Work and the Peace Corps

Applying for the Peace Corps is a trying process.  The application itself is long and thorough, you may have to twist the arms of those writing your recommendations to get them done in a timely manner.  If you are successful with those things an interview is next, hopefully followed by a nomination.  With that nomination comes the medical and dental portion of the process.  In between all of this is the waiting.  I have been prepared for all of this in reading through dozens and dozens of blogs.  No problem.

Something I didn't expect about the process?  Being held back at work because I might be leaving in March.  I am awesome at my job and from February to mid-May I was acting as Assistant Store Manager of Merchandising.  I loved it.  I was able to work on re-merchandising my store for floorsets, focus on visuals, improve the moral of the shipment team, and train a new leader on on merchandising.  During those months, I interviewed for an actual ASM position in another store and it went great.  I was told I wold have had it had another current ASM in town hadn't needed a new store due to them dating an associate at their current one.  Great! 

This left that ASM's old position open and the ASM position at my store opened up as well once we learned our ASM, who was on loan at another store, was going to be staying where he had been for the past few months.  I interviewed again, this time with my store manager and another one, at the same time!  I was a nervous wreck.  Interviews were being done at my store and I got to see my fellow interviewees and freaked myself into feeling inferior.  I didn't get either job despite impressing both store managers.  One job went to someone I had trained early on in his Old Navy career and had found himself in a lucky situation which lead to his promotion, the other (the one in MY store) went to someone new in the company who had been hired on by a acting store manager to replace her job as ASM while the actual store manager was working on something for corporate.  Longer story shorter: he came back early, and I lost my chance.

And now I find myself being held back at work.  I love my job, but I am burned out on a fully customer service focused role.  I was told when I didn't get promoted that they wanted to move me to a higher profile store and that I am the next person in town to be in an ASM position.  Once I told my SM I was going for it with PC, I was pretty much told no SM would take me and invest time in my development if I was going to be leaving in March.  I am so frustrated by this.  I could understand if I needed additional training, but I don't as I am pretty sound in all areas of the business ( I would hope so after being with the company for 6.5 years!).

I guess I just didn't expect that applying to PC would hold me back at work.  Suffice it to say I will be pissed if I don't get in!  I tend to find the upside in things as I am an eternal optimist; however, I will have a hard time finding one if I wind up being held back for nothing.

/don't feel like proof reading, forgive my possible mistypings/poor grammar :)