A few years ago, I wrote a post on how I ended up working at Western Union. It was my dream job in every way. I was using data skills to identify human traffickers and provide that information to law enforcement. I loved the work I did and the people I worked with. I was able to move from Denver to San Francisco and still keep my job. Until I wasn’t. In the summer of 2019, Western Union announced that they would be closing, or significantly downsizing, offices around the world. Because they were targeting the most expensive real estate, the San Francisco office was at the top of the list. I learned that I would be laid off in November of that year.
I was devastated. I had honestly seen myself staying at Western Union for my entire career, even though I knew millennials statistically changed careers multiple times. I had found my fit though. When they would show work anniversaries, I would tell myself that one day, I would have 20 years there too. God had different plans, and as always, they were better than the ones I had laid.
At first, I assumed I would have no trouble finding another job like the one I had. I knew there were new financial institutions that likely needed compliance workers, and I had both data and intel experience. I never imagined I would struggle to find another job like the one that I had, but I soon learned I had a very unique position and had to accept that my next role was not going to look like my present one.
When I first learned I would be laid off, it was not sensible to apply for jobs in August that I couldn’t start until December. Instead, I started doing necessary tasks like updating my resume, building a proper LinkedIn page, and exploring what type of jobs were available in the Bay Area. As I got a lay of the land, I identified banks and tech companies that had compliance departments in which I might fit, and I started applying for jobs on October 1st. Eight weeks seemed reasonable for a start date if I found something right away.
My start date ended up being a non-issue because I did not get any job offers. I applied to more than 100 jobs through a variety of sites, many of which I was well-qualified for. I went on multiple interviews, including some second interviews, but I was not the selected candidate. November 30th came and went, and I still didn’t have a job. Western Union provided generous severance packages, and December seemed like an unlikely time to get hired anywhere. At one point I considered taking a break and restarting in January.
One of the highlights of this time was the opportunity I had to make a very dear friend. My last day working at Western Union was Friday, November 29th. On Sunday, December 1st, a young woman at church came up to me to tell me that her mom wanted to study the Bible, but she was only available during the day time. At any other time in my life, I would not have been able to be in these Bible studies, but God worked out the timing perfectly. Each day we would go to her house, she would make us Eritrean food and coffee. The Bible studies sometimes lasted four hours. It was a wonderfully refreshing time and only possible because I was not working. She was baptized on December 29th, 2019, all the glory to God!
I had a few interviews the first week of December, and one scheduled for Friday. The process for all my interviews to that point had been a phone call with a recruiter, another phone call with the client, and then an in person interview. The interview on Friday, December 6th, was the first I had with this company, so I was prepared for a phone interview…oops. It was a video interview, and I was so flustered that I didn’t even try to change clothes because the interview was supposed to start when I realized it. Looking back, a black hoodie was the perfect interview outfit for my current job, but I had no idea at the time.
From my perspective, the interview went well, so I hoped to be called for an in person interview the following week. On Monday, December 9th, I got a phone call that said I was hired at Milestone. The salary was higher than I made at Western Union, which was not the case for a vast majority of the jobs I had been applying for, and the position was at Facebook, which was incredibly exciting. They gave me a start date of January 6, 2020. After I accepted the position, I withdrew from the other job interviews I had scheduled and allowed myself to be excited that I was taking a new and unexpected step into the future.
We lived in the East Bay, and my office was in Menlo Park for the first six weeks of work. That was exhausting. It had been years since I had been in an office five days a week. And I had never driven an hour each way to get to work. I would get home from work and lay on the couch sleeping while the kids laid on top of me watching TV. It was not my most stellar parenting season, but we all made it. Side note for moms: there will be periods that are simply challenging, and you are not going to be able to make the homemade meals and play the homemade games – both you and the children will be okay. Have grace on everyone involved.
In February 2019, we changed buildings to one on the East Bay, so that shortened my commute, which I was grateful for, and then the whole world stopped in March 2020. We were sent to full time work from home, and 18 months later we are still full time work from home. Like everyone else, words like “coronavirus,” “Covid,” and “flattening the curve” were all new to me, I was grateful to be back at home. I could get more sleep and be more present for my children. Afa’s parents had recently moved in with us, and working from home allowed me to take care of their doctors appointments and other necessities. Our nanny was also one of my closest friends, and I had missed seeing her and checking in through the day.
As spring turned to summer, the doctors discovered carcinoma on my father-in-law’s foot. He had to have surgery, but the wound became infected. We got a crash course in wound care and home health nurses, which again, I don’t know how I would have managed if I had been working full time in an office. July 2020 was one of the most challenging months in my memory, but the gift of quarantine certainly made it easier.
We also started house shopping in 2020, which was really only possible because of the severance package I received from Western Union. Even though we could afford the monthly payments for a house, we did not have enough money saved for the down payment. Housing in the Bay Area is notoriously expensive, so that was a high hurdle to overcome. Even with the severance package, it took us another year before we purchased a house, but the house we ended up in was exactly what we needed.
In May 2020, my father-in-law lost almost all his mobility. His hospital bed and supplies require an entire room. I don’t know what we would have done if we still lived in a two bedroom apartment. We would have made it work, but it would have been much more challenging than it is where we have enough space to properly care for him. I am able to be the caretaker because I work from home and because my job is flexible enough that I can work the hours that fit into our schedule, which would not be the case everywhere.
I am also able to homeschool the children because the homeschooling we chose allows us to work on our schedules, no need to be in “school” from 8 to 3. Afa does subjects before he leaves, and the kids and I take breaks to work throughout the day – all because I have the perfect job for this season of our lives.
Honestly, my job is kind of boring. I count card readers and door hinges for a living. It is not world-changing, especially after coming from Western Union. But it is exactly the job I need for the moment we are in. There is no expectation that I answer emails after I sign off, and there are not frequent intense deadlines that cause additional stress. It allows us to live the life we have right now. When I lost my job at WU, I thought I would find one exactly like it. But God brought me to something different, something even better.