Rockline Industries Interview #1

Jared went to the career fair at OSU on February 2nd. He had done some research on companies that were coming and one of them was Rockline Industries. They make baby and other wet wipes. Given that Jared's research was in web-handling (the process used to make wipes, among other things), we figured it would be good for him to talk to them. So he did, and he felt that it went very well. But one of the things that they told him was, "We are in Arkansas."

"Arkansas, really?" I asked.

Though we both felt that we would be open to the possibility. More than anything, we wanted Jared to be able to get a job that he would enjoy. We did not want him to get stuck in a job that he hates. So we knew that Arkansas would be a possibility and we prayed that we'd know where the Lord would have us go.

But Rockline didn't contact Jared as soon as we thought they would. Some of Jared's friends had job offers before he had heard anything, and we weren't sure where we'd end up. But then one week Jared had a phone interview with one company in Texas, which went very well, and scheduled interviews with Rockline and Matrix, a company in Tulsa, OK.

Jared had his first interview with Rockline on March 30th. I wanted to go so that I could see Arkansas. If they were going to offer him a job, I wanted to know if I would really be okay living in Arkansas. Rockline paid for a hotel room for us, so we made a little two day trip out of it. However, we only had one car, so us girls spent the morning during Jared's interview at the hotel. Here are some cute pictures from that morning.

Rachel needed to nap, so this is how Allie kept quiet.



Jared's interview went very well, and we both really liked the Northwest Arkansas area. We mostly just drove around. We tried to find a supposedly, "very cool" free museum, but due to construction and GPS getting confused, we didn't find it. But we were able to see the area, and it is absolutely beautiful. I don't know that either of us had a picture of what Arkansas would be like, but it wasn't at all like we expected. It is a lot more green and has rolling hills or small mountains. It is located in the Ozark mountains. The company is in Springdale, Arkansas, but the region is referred to as Northwest Arkansas because there are four cities that are within half hour of each other, and as you drive from one to the next, you really can't tell where one ends and the other begins. And though shopping isn't the most important thing, we could tell that it is definitely a step up from Stillwater. We stopped at a cute little park to let Allie and Rachel stretch their legs, too.

 

Allie could spend hours swinging.



Rachel enjoyed the swing, too.

The interview was on the Friday before General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. For those that aren't familiar with General Conference, it is when the living Prophet, Apostles, and other general leaders of the church address members and anyone else who will listen from around the world. One of my mission presidents would always encourage us to make General Conference a personal conference by praying to receive answers to specific questions. I've done this in the past, and I always received answers, sometimes in unexpected ways during General conference. So even though Jared hadn't received an offer, I prayed to know if this job in Arkansas was right. Jared did, too. I won't write about how our answers were received, but we both received answers that helped us know. I was amazed that I felt so much peace about moving to Arkansas.

However, Jared still needed to hear back from them. And he did. They called the next week to tell Jared that they wanted us to come out for a long weekend so that we could have a realtor show us the area. Jared would also meet with more people in the company as a second phase of the interview process. Given that Jared was in his last semester of graduate school, it wasn't the best time to be leaving the area. So we didn't actually go back until the first weekend in May, after Jared's graduation.