things have changed =) i think i left off with you when i was at Cupertino Healthcare and Wellness Center as an AP/Payroll Coordinator. the job was a contract position from october 2013 until around february 2014 to fill in for jeniffer until she came back from maternity leave. she had all the intention to come back to work, so being the responsible person i was, i searched around for a new job. i interviewed at a couple places, and there was one place i especially liked since i’d have better pay, better benefits when made permanent, and it was only 2.2 miles away from our house (Cupertino Healthcare was 7 miles away). the manager seemed like she liked me and even showed me around the office. i came in again for a 2nd interview with the controller, but i don’t think i did as well in that interview, so they went with another person…i was sad since i liked the environment, the position, and i thought that God was leading me to this job…He had a plan though =)

while i was interviewing, jeniffer resigned! i guess she wanted to stay with her baby girl. because of this, i was able to become permanent staff at cupertino with benefits and accrued vacation and received a 12.5% raise. it was busy and sometimes stressful since i was responsible for 180 some odd people’s paychecks, but i had my own office, a permanent, stable position, and i even made a snack bar for my coworkers =) fast forward 1 month 1/2 later…the place i interviewed for contacted me, said the other person did not work out, and if i was still interested in the job.

i was confused. i thought that this door had been closed to me, and it was opened again? do i want to be their 2nd choice? why did it happen this way? well, i found out why…since i was in a permanent full time position with a raise, i now had leverage. at the time of my interview, i was still contracted, no benefits, with less pay, but now i had a bargaining chip, so i went all in…i told them my situation, that the job was a temp-to-hire, which was not as ideal, and negotiated for another +10% raise…and they accepted, and then i accepted! since mid-April, I have been at Bill Wilson Center as support staff working in their accounting department. this was what was in God’s plan all along. it was the job that i wanted, but he told me to wait, made me be a better worker in the position that i held and Cupertino, and then gave me the job with an increased salary!

so let me tell you a little bit about the new place. Bill Wilson Center is a non-profit organization that helps children, teens, and families with various services including transitional housing, counseling, food support, etc. they are located in santa clara and service the whole county with their various sites and case managers (whom we at the accounting department mainly encounter since the case managers need gift cards, bus passes, and checks from us). i work in their main office and we pay alllll the bills. there are usually around 100+ bills per week which is the most i’ve had at a company in AP. (NTS had about 150 per month!). I focus mainly on Accounts Payable. Mon, Wed, and Fri, I do the deposit in the morning which includes checks for donations, payments for invoices, client fees for counseling. mondays and fridays are more my slow days that i can use to catch up with advances, filing ap, check receipts, gift card receipts, etc, but they can also be busy during certain events like the building dreams luncheon in which i had to process about 200 credit cards. tuesday and wednesday is mainly receiving and coding all invoices (yes, it takes that long). coding at a non-profit is much more complicated since it is not just coding to the specific expense, but also to the program and the grant that pays for it. chrissy is my manager, lien is another accountant, janet is the controller, and david is the cfo…that is our whole accounting department =)

i am still quiet compared to everyone else. they are nice though. they brought me out for my birthday and gave me an orchid…which i have killed unintentionally 🙁 i’m getting better at coding and making fewer mistakes. and i just became full time as of two weeks ago! it’s been a journey: vp discount, unitone, nts, maxreal, cupertino healthcare and wellness center, and now bill wilson center. it wasn’t always easy…it took three months to find the job at unitone which wasn’t even in my field, and i cried every week when i was there. i broke down and quit maxreal because i couldn’t handle the pressures of being a loan processor, but there has also been many good things: my four year stint at nts because an in-house recruiter found my resume on the now defunct hotjobs site, getting good experience as a payroll coordinator and them even willing to hire me after not being in the accounting field for a year, and now this job…each step of the way, i have learned more and more. i thank God for his provisions and his trials and his blessings.