Job interview

[ravena_kade]

I had a job interview with the credit union for the employees of the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. The interview went well. The woman wants to meet me in person on Tuesday. I really really liked her. She is about my age and I would be reporting directly to her. The job is called a bookkeeper, but it is a lot like the job I had at bank. Reconciliation and posting to general ledger accounts. Not exciting, but I need a job and I need health care.

The pros: I like the boss...so far. The hours are 7 to 3:30...yay. The healthcare is Beth Israel Deaconess. Not the gold standard of Blue Cross, but doable. I would be an employee of the hospital. It's a small team. It's in an area of town that I know and has things to do. I can haunt the museums and such =) It's actually in the the Cardiac building my Dad's cardiologist is in and the building he recovered in from his heart surgeries in 2022. Since this is banking and not really a thrill job for me I was upfront that I had some dr appointments that I had to attend. If it's a deal breaker so be it. I don't want lie and if they are jerks and wont let me go up stairs for an appointment then I want to know now. This is not a dream job...it's just a job and I hope the people are nice if I do get it.

The cons: The first is that it is a lot of excel spreadsheets. Next is that it's 100% in office. No remote. The boss works 3 to 4 days a week remote from her home in Maine, but her workers cannot. I would be replacing a worker who is leaving as he wanted to work remote one or 2 days a week because of the commute. The commute is the other issue. They do not offer free parking and the green line for the next few weeks will be a nightmare as most of it is closed. These people have been dealing with the worst of the public transportation debacle for over a year so no wonder why the person wanted to work remote. I think I will need to take the first train out of Quincy so I need to leave my house at 5 AM. I will need to do test runs. Worst case scenario I could catch a ride with Dad to the train station at my old bank job and catch a bus there to the hospital. At that time the morning there would be no traffic

The pay is a question. I hate when they dont give you a range. I gave my range. I wont do it for anything lower because of the spreadsheets and the commute. For the job I should be paid just about what I made at the old bank. When I have the second interview Tuesday I will ask about performance and growth.

The boss wants me to come in because she thinks the location is off-putting. They are in the lower level of the cardiac building so there are no windows. People think it is too dull. I didn't tell her that my happiest job was in a cellar at a ceramics studio. So that doesn't matter. I am more concerned about mice and roaches since they are next to a cafeteria.

The thing I don't understand is how so many businesses will not let people work remote. This job is pulling reports and posting to accounts. All things that can be done remotely because the smaller credit unions all use the same credit union web based system. No paper. If there was a security reason then the boss could not do the work at home at all. Being able to work remote should part of business continuity. I had a laptop 4 days after 9/11 because Metlife thought what if the Metlife building was blown up? A bank is still responsible to service its customers even if the building is on fire. I asked about business continuity and the boss said that the person who was leaving was writing some notes so that would be the continuity. Ummm...no. Sigh. I told her that I have experience writing procedures so I would not mind helping with that...and sometimes new eyes can identify issues because they are not married to the old workflows.


Sadly I have not heard anything from the senior center. I was so excited when they contacted me Friday. I feel like the universe is mocking me. They even had a trip that I wanted to go on in April. I thought of joining the center anyways and going, but I am too young, The minimum age is 62.

Comments

[cmcmck]

There's a lot of pressure here for people to return to the office- for all they were saying other productivity isn't as good when people work remote, it seems.

[ravena_kade]

It really depends the worker. I just don't' like being isolated. In the office I was harassed and discriminated against. I started over an hour early just so I could get work done before other people came in because they were so distractive.

On the other hand, I know someone with 2 kids under 2 years old at home is not working without distraction.

I think having laptops is good for days when there is a blizzard and people either cant get to work or it will take 3 hours to even get there.

The thing is that jobs will not get a lot of the younger smarter people as they just dont want that 2 to 3 hour commute for 12 miles. That's probably the only reason I can get a job without a degree. That and I dontmind working in a cellar if there are good restaurants close by ;-)

[fbhjr]

I hope they at least make you a good offer. Then, you can decide if it is worth it.

[gwendraith]

Fingers crossed that they offer you something that you can make a decision that benefits you. My son and son-in-law work partly in the office and partly at home - which they really like. Their company has quite a lot of staff and it varies how each member of staff prefers to work their week. The company like the way it's gone and take the view that happy staff makes for productive staff so having some choice makes all the difference.

[disneydream06]

Well, that's kind of a kick in the teeth, so to speak, that the boss can work remote, but not the grunt workers. :o :o :o
Does that mean I am just over a year aways from being a senior? EEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best of luck. :)
HUGS, Jon

[kaishin108]

That sounds very promising. Except for being in the office all the time. And yes, next to the cafeteria and such, hmm.

I get the feeling that someone at the senior center really likes you and is looking for a 'slot' or position for you!

[palusbuteo]

I really hope they offer you the job. As you said it ain't glamorous but it still sounds like "important" work. And hopefully the green line clusterfuck will be less so in the next few months.....If not I think they'd have a street riot on their hands.

"The boss works 3 to 4 days a week remote from her home in Maine, but her workers cannot."
I smell bullshit.

Yeah I also don't understand/but sort do understand the demand to be in-person and trying to get rid of remote-work but with some exceptions.

I think it trickles down to "management" as in, someone needs to be able to stand over (your) shoulder to make sure you're actually "working" while on the clock. It's....Just so out of touch and unrealistic and smarmy.

[brickhousewench]

The thing I don't understand is how so many businesses will not let people work remote.

It's foolish because everyone figured out during the pandemic which jobs could be done working from home, and it's not like we're going to just forget.

Good luck, it sounds like it might be a reasonable option (especially for your dad's medical appointments).

[ravena_kade]

Foolish and that is why they cant find people. Smart people are looking for some remote time. My commute is going to be almost 2 hours each way. People just don't want that if they can get a job closer to home or with parking. The person I interviewed with makes $160K a year (her salary is public because she is on the board) and can afford to pay for parking the one or 2 days she drives in. I don't need to work remote, I just hate being forced to take a PTO day because of snow.

[brickhousewench]

Exactly. At the very least people ought to be able to work from home when it snows! There's no reason that office workers shouldn't be able to work from home on snow days.