Oh, Sweet Irony!

Only because I blogged about my being laid-off last year (remember?), I thought I'd share this little nugget I received in an email this morning:

Good morning!

I recently came across your resume on Monster, and wanted to reach out to you and let you know of a few openings we currently have here at Nationwide. I am working with our Casualty group to help them add a few Casualty Claims Manager positions.

These opportunities are located in Denver, CO. If you are interested in a role with Nationwide, please forward me a copy of your resume.

Thank you,
Michele F. Baker
Claims Senior Recruiter
National Talent Acquisition Nationwide

I'll give you three guesses what position I held when I was laid-off last year from Allied (which is Nationwide), and the first two don't count.

As deliciously ironic as this is, it's a reminder that I really am incredibly grateful for my experiences with this company. During the first five or six years, it was a lot of fun and a great place to work - and I was given so many opportunities. They also paid for grad school (a private school that wasn't cheap) - something I'll always be grateful for.

But, most importantly, they let me go at the best possible time - I was finishing grad school and getting ready to go to Paris for a month. I'd also become entirely disenchanted with the path that the company had taken since merging with Nationwide and really wanted to be doing something that was meaningful to me - a job that I loved and felt passionate about (which, of course, my husband and I created at The Nook): I was definitely at a perfect transitional moment in my life and ready for a change.

See? Everything really does happen for a reason. Thank you, Universe!

(I removed my resume from Monster today - thanks for the reminder, Michele!)