Glad to be back to work. Thiele paid a lot more and would allow us to stay in Tennessee if we wanted, so I really wanted to wait and see it if would be something worth seriously considering.
We are still trying to sell our house in Brentwood. We had two signed contract that fell apart before we could close and it has been really hard to continue to keep it prepped to show and stay positive about the outcome. Our realtor has been busting her butt to get this thing sold and we have also dulled down the kitchen and eliminated a lot of colors so it appeals to a larger and much more boring demographic. The daffodils are starting to bloom and the Spring colors should help the process, we are hoping. Last weekend, we had 6 scheduled showing and things are active--we just need to get it sold. Saint Joseph is buried in the correct position and Linda had a shaman (I think) calm down any evil spirits last weekend so we have positive energy all around--great!
Throw this mess together and and it has been a dark Winter for me. Things are picking up and we will not be burning 401K cash to survive--the stock market last year was great and that really helped get us through much easier. I actually get paid this week too! Next step is to find some short term housing and work on getting moved. The company has a relocation plan for me and that will do most of the expensive part of the moving, whew!
The area I am currently working is very near the Shenandoah National Park entrance and the Appalachian Trail. As the weather improves I will get to exploring some of the local scenery and challenges on the trails. Training has been really spotty this season, too busy with house showing and other stuff to be interested in any real training. The indoor season may get skipped. Little training to date and I do not have any time off for a while to travel to meets. The new people have to start over on vacation accumulation. 😫
Things are getting better, believe me, they are.
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