USAA—Now I get what all the hype is about!

Nathan was right, 2011 brought new opportunities, new outlook, and new perspective to me! Right after the New Year one of Nathan’s peers brought a job to me at a company here in San Antonio called USAA. USAA is everywhere in San Antonio. It employees, well pretty much everybody in SA and has a VERY solid reputation. I have driven past the mile long building on numerous occasions. I have seen the security covered entrances and the endless lines of cars coming in and out. USAA was never a company I considered working at. Now, that seems downright ignorant with hind sight. USAA supports our veterans in finance, investments, and insurance. It is colossal. It is intimidating. There are 22,000 employees and just to give you an idea of the size of this place, it is bigger than the pentagon at 4.2 MILLION square feet. How and where could little ole me fit into such a giant corporation? Nathan presented the opportunity to me and everything seemed too good to be true. The next thing I knew I had the interview lined up. Before I knew it, I was inside the belly of the beast waiting in the staffing center lobby to meet with two women who I now call Tammie and JD, my team leader and my Director perspectively. The interview went amazing and I did not even get out of the parking lot before I was gushing to Nathan about how much I wanted to be a part of that organization and praying to God, just please please please give me this chance! As I am driving home, I get a call from the hospital. Another interview! What? This can’t be happening. Now, I had an interview the very next morning. As I am getting ready for the interview the next day, Nathan gets word that I got the job at USAA. All I am thinking about in the hospital interview is how excited I am about USAA. I end up getting an offer letter from Baptist as well, but ultimately I took the job at USAA. There was some deliberation there and stress but now I know made exactly the right choice. I started on February 9 and have been thoroughly impressed, intrigued, and motivated since my first day. The building: intimidating. The staff: not so much. Every person is great so far. Lindsey is my trainer and partner. She is a blessing! I am on my third week and have caught on 100 % thanks to her and my team. As for what I do: I am on the Candidate Care Team in the Talent Acquisitions Department. We are the recruiting force behind USAA’s superior staff. I love my job. I am not kidding, I love my job. I work with a fantabulous comedian and she too was at a not so fair place of employment prior to making the switch. She summed it up perfectly: “It’s like going from an abusive relationship to a really nice guy….” I could not have said it better myself! To conclude this post, I had a revelation. I was thinking too big and I deep down I am a very simple person with simple goals and dreams. I want a stable life, not a fast one. I want to be a part of the community, have a happy successful marriage, and start a loving family. If I have got that, then I have got it all.

Let’s catch up to speed: 2011 is MY YEAR!

As I stated there has not been too many monumental moments to blog about so I will give you the short version of what I recall about the end of the year. I was laid off on July 29, 2010 and so the grueling process of a) figuring out what direction I wanted to head in, and b) finding a J.O.B. Neither, I had a clue about. I mean this silly naïve girl (at one time) thought she would grow old with the old company. HA! That would have been a huge mistake. Liberation…. So my days were filled with endless websites, job boards, phone calls, Oprah, etc. Thank goodness for Nathan. He definitely led me in the right direction. I ended up getting excruciatingly bored so I volunteered at the hospital in our neighborhood. North Central Baptist Hospital. I loved it there, especially my volunteer director Lisa. She was a firecracker! This was all a part of the fact that I thought I wanted to enter the health care industry. Everything was aligning and I was applying to endless jobs at the hospital and surrounding health care systems. I even had a couple interviews but for one reason or another it did not work out. During this time was my 27th birthday. I was not exactly excited about it since I honestly was not where I wanted to be turning 27. Actually let me take that back, I was exactly where I wanted to be, I just did not have a job. Working is a big part of who I am. I like working; I like the structure and the value it adds to us. I like contributing to my household and my family. That night, Nathan took me for a nice romantic dinner at the Vineyard, my favorite restaurant, complete with lots of flowers. YUM. My girlfriends took me to a wine and painting class, so much fun! But overall very low key. Then there was Christmas. Again something that I normally am so cheesy and giddy and excited about, but this year I just had a dark cloud over my holiday season and that was the fact that I was closing a year and more importantly starting a new one, not really knowing what the heck I was in for. Nathan would reassure me that the New Year would bring more jobs and new opportunities. My parents were in town for quite some time during December, so that is always appreciated. My sister and I mended our last fall out and it feels good have her back in my life, especially the little man too! Everything was good. New Years Eve we attended an 80’s themed party and definitely rocked out the 2010 year. So long 2010! Helllllooooo 2011!

“You have a blog?” ($%8!, I need to update my blog!)

So, as you can see it has been A LONG TIME since I have posted anything. I started the blog so that my friends and family could see what I am up to, but mostly so I can look back on it down the road and reflect. Reflect on what I have been through, dealt with and have a visual time line. If you know me well, you know I have a horrible memory. I stink at remember dates and chronological events. When it comes down to it though, I suck at blogging. I never remember to post anything, and when I do think of something to talk about, I think it is silly, who is going to want to read that? I promise to get better. Well, I take that back. I promise to be inconsistent, confusing, silly, irrational, and unreliable when it comes to this blog.