Week 5 and going strong...

I have successfully made it through 4 weeks at work! Now that I'm in week 5 I'm off to the races as far as recruiting goes. I have put one woman to work (Shannon Morrow) at a company in Greenville called RBC and she starts on Monday - which she and I are both super super pumped about! I also submitted a guy named Dean Nix to RBC (in a different department) and he interviews tomorrow at 1:00! Cross your fingers that he gets the job :o) I feel really confident that he will get the job. Yesterday I went out to lunch with the DBO (Director of Business Operations) who is the big kahuna of the office. I have gone out to lunch with him once before but it was part of the interview process and incredibly nerve-racking. This lunch was much more laid back. I felt like he really valued what I was saying and was considering any suggestions that I might have made.

This week has been especially hectic already, and it's only Tuesday. My recruiting partner Jill got promoted into a sales role on Monday; I have probably made about 80 phone calls between yesterday and today; went out to lunch with the DBO yesterday and one of my recruiting partners and their contractors today; have already set 5 in-house interviews for tomorrow morning; and should probably be making a proactive list of contacts instead of blogging. I don't want to become a work-a-holic... but it seems as though I may be headed in that general direction.

On a personal note... I'm slightly upset with my cousin at this moment. Jennifer or Jonathan you can call me later and we can talk about this in detail. Long story short: She had committed to being my date for a wedding and backed out when something better came along... and it really hurt my feelings. When I confronted her about it she said that she might still be able to come with me to Charleston but would need to invite her boyfriend. Last time I checked... inviting a date to a wedding that you yourself are a date to is pretty inappropriate. It's mind boggling. But luckily I invited my great friend Natasha to come instead. She and I were fellow bartenders at Ruby Tuesday so it should be a great time.

Daisy got spayed!!! I'm not sure if I have written about that yet, but she was spayed Friday before last and is having her stitches removed this Friday. I thought there was going to be some sort of recovery period but my dog is built like a tank and within 2 days was running around the yard like normal. This past weekend Daisy and I went to Clemson as we do most weekends. This weekend was a blast like usual and on Saturday morning she BOLTED after a cat and chased it about 25 feet up a tree. It was friggin amazing. And all this from a dog that had her uterus removed a week before... craziness.

Well I am going to wrap this up because American Idol is on :o) Jen you better start commenting!

Good night xoxo

So accomplished!!!

I have been working at Aerotek for 3 weeks now and I'm finally really getting into the swing of things! I submitted my first 2 candidates for jobs last week... one backed out because she wanted $1/hour more than we could offer her (stupid hoe)... and the other candidate interviews on Monday! I have gotten such great feedback from my coworkers and account manager so I feel like I'm beginning to walk around with my chest stuck out :o)

With my first paycheck I gave my mom $150 towards bills and for letting me live with her rent-free. Then I bought myself a SUPER CUTE lime green, blue, and sky blue paisley cooler that's going to be perfect for picnics in the park and tailgating! I also got the top of the cooler monogrammed with my initials. (The top of the cooler is lime green and the letters are sky blue) I may or may not have also gone downtown a few beers once or twice...

With my second paycheck I got a new comforter for my bed which matches my curtains PERFECTLY. The colors are perfect and omygosh they just look like they were made for each other. I also got Daisy spayed... She's a year old now so maybe it was a little delayed - but better late than never. I have been nursing my poor baby back to health all day today. The incision is much smaller that I thought it would be and she is walking and running around just fine. I am trying to control how much running up and down stairs she does but there's only so much you can do to control a 1yr old 50lb excited pit bull pup that has been cooped up at the vet for 3 days.

Mom and I went to Lense Crafters today to order her new glasses. When we got there we found out that they had sold out of the frames that she picked out 2 weeks ago so we had to pick out another pair. I was so worried that it was going to take hours like the last 2 times we went to look at glasses. Luckily we were able to find another REALLY cute pair in only about an hour.

Now we're watching "Cake Boss" and I'm getting super distracted so I'll wrap this up. I hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful day :o)

Business Trip!

So I'm officially on my first business trip! I am currently sitting in my hotel room right now... on my L-shaped sofa, staring at my big flat screen TV, getting ready to go to sleep in my King sized bed :o) I won't be going on another business trip for a while so I'm really milking this for all it's worth. This trip marks the end of my second week at Aerotek. I have made a lot of the progress in these first two weeks. The first week I was was doing modules and all the boring and simple learning crap. This week I have really been on the phones, assigned to a req., and trying to fill a position. I still feel a little bit lost like I don't exactly know what's going on, but I'm sure that that will change soon.

When I got to Charlotte today around 9:30 I met with my recruiter lead, Brad Anderson. I introduced myself to the APS people in the office (APS stands for Aerotek Professional Services) and then Brad and I got down to business. We must have sat in that back office for about 4 hours just going over the recruiting process and the inns and outs of what makes Aerotek different. "Aerotek is financially the number one recruiting firm in the nation. We recruit everything from the $100K a year engineering positions to the $8 an hour data entry positions." - That was part of my "elavator speech." There is so much business jargon it's crazy... and I really learned that on this trip.

So after a really nice lunch and another few hours of training Brad and I went out for a couple of cocktails at a bar and grill down the road from my hotel. He and I chatted for a bit and finally talked about stuff other than Aerotek. After our couple of drinks he brought me to check in at my hotel... hence this blog post. I feel like a real live young professional :o)

American Idol just came on so I'm going to go watch it in HD on my big screen TV! Good night all!

The end of my first week as a young professional :o)

This is a long-distance blog post because I'm blogging from Clemson. I came down here for the weekend to celebrate the end of my first week at work! Yesterday we tailgated for the USC vs Clemson baseball game and I used my old school ID to get tickets! Going to the game was more important to me than getting drunk... however I can't say the same for some of my country-boy neighbors. After about the 6th inning my friend Dylan and I came back to the tailgate where I began crowd and drunk person control. After the game we came back to Dylan's house and hung out a bit more before I went to bed super early. I just can't run with the youngins' anymore :o) Today we went to the rifle range and shot some guns. I shot a pistol for the first time... it didn't make me feel as gangster as I thought it would.

My first week at work went really well! I feel like I have really learned a lot for only having been on the job for a week. It took me 3 and a half days to finish all of the modules and for the last day and a half I dabbled on the phones and internet to practice making recruiting. I feel really comfortable calling people and I picked up our computer programs really quickly. My account manager, the CSA, and the lead recruiter on my team have all said how impressed they are with my progress so far. Jill, my recruiter lead, said that she didn't start making calls until at least a week and a half into the job. Next week I anticipate it being a little more difficult because I will actually have goals set for me such as how many calls I make or how many people I speak with. I hear that these goals will seem almost unreachable... but I have confidence in myself. I really want to continue to impress my coworkers.

One thing that I was not prepared for was all the friggin meetings. We have a "pre-redzone" meeting at 7:45, a redzone meeting at 8:00am, meetings with our fellow recruiters or account manager throughout the day, and another redzone meeting at 2:00pm... the other day we also had a recruiter meeting at 4:45. It's crazy.

Well I'm being pretty anti-social right now... I'm sitting watching Pirates of the Caribbean with a bunch of people so the typing might be getting annoying.

Haha side note - Dylan just told Andy that "if you're ever going to shoot someone with a pistol... I think you might want to just throw it at him" because Andy sucks... it was pretty funny :o)

And to Jennifer - I saw Reid Cole at the baseball game yesterday! I told him that I was following his and Meredith's blog... so Reid or Meredith if you read this... Hello!

Alrighty well I hope that everyone is doing well! Goodnight all!

First Day in the Real World!

I had my first day at Aerotek today! It's weird but even though I was gone for 9 hours it felt like it went by so quickly! When I first got there at 7:30 they had my computer all set up on my desk with a big blue Aerotek mug, 2 Aerotek coozies, and a square letter opener/business card holder. I have my very own computer that I can bring home if I want and a desk! My first desk! I might bring some pictures tomorrow to spruce it up a bit... Oh! And I got a key to the office!

The people were so warm and welcoming as soon as I arrived. The day, however, wasn't as exciting. All I really did today was about 7 or 8 "modules" or computer tutorials to teach me about the company, job, recruiting industry, etc. I learned about my position in the Professional Services division where I will be recruiting financial analysts, mortgage brokers, and administrative personnel etc. I set up my computer and had a meeting with my account manager then a "red zone" meeting with the rest of the office. Then I began doing my modules or tutorials or whatever. At 11:30 I went to lunch with one of my team members named Nick because he was the only one I hadn't really sat down and talked with. We went to the Olive Garden and it was friggin delicious. After lunch I came back to the office and did some more modules until our 2:00 red zone meeting... then more modules. They are trying to keep me below 40 hours (because I'm making hourly training pay for the first 13 weeks) so they let me leave around 4:30 today. All-in-all a pretty great first day!

When I got home it was awesome to see that Daisy hadn't pooped in my room! She stole my blueberry muffin (wrapper and all) off my bed today while I was downstairs making coffee, so I was pretty scared that it was going to mess with her stomach. But nope! I have a wonder dog!

Mom and I had a delicious chicken dinner and are now watching the Bachelor. Jake's family hates Vienna! Why is she still around?!? I'm going to wrap this up now, because I'm getting seriously distracted. I'm excited about my second day tomorrow - I hope it's as great as today!