my job’s gotten pretty interesting.  i’m liking it more and more, even though i’m also often completely stressed out by it.  my responsibilities have grown so much that i’ve got way too much to do and too little time, but luckily my boss wants to solve that problem by having me do more of the interesting fun stuff and less of the administrative and financial stuff – yay!  but the catch: i have to find someone who can juggle 8 million things at the same time, has some initiative, wants to work full time and doesn’t need a lot of money to replace me in those roles.  every time we think we’ve got that, the person decides that in fact they DON’T want to work full time.  they want to work 2 days a week, or 1.  and i end up having to start the hiring process (and worse: the training process) all over again.  it’s the problem with the pay we offer, which isn’t high.  we get people who don’t really need to work because their spouses make enough for both of them.

anyway, i’m back at it again.  today:  met with boss for 2 hour strategy argument (me:  need 5 days/week; her: well, maybe only 4?… etc.), now emailing and calling old applicants who dropped out because wanted more days/week than we last time round were hiring for.  ugh.  i’ve been here 3 years now, and have now had 3 temp assistants (hired as temp assistants) and 2 perm assistants who decided they wanted fewer days/week than the 3-4 they were hired at.  temp assistants don’t work because the time training them is wasted, and both of the perm assistants were fantastic and really disappointing when they changed their minds.  one is leaving the continent (although decision to leave us came with birth of 2nd daughter), and the other will be staying on with us in a different role, project-only.

it’s hard working here, i’ll admit:  gets pretty hectic and crazy, and our boss is really a micro-manager.  but it’s also really friendly, a tiny company, very like a little family, and it’s always easy to arrange time flexibly when necessary.  i hope i’m luckier this time round.  at least i’m now DAMN sure what the skill-set is now!