Employed!

Several people have emailed, asking for an update on my job situation. I really appreciate all your thoughts and am happy to report that I accepted a position late last Friday. I was really fortunate to have two offers, one as a social worker for the Council of Edinburgh (the local government) and one as a Senior Practitioner with Barnardo's, a charity (i.e., non-profit) organization in the UK. They were both great positions and it was a bit of a difficult decision, but in the end I decided that the Barnardo's position was a bit more in line with my long term career goals.

The bad news in all this, is that I do not yet have a start date. I had hoped that I could start as early as this week, but was then notified that I had to complete a full background check before my employment could be started. This was somewhat discouraging as the check can take up to 6 weeks and I have no yet received the form to complete. So, I've had to alter my expectations a bit and get in a routine of non-employment so I'm not bored out of my mind. Surprisingly, this week has been really enjoyable. So much so that I am beginning to worry that I will not want to go to work, when the time comes!

I do have plans to go, this afternoon, for a tour of the office building and tea with some new coworkers, which I am looking forward to. I will be working in the Lighthouse Project, which provides clinical (mental health therapy) services to youth 10-18. Barnardo's has a long history and is quite respected in the UK. You can learn more about them here.