The porridge thickens

Have you ever gone into a situation, hoping that something improbable but awesome will come of it, only to have it turn out even better than you had hoped?

OK, that's too confusing. Try this: Have you ever gone in to interview for a prospective job, hoping for a perk or two that would make it really desirable, only to discover that the position far and away exceeds your wildest expectations? Probably not. But that's what's actually happened to me.

Yesterday morning I had my interview for that part-time position with the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. As I mentioned previously in this space, I was hoping -- irrationally, I thought -- that one über-cool perk it might offer would be the off chance they'd send me to the 2004 Parliament, to be held in Barcelona one week in July.

Now, I knew this was a rather unrealistic hope. I mean, it's a nonprofit group, and nonprofits tend to have cash flow problems, or at least tight budgets. Usually there isn't money for a lot of the lavish, extravagant excesses you can find in, say, the financial or legal worlds (you know, ridiculously expensive lunches, premium travel, etc., all on the company dime). And even if they aren't grossly underfunded, nonprofits seem unlikely candidates to send an intern to Mediterranean Spain for a week at the height of tourist season, even if it's ostensibly to work. So I wasn't expecting much, or anything, to come of this hope. Boy, was I wrong.

During the interview one of the two women spent much of the time describing duties, responsibilities, etc., of the position. Maybe five minutes into this she mentions that the position would have a couple of opportunities to travel. At the mention of travel my ears perked up and my eyes grew to the size of saucers. I was right! Look out, Barcelona!

But while I just knew this confirmed my hunch that I'd get to visit Spain, I also grew more intrigued. After all, she had said a couple of opportunities, as in two. Barcelona I knew. And this was confirmed as she began to elaborate on the possibilities. Not only would I be in Barcelona for the Parliament for a week, but I'd also be in Spain for three days before that, for a conference in Montserrat, home to an old monastery, and located about an hour outside of Barcelona.

This was all great to hear, but I wanted to know about the other place I'd potentially be going, the wildcard in this.

Seems that if I get this internship, I'll be headed to Israel in about a month. That's right, the Holy Land. Which I guess makes sense, considering this is a group dedicated to promoting dialogue between religions, and Jerusalem (or the place outside there I'd actually be) is probably a good place to be holding and encouraging interreligious dialogue.

The details of this are that I'd be there for a week at the end of February/beginning of March, for the group's mid-winter meetings. ("You can tell we're from Chicago because we consider March 'mid-winter,'" she opined.) But I'm down with that. While Israel's not (yet) on my growing list of locales to visit before I die, it's still a place with a lot of fascinating cultural history and a lot of contemporary political significance. Plus, it's not likely I'm likely to ever pass up free international travel, particularly when it's to a place I've never visited previously.

Needless to say, after she finished enumerating the possible travel possibilities, and then asked whether that was something I found exciting, my kneejerk reaction was "Oh yes, very exciting!"

And as if that weren't reason enough for me to want this job, they answered my questions about the flexibility of the schedule before I could ask them. Seems that I'd be able to do the vast majority of my work from home, if I so desire, and that I'd just have to come by the office every week or two for meetings and the like. This made the job even better than I could've dreamed. Were I to get it, I'd just need to find another part-time job to scrape together enough income, and I would even be less inclined to be picky about that job since this one would be so choice.

While discussing this job with my roommate the day before my interview, Joe wondered how I always managed to find the good jobs. I remarked that my success -- or lack thereof -- thus far in my job search suggested otherwise, but certainly this one would lent credence to Joe's assertion.

And, when I called Joe yesterday afternoon to tell him about the interview and what I had learned about the job, he was in utter disbelief. "A part-time job with international travel? I think I'm going to go weep." Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction to it. Except for the sorrowful tears.

Of course, I'm getting ahead of myself here. I don't actually have the position yet. And trying to figure out whether I met get to go into the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, how many frequent flyer miles I might be able to accumulate from these travels and so forth are certainly a matter of me counting my chickens before they're hatched. But frankly, this job is too plum for me not to want it and not to get excited about it.

Plus, I think I have a really excellent chance. Overall, I'd say the interview went really well. I think I helped sell them on my qualifications; at one point, when the one woman mentioned that I might need to interview some people, I replied my pointing out that, as they had probably seen from my résumé, I had a lot of experience as a reporter and thus was comfortable doing interviews, to which the other woman, the COO or some other such executive, remarked that I had a "really great background." So that certainly curries well in my favor. In addition, just from the nature of the interview, which seemed to consist mainly of them describing what I'd be doing and how I'd fit in, it felt like a situation where they had already identified me as a top candidate based on my application and just wanted to meet with me to confirm their inkling and sort of verify that it would work out for me as well as for them. It's hard to tell, because I haven't the foggiest idea how many other people they're considering for the position, if any, and I felt it imprudent to ask. But I think I've had enough interviews at this point to have developed a sense for reading them, and this one definitely went well by all indications. Now I just wait for Monday or Tuesday to hear from them and hope that it's in the affirmative. Particularly because I'd start later in the week if I'm hired. Which is good. Income is good. Especially now.

In any event, the 30 minutes, if that, I spent meeting with them were enough to whet my appetite and make me ridiculously excited about this. Even if they hadn't more or less told me they'd send me overseas a couple of times, I'd still like it a lot. Especially since I'd still have a lot of flexibility and the potential to work at home most of the time. And even if not that, the nature of the job is such that I'd still get to spend most of my time doing work that's interesting and beneficial. Here's hoping it comes through.

Additionally, this morning I applied for another job, one that would dovetail neatly with this internship. (So I like to get ahead of myself.) It's just be an administrative assistant position with a Jewish community center, but it'd also work out quite well for me. Through April I'd be working part-time, 15-20 hours a week, with a flexible schedule, out of a center that's just a mile or so from my apartment. Then from May through August, when the position ends (which, as established earlier, works well for me), it'd be 40 hours a week, though a little earlier than I'd prefer (7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), but between these two jobs I'd presumably make enough to cover all my expenses and save a little money.

But then I'm really getting ahead of myself here, seeing how I've only put in an application and not had any contact with anyone at the organization. Nonetheless, my spirits have been lifted remarkably since a couple of nights ago. Perhaps it will all come out in the wash after all.