So I "Graduated" at Work Today
So I “graduated” at work today!
Most people on social media don’t know that I no longer work at the Westin. I initially went part time and worked weekends and now I’m “on call” but haven’t worked there in weeks. Over a two month period I worked a 14-day stretch and a 15-day stretch and didn’t have more than one day off in a row. Yeah, I’m young but you don’t know how nice it is to have a “weekend” off until you don’t have that for two months.
I’ve got to say, I have become a much more positive person since I started a new job.
I’m now working at a medical device company called Zoll Medical Corporation and I love it. I was hired through a staffing agency with the intention of six-months-to-hire and hopefully in four months I will officially be a Zoll employee. Even as a temporary worker, I really like the company. I am paid better, I am appreciated better and I am able to have a work/life balance. I was able to go to Washington, D.C. on a weekend without having to request time off and hoping that business demands allowed it. If you’ve never worked in hospitality the weight of that might be lost on you but wow...to know that I could plan a trip and not have to worry that my request off might be denied and I might not know it until THREE days before I was set to leave is crazy! My set schedule alleviates to much stress for me and I am really grateful.
It is hard to explain my job but I work on the Intake team. Our main product is the LifeVest, which is an external defibrillator for people to wear during the 90-day waiting period for an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). We receive orders into a queue and work from the top to bottom (oldest to newest) to verify insurance eligibility and read through documents to determine if a patient is eligible for the LifeVest. If they are eligible we dispense the order and if not we deny. Some people think it sounds boring and terrible but I truly love it! Will I do it for the rest of my life? No. But I will do it for a while and then maybe move to a different role or department within Zoll.
I’m 1 of 3 people in the new office (we started with 12 new employees but that is now down to 10) working Medicare and we are required to have 98% accuracy to prove that we know what we are doing and actually understand the process. We can’t make a lot of errors with Medicare because it can cause major audit issues. So, back to the I “graduated” thing...the new hires with the temp agencies have been sending our work to a pre-dispense queue where a seasoned employee completely reviews all of our work, makes a dispensing decision and tracks our errors. About two hours into today’s shift I received word that I am the first person from the new office to no longer having training wheels! Instead of seeing a “Mark for Pre-Dispense Review” button I see a “Make Dispense Decision” button. My answers go right to the field where the sales team is actually in hospitals fitting patients or asking staff to send new documents. I was nervous for the first few hours after I was told I no longer need to be reviewed but now I am actually just excited!
I am honestly proud of myself to be the first person to be out of training and feel like a real part of the team. I also really like that I am being acknowledged for a job well done! That is something I rarely saw at the Westin even though I tried to be great at my job.
When I started at the Westin I loved my job. I thought it was a great place to work and I loved my coworkers. About six months in I realized that it is actually a very negative place to work. Or at least the Front Office is. Even now, I still love a lot of the people I worked with. If I didn’t love them I would not be going to Europe with two of them in a couple of weeks! The Westin also wasn’t the right fit for me because standing at a desk for eight hours a day checking people in and out was not mentally stimulating. I did enjoy meeting people and learning about them but I felt like my brain was shrinking. I was not fulfilled. I’m lucky that I now enjoy going to work each day.
I don’t want to discount what I gained from the Westin though. I worked hard and was rewarded with Starpoints that I used for my flights to and from Australia. I used those points for a flight in Europe and also for a night at my dream hotel in London. As I mentioned, I made some amazing friends at the hotel. I have people here in Pittsburgh that will be a part of my life forever no matter where I might end up. I have friends to get coffee with and to go on long walks. People that will watch my Ed Sheeran concert DVD and a person that thinks I’m beautiful even with messy hair and no makeup. Friends with which to drink beer and play pool and eat wings. A friend that picked me up from the bus station without me asking. I’m consciously taking the good into the future with me and I am learning from what I didn’t enjoy. I’ve learned what kind of job is right for me (one that is not in hospitality or customer service) and what I want from a company and management.
I am grateful that at least two months into my new job I seem to have better management, a stimulating day-to-day experience and supportive coworkers. I also have amazing friends that I gained from the Westin who completely supported me in my decision to take a new job and explore opportunities! And hey, I was the first in my class to graduate! Yay!
