Excuse me- a real job? What?

Hurray! I have a job! Finally...not going to lie, I was starting to get worried I wouldn't find one.

It was the first GIS (Geographic Information System...computer mapping) job I applied for. I was trying to avoid them because I wanted an outside job. But time was running out, and my dearest husband convinced me to try. So late one night in Vancouver I sat at my uncles computer (where we were staying) and typed up a cover letter. Good thing I did!

I got a call from the coop office (while on Discovery Island) that I had been shortlisted, but I needed to sign up for an interview online. But I was on an uninhabited island! So I called my brother Eric, who I directed via cell phone to sign me up for an interview. I wouldn't have the job if he hadn't done that for me! (THANKS ERIC!)

My interview was on Tuesday afternoon. It was my first interview for anything besides minimum wage service jobs. I was sooo nervous! I had to traverse my way down to the Ministry of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resource in downtown Victoria, sign in at the front desk, and received an elevator pass for the 6th floor. So I got into the elevator, pressed the #6 button...and...nothing happened. I could still hear the guy at the front desk talking. Ahhh. My mind was racing. How do I make the elevator go up? About a minute later the doors open and insteps a man, swipes a card and presses the floor # he's going to. "Ahh," I think to myself, I had to swipe the card. Anyways, I felt silly, but I get to the sixth floor in one piece.

My interview consisted of 3 men, all in their 50's or 60's, looking like mad scientists. And for 40 minutes or so of a 50 minute interview they do all the talking. They tell me all about the mapping system they use, what the Oil & Gas Titles branch does...it honestly felt more like an introduction to the job than an interview. They asked me some questions about technical experience, and career goals. I tell them I'm competent in ArcGIS and some web based mapping programs, and understand the NTS mapping system. I also tell them for a career I want to be involved in sustainable community development, I'm interested in alternate energy sources, and self-sufficient agriculture. Being as that I'm in the Ministry of Energy, alternate energy is a big thing right now as BC is helping lead the way in Canada for non-petroleum based energy.

Then interview ends, and they say I'll know by the next day if I have the job. They had another person they were interviewing directly after me. I left having no idea how I did, because well, I didn't really talk much.

But I opened my email yesterday morning saying I was offered the job. Hurray! So I will be using ArcGIS in mapping out land plots for oil & gas titles, mostly in the Ft.St.John's region. The work is really tedious, and typos can mean thousands of dollars in backtracking. Good thing I'm detailed oriented. So I'll have my own office area, with a computer and phone. The Oil & Gas Titles Branch only has 12 other employees, so that will be nice, and not too overwhelming. Oh, and they've never had a coop student in there before, so it's going to be a big learning curve for everyone.

This is going to be a fun summer!