I was actually surprised how well I slept and woke up looking forward to my appointment with Ann Rains. I was glad we had spoken last night because from the conversation I could tell she was a sincere woman. It also didn't hurt to learn that one of her daughters was a former teacher and now worked for Nursefinders.
I arrived thirty minutes early which insured that I wouldn't be late but unfortunately left me time to sit in my car with nothing to do but anticipate my interview. Nonetheless, I found the office, which was in a high rise building on Broadway. A pleasant looking place and a very professional looking young woman was sitting at a round desk which had what looked like a lazysusan in the middle of it. There were slots in this thing with tall books in each of them. I told her who I was and that I had a meeting with Ann Rains. She smiled and asked me to take a seat and then she disappeared down a hallway to tell Ann I had arrived. A few minutes passed and a short portly looking woman walked over and introduced herself as Ann Rains. She had a wonderful smile and reminded me of my Grandmother with her white hair and soft voice. She invited me to follow her to her office, a small but well furnished space.
I handed her my resume which she politely reviewed noting that I had been raised in New Jersey and lived in St. Louis for a number of years. She asked about my family and seemed interested in the fact that my Father was the Vice President of Pan American Airlines before he died in 1967., and that Jane and I had a one year old daughter. I asked her all of the appropriate questions about Nursefinders and was impressed to find out that it was Ann and her son in law who started the company. He, had previously owned Medical Personnel Pool franchises in Dallas and Fort Worth. He and Ann's daughter,the former teacher, hadn't been able to go on vacation for some years while they built their franchises. As it turned out, Ann was the first woman executive with Illinois Bell Telephone, and had quite a bit of experience as a manager in a huge corporation. She went on to say that she and her husband volunteered to run Larry's franchises while he took his family on vacation for a couple of weeks. While tending to their business Ann started to analyze the operation and came up with a number of ways to improve what they were doing. When the family returned Ann called a meeting and proposed that they form a partnership and open their own company. It was a complicated plan because Larry had to sell his franchises and then comply with Personnel Pools non-compete contract. They owned several Nursefinders operations and then sold franchises for others around the country.
I was very impressed with what they had accomplished. Generally their business was to provide temporary nurses to hospitals, nursing homes and to those trying to maintain their independence at home. I certainly had a lot to learn but the concept captured my imagination. She mentioned that they were looking for an Administrator for their San Francisco branch and wondered if we would be interested in relocating. I told her that I would discuss it with Jane and let her know the next day. She expressed confidence that I would do a great job and then asked if I knew much about San Francisco? I told her I hadn't been there but heard it was a beautiful city. Then she mentioned something about the population and whether either of us would be bothered by the different types of people who lived there! I told her we were not afraid or bothered by gay people and that wouldn't be part of our consideration. With that, we ended our meeting and I thanked her for the opportunity.
I could barely contain myself and raced home to share the news with Jane! Perhaps our long period of unemployment was about to come to an end!
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