Verizon

Starting Feb. 14th, Ethan will be going the workforce of Verizon. His official title will be Fiber Optic Analysis, or in layman's term, he is the guy you will talk to when you are having issues with Fios.

About a few months ago, a now former employee of Armstrong, Dave, started to apply to Verizon. He has some sort of degree with computer, and decided why not apply, they pay pretty well. (Ethan does not have a degree.) Dave never finished his application. Verizon ended up calling him and told him they liked what they have seen, and wanted him to finish the application. He did and they offered what Armstrong caps at with full benefits after three months. He turned his two weeks notice and told other people at Armstrong. No one thought much of it. Yes, it was decent amount, but it is in Downtown Pittsburgh and the commute wasn't worth it. Just before Dave is about to start, he gets a call from Verizon saying, ' We made a mistake and didn't see that you had actual experience at this type of job. (He had worked at Armstrong for 4 years.) We wish to pay you, basically$10 more an hour that we originally offered.' He passed on that information, and let on that Verizon is in the process of opening 200 more positions for the Pittsburgh office.

Basic info about Ethan's job, you can't just be fulltime, Armstrong(a local cable, phone and internet provider) has to officially make you full time. We were told to expect that within 6 months to 1.5 years for that to happen. March would have been 3 years. Nothing. No paid vacation, no benefits. He did get yearly raises, but...

Ethan proceeded to apply after that turn of events. He applied right after New Year's, and was accepted to take a test to see that he actually knows what he is doing. Two weeks later, he took the test, he passed. Then onto the phone interview. Other people were doing the same thing. Two people had their phone interviews and didn't do well at all, so we were nervous. Ethan has the phone interview and got an email the next day saying he was qualified for the position. BUT, that just means they have your resume' there for up to 2 years. They don't have to hire you. So we knew, because of Dave, that there were classes happening in 6 week intervals, the next one to start Feb. 14. We just guessed that particular class would have already been filled up, but were crossing our fingers for the one after. We were wrong. The day after the email qualification, we got a call that morning saying,'Pending drug test and background checks we would like to hire you to start Feb. 14. ' Ethan and I had seriously discussed how much would be needed from them wage-wise to make the transfer from Armstrong to Verizon in Pittsburgh. They offered well above it. Ethan immediately accepted, and after about a week we got a call saying everything with the drug test and background check had passed inspection and he would be considered an official Employee. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We know of at least one other person having been accepted and they plan on carpooling together. There are others who have gotten the Qualification email, but I am guessing they are waiting for the next class before calling. We hope there will be more people to carpool with.

We are unbelievably excited about this new news. I will miss him more through out the day, but the financial relief, the benefits, possibility for tuition reimbursement for school, and growth prospects certainly make up for it. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!