Follow up

The follow up phone call was about as informative as the first. I was told the hours would be long, 12 hours days 6 days a week, but I would be paid for all my time. The salary was mid thirties per hour. Hotel, food, rental car and, yes, laundry and phone calls were covered. He also could not tell me where I would be deployed or what I would be doing. They had people doing everything from historic preservation to counting dump trucks to make sure contractors did not lie about the number of loads of waste. I told him I was interested in one of the two.

FEMA was one of their most valuable clients and they were highly selective, I was told. The hiring manager then told me the company made him ask ten questions. He quickly droned his way through the form, "Did I know how to use Microsoft Word? "Did I have any reason to fear a background check?" When he finished he offered me the job.

If I accepted, they would put me in the computer. When the computer found a match with an open job, they would call.

I accepted.