Saturday, May 23, 2009

Conference Recap

Alright, alright. It's been a week since we have been back, so I guess I will catch up on what happened at our interview conference. I won't bore you too much with words, but there will be alot of pictures!

We spent our days at the headquarters of The Company in Richmond, VA. There we had meetings with the region/affinity group where we are headed, had lectures on packing/crating, security (which is going to take awhile for me to grasp,) Salary and Benefits (woooohooo! Finally, we will have 100% medical coverage- no premium, no copay= amazing!) and we had several final interviews (I think there were three altogether!)

In between all of that, we could either be found in the amazing research library, where we were reading up on our assigned countries/affinity groups, or in the dining hall, where the amazing caterer served us up even more amazing food. Seriously.

The library was neat, because when we arrived the first day, we checked in with the librarian, who handed us a dossier of printed up journal articles on our area, then led us back to a cubical with table and chairs, and a stack of books/dvds to do our research with! We are in the highest security bracket, which doesn't mean it's the most dangerous, just means it's the most sensitive, and we don't want to be kicked out of country, so that is why we were sequestered away. The library had computer stations and tv/dvd player stations with headphones, so you could watch some of the movies during your in between time!

Our interviews went great, except for a little financial blip. Turns out giving is way down this year, so they are going to have to cut back on hiring of new applicants, which is really sad. Our job title and description is being tweaked so that is a "high priority job," so that we will actually get through the process. (so, this is my little plug to GIVE, give, GIVE! we met SO many wonderful people who are willing to go with The Company, but are unable to because of the financial part.)

At night, we spent our time out at the International Learning Center, ie The Company's compound. haha. Seriously, this place was out in the middle of nowhere and is almost entirely self sufficient! The dorms were simple, but nice. And the grounds were gorgeous! There is a gym, library (you know me and books!) computer lab, full scale cafeteria, 3 playgrounds, classrooms and auditoriums, a lake with a gazebo, soccer fields, frisbee golf course, preschool/nursery facility, a fully operational K-12 school, and walking paths all amongst the Quads, which are the houses that we will be living in when we are there!









7 comments:

Kari said...

wow, I am like, beyond excited for y'all! I'm sure it was a really great week finally getting some details. I love being able to "follow" y'all through this process!
:-)

Callie said...

Wow, the grounds are beautiful! How exciting!

Kelley said...

the interview process sounded awesome! I will be praying for you guys!

Kristin said...

Beautiful! Good luck!

Unknown said...

I just want to swim in that gorgeous lake! I, also, loved the picture of you with your Coke bottle :) xoxo.

Jessica said...

Looks beautiful!

katie said...

That is fanastic about the medical insurance! And the conference grounds are gorgeous!