Our Job Search

We have been on a roller coaster ride this semester with the LDS Church in regards to Garrett's possible employment with them. Here's a recap:

Back in December, Garrett heard that the Church was looking to hire Facility Management Interns. He didn't need another internship to graduate since he had already completed the two internships that were required for him to graduate but he thought it might be a good idea to apply just in case. He thought if he got it, it would probably increase his chances of them offering him a full-time position after graduation but either way it would have been good experience to add to his resume. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that he did get the internship because we thought it was a step in the right direction. We were further encouraged into thinking he'd get a position with them later because one of his peers applied for the internship as well and when the Church found out that he had a job lined up already after graduation, with a different company, they told him that was the reason they didn't want to hire him on. They said that they were hoping to hire interns who they could eventually hire on as employees and could work with the Church long-term. So that made us think that we'd get a job offer even more than we previously thought. Also, just to add to our high hopes, we knew that the Church had been on a hiring freeze for the past two(?) years and were just finally off of it. That meant that a lot of the Facility Managers (FMs) who were working for the Church during that time had very heavy workloads and now that they are no longer on a hiring freeze, there would be several Facility Manager positions open to lighten the workloads of the existing FMs. So at this point, we were very hopeful.

Garrett started his internship and really loved it. But as time went on, Garrett talked to some of his peers and professors who had worked with the Church and heard that the Church apparently takes several months to hire people. We started to think that we would probably get a job offer from another company before the Church ever got around to starting the hiring/interviewing process and we were okay with that. We just figured they would drag their feet too long and we'd get another job in the mean time so we didn't think Garrett would work for them anymore. 

Of course Garrett wanted to keep his options open so he still showed interest in working with the Church but also looked into and interviewed with several other companies who we thought were more promising. After about a month though, we hadn't heard anything from one of the more promising companies, and we started to worry again. The Church didn't seem like they had any plans to move the process along with Garrett and then we weren't hearing anything back from any other companies so we were just really not sure if we'd even get a job offer at all. We were pretty concerned. 

Garrett continued interning and enjoying the work he was learning and eventually, Garrett had a few conversations with his current bosses. First, they found out he had applied to other FM positions with the Church online, but in different areas. They sort of hassled him about that saying that they sort of had something in mind for him at their office but they couldn't say anything for sure since they don't have the final say. Church Headquarters does. So we started feeling hopeful again like at least they were kind of interested in keeping him on. Then they had another conversation with him where they asked how serious or interested Garrett was in working with them. He responded that he was very interested. Then they said, "Well, we want ya." And Garrett said, "Well great, cuz I would love to work here." So that was our informal job offer and our informal offer acceptance. At this point we were like 90% sure we had a job with them. 

We were wrong though. What it really meant when his boss told him he wanted Garrett to work with them was that he would recommend Garrett for the formal interviewing process. As I mentioned earlier, ultimately it is Church Headquarters, not his boss, that makes the final decision about whether or not he'd get hired. And actually, he would first get hired as an Associate Facility Manager  and then after a couple years, probably become a Facility Manager and keep moving up as he desired. 

So anyway Garrett still had to be formally interviewed by his bosses, 3 of them all at once actually, which would be very intense. And then he would have to complete a pretty difficult hiring assessment. And if that went well, he would then be interviewed by Church Headquarters (HQ). If he did well on all those things and Church HQ liked him better than the other interviewees, then he'd maybe get hired. So it's sort of a lengthy and intimidating process but we were still feeling good about it by then.

However, once Garrett was interviewed by his bosses, he started feeling pretty discouraged again. He didn't feel like it went very well and then a few days later, his boss kept saying things like, "Well, you may not get the job. We don't know. So you shouldn't turn anything else down if you get other offers." Then he got the hiring assessment and was sort of concerned because it was all open-ended answers and he didn't feel incredibly confident about his answers. His bosses also started suggesting that Garrett apply for this other job working at Church Headquarters in Downtown Salt Lake as an Analyst of some sort. The job was still in the same Physical Facilities branch of the Church, but it would be a lot less appealing to Garrett in the short term as far as the day-to-day work he'd do there. His bosses thought it would be good for him to start there because he could learn the rules and logistics of the Church better and get to know the right people Downtown (in HQ) who would help him later to get his future FM job done better. They thought that might be a good place for him to work for a couple years because it would help better prepare him for the time when he could apply for a normal FM position. The more we thought about it, we thought that job wouldn't be as fun for Garrett since it was a lot more paperwork/office-oriented than the Asst. FM position, but it would probably be a better job for him right now because it would prepare him better for the long-term. 

When it came time for Garrett to be interviewed at HQ for the FM position, he was also going to go meet the guy in charge of the HQ Analyst job. He thought his Associate FM interview went well, but later he heard that one of his other peers who also interviewed, got offered a job right away. We thought that meant that since Garrett didn't, that we didn't get the job. There were two positions they were looking to fill but we figured that since the one guy got offered the job right away and Garrett didn't, that we'd have to start putting more hope in that HQ Analyst paperwork job. 

However, we were wrong again! This morning, Garrett got a phone call from someone in Human Resources at Church Headquarters offering him the Associate FM position. Garrett happily accepted and is on track to start working full-time April 25th! We are excited because that's the job that Garrett really wanted all along but we've just been on such a roller coaster ride with them that we didn't have a clue whether he'd work there ultimately or not. After many months of hopefulness AND hopelessness, it turns out that we had reason to be hopeful, yay! As a gigantic plus, the compensation is about $10,000 more than what we originally expected and were hoping for, so that is awesome. We still don't know exactly what office Garrett will be working at, but I think they will let us know very shortly. We do know it will be in the Salt Lake area somewhere. And I don't know that we have plans to move from that area within the next several years. 

Oh, and an FM is a person who takes care of the different facilities that the Church owns. That includes: chapels, seminary buildings, DI's, and probably other things. The FM is actually the middle man because he doesn't usually take of the buildings himself, he just deals with the contractors that the Church hires (like Snow Removal companies, and the Custodians and stuff). He will also sometimes be on-call in case there are ever emergencies he needs to take care of (like floods or fires). And he will work M-F mostly from 7ish to 3, but can come home later or earlier depending on how much work he has. 

Anyway, we are really pleased and excited! I'm so proud of Garrett for working so hard and getting this great job, especially since that's the one he wanted the most. Since he's already interning there, he knows it is already a really great atmosphere to work in and that is one of his favorite things. Anyway, we are excited, and that is our story so far. We're happy!