Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Some Specific Job Prayer Requests

As many or all of you know, I've been out of work since the end of August, 2007. It's been a long road, and many times we thought I was about to be hired. Though the process itself has been fairly smooth, I felt I was missing something God was trying to tell me. Two Sunday ago He made that very clear to me. While I'd been praying all along that God would open the door for the right job that He had waiting for me, I was neglecting to pray more specifically within His will. In other words, what I needed to pray was that God would lead Katy and me to the place He had set aside for us to serve Him best...and then just let Him use the job as a vehicle to get us there, whether that's here in Omaha or elsewhere. Once I recognized that, I prayed about it immediately in church when it happened, then told Katy when we returned home that day. Her look of "I can't believe we missed this" said it all. So that was two Sundays ago.

Last week, then, I had multiple contacts from people regarding job opportunities. Until then, and I'm not kidding, not a single contact in over two months. Two opportunities have, to date, risen to the top and we could use your prayers regarding them. One of them is right here in Omaha, working for The Nebraska Medical Center. I interview for this one today, actually, at 3:30. For those unfamiliar, this is the hospital side of things here. What happened was that about 7 years ago, Clarkson Hospital and The University of Nebraska Medical Center merged. The hospital side is still largely referred to as Clarkson, but their technical name is "The Nebraska Medical Center". The other side is still the University side, or UNMC. I worked for UNMC when I first moved back to Omaha in 2002 and hated it because of the awful atmosphere. The hospital side, however, was known as being totally different. OK, enough history.

The position with them would be managing the leads and other desktop support techs in their IT department and would act as the right-hand-man to the head guy for that area. What is appealing about this job? Well, it's in management, which is important to me and I'm told the boss has created a great atmosphere, which is also important...and that's about it. I've been trying for years to get out of the computer (IT) industry and finally had done it, but now may be sucked back in.

The other job is with Ticketmaster and is based in Pharr, TX. If you're wondering where that is, you can see it on this map. Yes, that is Mexico at the bottom and the Gulf of Mexico on the right. I've had an initial interview with HR for this one and expect to receive a second phone interview with the hiring managers within the next week or so. This job is so appealing to me because for one, it's as the manager of the customer service area, mostly focusing on managing the supervisors who manage the 150 or so agents in that department. I love those duties and it's not in the IT area, which is also appealing. Cost of living is affordable down there in south Texas, and I'm told it's a great place to raise a family. Also, did I mention it's NOT in the IT area? :)

So my prayer is this, that God would close doors I am not supposed to walk through. He knows my propensity to jump on a job because it's offered, especially when I wouldn't have the liberty of waiting (the hospital job is a right now kind of thing) or feel like I could due to our present financial situation. My fear is I'd be very unhappy at the hospital job, but maybe I wouldn't be. So if I would be happy there, it'd be great if God would make it clear to me. Right now, I don't have any peace about the job at all, and my instincts are generally right. For example, I'd love to relocate to the Tulsa area, and I loved living there, but I don't feel God pulling us in that direction even in the slightest. I do feel a pull to Texas, however, and that makes it more difficult to entertain this position here in Omaha.

What do you do when you need work and have an opportunity? You look into it, give it your best, and let God handle the rest. Please pray with us that God will indeed handle the rest and remove any possible confusion over the path I should take. Thanks all!

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