New Job

Well, my new job is going great. I love my hours (7:45-4:15), because it gives me plenty of time to get home and workout after work. I'm also really enjoying the coworkers in my office, and all of the other staff members I've met. I think it's a great sign that everyone I meet smiles a lot and tells me how much I'll like working here. (And not in a crazy cult-ish way.)

I like the range of what my office does, too. We are technically called the Institutional Advancement Office, but that is kind of an arbitrary title. We take care of the NIACC Foundation, including working with the Foundation Board, taking care of the monetary accounts, and rewarding scholarships and applying for grants. We also take care of the Alumni Association. We do lots of "friend-raising" and fund-raising activities, such as events and mailings.

So far my duties are pretty basic. I am an Administrative Assistant, so I feel like there is a lot of stuff to juggle, but nothing that's too difficult. I do have certain responsibilities to take care of myself, and I am able to work pretty independently most of the time, which I like.

So far my duties are:

• Taking care of the front desk, as in answering the phone and talking to people who come in our door. This is not too bad, as not many people have been stopping by or calling in.
• Paying bills.
• Getting mail and sorting through it.
• Processing Alumni Association memberships.
• Processing Foundation donations.
• Updating our master database, a main part being "deceasing" people out of the system. (I check the obituaries in the local paper and delete those deceased that are in our system.)
• Updating our "VIP List" of potential big donors.
• Working with the Foundation Board including board meeting preparations, taking minutes, Board Member correspondance, etc.
• Helping prepare for special events.
• Helping with mailings and other marketing.
• Updating metrics and goals for our office.
• Arranging agendas for staff meetings.
• Lots of other random things....

Although I am not in as high a level of position as I was previously (both in pay and responsibilities), I feel like I'm on a much better career path. I feel like this is where I'm meant to be. At Marketlink, I had incredible, fast-moving opportunities and big amounts of responsibility, and I learned a lot while I was there, but I never really felt like that was where I belonged, like that was the type of place I'd want to end up. Even though I know that things may change in the future, I like working at a place where I could see myself ending up at.