20070619

Nine years came and went but I'm still here

June 8th marked my nine year anniversary at McCall, Gilchrist & Haynes. WOO HOO!!! 9 YEARS! NINE FREEKEENG YEARS! That's forever, particularly in the fickle-tastic world of consultants.

I'm conflicted. Sad/depressed that I haven't gotten any closer to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. Psyched about my staying power at a company that has seen layoffs over the years.

I just spent the better part of an hour answering questions from rookies taking the onboarding class I'm teaching. Most of the questions concerned my tenure at the company. Why have you stayed? Why haven't you left? What do you like so much about the company? Have you thought about becoming an independent contractor? Blah blah.

I used to answer these questions all the time when I was the czar of campus recruiting. In short, there's a lot of reasons that I haven't jumped ship over the years. Here are a few. My resume is in a perpetual status of "not ready for prime time" which makes passive job seeking a chore. My in-house professional network is extremely solid which enables me to call my own shots. I'm typically so busy that I don't have time to execute a proper job search. The most significant factor is that I have no idea what I'd like to do when I grow up.

Most folks have this somewhat sorted by the time they are my age. Not me. I've been annoying my family, friends, neighbors, cab drivers, bartenders and flight attendants with the same topic for about eight years now. Now it's your turn.

I'm miserable at work. I'm not exactly sure why. Got any career suggestions for me? What should I be when I grow up?

Is it too late to be an astronaut? I hear that they just fired a couple.

2 comments:

LilSass said...

Hello my sweets. If you really are serious about this then you need to read Po Bronson's "What Should I Do with My Life". It is such an amazing book that tells inspirational stories of people who have transformed their lives by changing their life course with some pretty ballsy moves. Also, the other piece of advise I would give is a very simple "What Color Is Your Parachute?" talk ... what is it that you are unsettled with? Is it the position? Is it the field you work in ? Do you seek a more managerial position within the same working context? Do you want to use your strengths in a completely different field (public/civil servitude, education, hospital work, etc.) I would suggest "teasing out" what feels amiss and starting there. Sometimes you have to take a step down or make a lateral move to get into a more desired field.
xoxox,
S

Anonymous said...

you can work down my list of people to beat up