End of the Week
End of the Week
It is the end of the week gentle readers. Can I hear a big “Yeah,” from all of you now happy timers?
I meant to put a longer posting up last night. I got side tracked and by the time I got back on track it was getting late for me.
I was also getting tired and typing badly on the old laptop. I think I did not sleep very well on Wednesday night because I was either worried and concerned about Sharon or I was worried about the consulting interview on Thursday. Since I have been in lots of interviews over the years, I am willing to conclude that my lack of sleep was caused by worrying about Sharon.
I think this explanation has a strong sense of plausible deniability behind it.
Job Interviewing
I had the consulting job interview yesterday. It lasted almost three hours. That is way too long for a consulting interview.
The consulting work will not be a challenge for me. It should only take two to three weeks and not the two to three months as the recruiter envisioned. It is a simple data analysis project and the total amount of available data is limited. That makes the project work scope short.
I felt good after the interview. I think I answered all of their questions well. Technically, I am more than qualified for the project.
The company is toying with the idea of bringing on a senior credit person and they were considered the consulting project as a contract to hire position. I don’t have any interest in full time employment with the company. It is smallish; the total loan portfolio is about $60 million. The bulk of the credits are commercial truck driver schools and esthetic and reconstruction elective surgery procedures [boob jobs, the Chairman’s words, not mine].
The company does need some strong credit person in senior management. The Chairman wants to exit the day to day activities and possibly sell the business in a year or two. He has a very young president who has no credit experience and no formal credit training. The president strikes me as being a numbers guy and not really solid with people or making a decision based on sketchy facts; the kind of facts that you have or don’t have with almost every loan request that floats down the stream.
Anyway.
I called one of former clients who had contacted me earlier this week. They were interested in having me work on a couple of loan programs. One is a straight forward integration of a third party mortgage loan origination and funding program. It is straight forward but more complex. It would entail the finalization of all of the vendor due diligence work and then the program launch. I have done this before so I know where all of the pitfalls are. Unlike other consultants, I also know the client’s culture and philosophy dead solid cold. I think this project should last a month to a month and a half to complete.
The other project is more interesting to me. It is launching a participation loan program, something I have successfully down before. The project should last no more than two months to from start to launch. It will be a fun project for me.
The nice thing about the second project is the opportunities for on-going income. The participation loan program requires on-going loan monitoring. I meet or exceed all of the regulatory requirements for program monitoring. It would be less expensive for the client to hire me to review their participation loan portfolio on a flat fee per loan basis than it would be to hire a full time employee with all of the related payroll costs. I can do all of the analysis and review work from home and at night so it doesn’t interfere with any other activities.
Knowing the client’s fondness for saving money, I think this will be an easy sale for me.
School
I think most of you know I am working on a Doctor of Business Administration degree now. For those of who did not know that, now you do.
The school sent me an email a day or so ago asking me to attend an organizational meeting of an international business honor society chapter at the school.
This was a real surprise to me. To be perfectly honest, I have never paid too much attention to my grade point average. I knew I had done well in class but never bothered to look at the grade point average. Now, when I graduate and do the walk to pick up my diploma, I will be graduating with Honors.
Wowie kazowie.
Who would have ever thought I would graduate with Honors.
Nice Guy Chuck
The big reason for my distraction last night was I was doing some things for Sharon.
I was Nice Guy Chuck again today.
I found a perfect job for her and sent it to her. She has done all of the job requirements very successfully and could be extremely successful at this new place. In addition to being a more fun to work, it is only about a fifteen minute drive from her home. She could bag an extra hour in bed every day and still be at work on time. Plus, the drive home might only be twenty minutes so she would be home in plenty of time for a normal dinner instead of running around late at night.
Sharon told me she didn’t get home until a little after 10:00 PM last night. I was sound asleep by then. She said the job idea sounded perfect for her.
Phone Calls
Today seemed like a day for phone calls.
I am not counting all of those horrid ones from the political campaigns that seem to come at all of the time now. I can hardly waiting until November 8th when we have out statewide special election and I can get a break until next spring when the election process starts all over again.
I received a call from a recruiter in Springfield Missouri who wanted to talk to me about a senior bank position. The job was located in Denver and I was willing to consider a move to Denver. Denver, after all, is not that far from Los Angeles now that Southwest Airlines will begin flying there soon. It is also not that far from Atlanta. I could handle the weather in Denver; it is very much like Salt Lake City in terms of weather so the cold would be manageable.
The problem with the job was what I would end up doing. If I got hired, I would be in charge of the financial and IT operations of a ten branch community bank in Denver. I can do the finance stuff but I only like that as a side line activity to lending and banking operations.
I reluctantly told the recruiter that I would probably not be happy and therefore would not do well in the position. She seemed disappointed. I told I would consider relocating to Salt Lake City if she had something there.
The Younger Brother called to check in on me. He had read about my lay off and wanted to see how things were going. He was surprised that I didn’t mention the possibility of a layoff when he visited my former office. I said it was one of those thing one doesn’t usually talk about. I told him that I had a couple of projects in process and that things looked fairly well for the time being.
I got a call from one of my former coworkers at the bank. He and his boss were out of town at a conference in Dallas when Vivian the office assistant left him a voice mail asking what she should do with all of the files and paperwork that Chuck left behind. He said it was a surprise and the company did not send out an email saying that I was no longer there
We talked for a while about the company and concluded that 2006 is going to be a dark year. We think loan volume will be down because of the continuing Federal Reserve Board interest rate increases. Each quarter of a percent increase makes it harder for more borrowers to qualify for a loan. The loan officers who are paid on a commission basis are likely to have a grim year.
I made the coworker laugh when I told him the pluses about being laid off. I pointed out that I can avoid the holiday gift exchange purchase decision.
I no longer have to think about who to take to the holiday party. I would be expected to go to the party since it is going to be on a Saturday, hard to create an excuse for time, and I avoid having to go through the trouble of asking someone to go with me and all of the attendant troubles like what should I wear, will this outfit look fine, and does this dress make me look fat.
Being laid off has a few benefits.
This has been my make-up posting from last night. I will have the Weekend Update posted on Sunday as usual. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Be well and stay happy.
It is the end of the week gentle readers. Can I hear a big “Yeah,” from all of you now happy timers?
I meant to put a longer posting up last night. I got side tracked and by the time I got back on track it was getting late for me.
I was also getting tired and typing badly on the old laptop. I think I did not sleep very well on Wednesday night because I was either worried and concerned about Sharon or I was worried about the consulting interview on Thursday. Since I have been in lots of interviews over the years, I am willing to conclude that my lack of sleep was caused by worrying about Sharon.
I think this explanation has a strong sense of plausible deniability behind it.
Job Interviewing
I had the consulting job interview yesterday. It lasted almost three hours. That is way too long for a consulting interview.
The consulting work will not be a challenge for me. It should only take two to three weeks and not the two to three months as the recruiter envisioned. It is a simple data analysis project and the total amount of available data is limited. That makes the project work scope short.
I felt good after the interview. I think I answered all of their questions well. Technically, I am more than qualified for the project.
The company is toying with the idea of bringing on a senior credit person and they were considered the consulting project as a contract to hire position. I don’t have any interest in full time employment with the company. It is smallish; the total loan portfolio is about $60 million. The bulk of the credits are commercial truck driver schools and esthetic and reconstruction elective surgery procedures [boob jobs, the Chairman’s words, not mine].
The company does need some strong credit person in senior management. The Chairman wants to exit the day to day activities and possibly sell the business in a year or two. He has a very young president who has no credit experience and no formal credit training. The president strikes me as being a numbers guy and not really solid with people or making a decision based on sketchy facts; the kind of facts that you have or don’t have with almost every loan request that floats down the stream.
Anyway.
I called one of former clients who had contacted me earlier this week. They were interested in having me work on a couple of loan programs. One is a straight forward integration of a third party mortgage loan origination and funding program. It is straight forward but more complex. It would entail the finalization of all of the vendor due diligence work and then the program launch. I have done this before so I know where all of the pitfalls are. Unlike other consultants, I also know the client’s culture and philosophy dead solid cold. I think this project should last a month to a month and a half to complete.
The other project is more interesting to me. It is launching a participation loan program, something I have successfully down before. The project should last no more than two months to from start to launch. It will be a fun project for me.
The nice thing about the second project is the opportunities for on-going income. The participation loan program requires on-going loan monitoring. I meet or exceed all of the regulatory requirements for program monitoring. It would be less expensive for the client to hire me to review their participation loan portfolio on a flat fee per loan basis than it would be to hire a full time employee with all of the related payroll costs. I can do all of the analysis and review work from home and at night so it doesn’t interfere with any other activities.
Knowing the client’s fondness for saving money, I think this will be an easy sale for me.
School
I think most of you know I am working on a Doctor of Business Administration degree now. For those of who did not know that, now you do.
The school sent me an email a day or so ago asking me to attend an organizational meeting of an international business honor society chapter at the school.
This was a real surprise to me. To be perfectly honest, I have never paid too much attention to my grade point average. I knew I had done well in class but never bothered to look at the grade point average. Now, when I graduate and do the walk to pick up my diploma, I will be graduating with Honors.
Wowie kazowie.
Who would have ever thought I would graduate with Honors.
Nice Guy Chuck
The big reason for my distraction last night was I was doing some things for Sharon.
I was Nice Guy Chuck again today.
I found a perfect job for her and sent it to her. She has done all of the job requirements very successfully and could be extremely successful at this new place. In addition to being a more fun to work, it is only about a fifteen minute drive from her home. She could bag an extra hour in bed every day and still be at work on time. Plus, the drive home might only be twenty minutes so she would be home in plenty of time for a normal dinner instead of running around late at night.
Sharon told me she didn’t get home until a little after 10:00 PM last night. I was sound asleep by then. She said the job idea sounded perfect for her.
Phone Calls
Today seemed like a day for phone calls.
I am not counting all of those horrid ones from the political campaigns that seem to come at all of the time now. I can hardly waiting until November 8th when we have out statewide special election and I can get a break until next spring when the election process starts all over again.
I received a call from a recruiter in Springfield Missouri who wanted to talk to me about a senior bank position. The job was located in Denver and I was willing to consider a move to Denver. Denver, after all, is not that far from Los Angeles now that Southwest Airlines will begin flying there soon. It is also not that far from Atlanta. I could handle the weather in Denver; it is very much like Salt Lake City in terms of weather so the cold would be manageable.
The problem with the job was what I would end up doing. If I got hired, I would be in charge of the financial and IT operations of a ten branch community bank in Denver. I can do the finance stuff but I only like that as a side line activity to lending and banking operations.
I reluctantly told the recruiter that I would probably not be happy and therefore would not do well in the position. She seemed disappointed. I told I would consider relocating to Salt Lake City if she had something there.
The Younger Brother called to check in on me. He had read about my lay off and wanted to see how things were going. He was surprised that I didn’t mention the possibility of a layoff when he visited my former office. I said it was one of those thing one doesn’t usually talk about. I told him that I had a couple of projects in process and that things looked fairly well for the time being.
I got a call from one of my former coworkers at the bank. He and his boss were out of town at a conference in Dallas when Vivian the office assistant left him a voice mail asking what she should do with all of the files and paperwork that Chuck left behind. He said it was a surprise and the company did not send out an email saying that I was no longer there
We talked for a while about the company and concluded that 2006 is going to be a dark year. We think loan volume will be down because of the continuing Federal Reserve Board interest rate increases. Each quarter of a percent increase makes it harder for more borrowers to qualify for a loan. The loan officers who are paid on a commission basis are likely to have a grim year.
I made the coworker laugh when I told him the pluses about being laid off. I pointed out that I can avoid the holiday gift exchange purchase decision.
I no longer have to think about who to take to the holiday party. I would be expected to go to the party since it is going to be on a Saturday, hard to create an excuse for time, and I avoid having to go through the trouble of asking someone to go with me and all of the attendant troubles like what should I wear, will this outfit look fine, and does this dress make me look fat.
Being laid off has a few benefits.
This has been my make-up posting from last night. I will have the Weekend Update posted on Sunday as usual. I hope you all have a great weekend.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 2:15 PM
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