Making it Up as I Go Along

So you know how I have a real-person job, but most of the time I feel like I'm totally faking it? You know, like I have no idea at all what I'm doing but I pretend I do in a "fake it till you make it" life strategy?

Yeah, that's still happening.

The past couple weeks I've hired 4 new people to work in my department.

This is awesome. We were pretty understaffed, so we decided to hire a couple of part-time people. Then one of my full-time housekeepers decided to quit at the end of the month, so I needed to hire for that as well.

Commence faking it.

There are about 1.3 billion things that I did not realize came with the process of hiring people. Are they over 20 hours a week or under? Will they get COLA? Do they go to staff development days? What if everyone wants to work different hours? Will my staff get along or make each other miserable? Should I hire locally? Will the 20-year-olds I just hired get along with the not-quite-20-year-olds I already have working for me? Do I want someone young and flaky but full of energy, or someone older and more reliable?

Not making this process any easier is the fact that it's hard to get know people in an interview setting. Of course you're trying to put on your best face. But I want to know the bad stuff. And if I hire someone and they're completely miserable to work with, that's pretty much on me.

Ugh, it's a lot of pressure.

So I decided early on to trust my instincts and try not to get too blindly excited when someone seems fun.

So I hired Janice, who is a sweet Williams local who came highly recommended by our Sites and Facilities Supervisor. She started last week and has been wonderful.

Then I hired Liz and Abigail, NAU students and YL leaders here in Williams. They are sweet and fun and full of energy. I'm excited that I can give them an excuse to have to be in Williams 3 times a week and some money to get here. Also, I'm pumped to pour into them a little and live vicariously through them. Leading YL half an hour from where you go to school? I am familiar with that.

And then yesterday, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. I hired Susie, who is a super fun girl who interned at my old stomping ground, the Washington Family Ranch. I was pretty sold on her after she admitted to facebook stalking me the first time I talked to her on the phone. Also, I accidentally hung up on her during her interview which was pretty funny and not super professional on my part. But she's moving here from WA the first week of April and I'm pretty pumped to hang out with her.

Honestly, it's been a really fun process. It's fun to see my stamp on this place grow bigger and deeper. And it's also fun to work in a place where I can look at an interview as a chance to get to know someone and hiring someone as a chance to add to my family away from home.

I love my job!

Song of the Day: 9 Crimes by Damien Rice (It's really dreary and snowy, hence the sad song.)