So, Tell Me...

Things are starting to make more sense now. The more I tackle one item at a time, the more I see how the many parts will comprise the whole. One of the biggest tasks I have is to hire a staff of teachers, security, child care workers, and coordinators. The one big thing I have going against me is: I have never interviewed anyone in my life.

I have always been on the other side of the equation and in looking back my past interviews; I can’t say that there has been a common thread to any of them. Yes they all have that requisite moment where qualifications and experience are brought up but for the life of me, I cannot think of how they started or how they led to the overall discussion.

In the last week I have done around ten of them and am finally getting the hang of it. At least for now, I think it’s more racking for me than it is for the candidate and hopefully that will change as things progress. I’ve been fortunate, though, in that I have not yet felt the need to turn any of them away. So far, they all can fit a certain roll that needs filling, which is good because my Nice Guy Syndrome doesn’t know if I would be able to tell someone “No” when it came to them having a job.

On a different note, I have one month to plan an Open House/Registration event. If we are going to have people sign up for this Community Learning Center, they need to know it will exist, where to find us and how to become a part of it. This has me scared only because I have never planned a party like this in my life. Sure I have thrown parties where armies of people attended and stayed for hours well in to the night. But the success of those events hinged on the fact that there was an almost endless supply of beer, debauchery and lawless flesh. (Not to mention I had 10 other people helping to pull it together.)

This is something entirely different. I have to somehow inspire a community to show up in the middle of winter to a building that has no parking, and is not easily accessibly by public transit; to sign their kids up for an after school program that (at this moment) has no means of transporting their kids from their respective schools to its own door, and that currently has a limited yet potentially engaging curriculum.

On top of that we will have activities to keep the kids busy, games for the adults and food, drink and music for all to enjoy.

Help.