Several years ago now I found myself in desperate need to join the workforce. I was in the process of a messy complicated divorce (when are they ever neat?) and I had to try and find a job. I had a degree, however the only experience that I had was in retail and fast food, not in an office (apart from a 5 month temp job) so I found myself at a disadvantage.
First of all I didn't know how to interview, I was reclusive and shy both traits were not conducive to developing interpersonal skills. Next I didn't know how to write a resume, lucky for me a good blogger friend helped me there. Lastly I really didn't know what a day to day job in an office would be like so I was quite unprepared and awkward when I did land a job.
My first position was with a fly by night home security company and their accounting department was a mess. The manager was wrapped up in an enormous project to automate all of their processes using sql and didn't have the time to train. The other employee's had settled into their grooves and didn't really have time for training either so I was paired with different people every day to learn their processes. I was awkward, but persistent in learning and documenting the processes in use. Eventually I was asked to be a supervisor. Unfortunately I was not prepared to do all of the tasks of a supervisor and all of the tasks of a worker as well. My interaction with those I was supervising was ineffective and frustrating, but not surprising given how little time I had spent in the workforce.
I had to quit that job, I was overwhelmed and working way too hard (I'd spent entire nights trying to figure out how to do things at times and didn't log my hours). I didn't know how to prevent myself from being taken advantage of and that wasn't the place to figure it out at anyway.
Fortunately for me the resume that my blogger friend made for me was good enough that I got noticed by a recruiter for a temp job at Adobe. This was a lucky break! I got hired on as a "Datasteward" which was meant to be a 6 month Adobe project but which turned out to be a longer term position. I worked with an experienced, supportive and savvy manager who put a really fantastic team lead in charge and she was my first example of how to interact with others well in the workplace.
Unfortunately my first job had left it's scars, I was terrified somehow of messing up. I worked well with the team lead Kathy and we successfully built a process that incorporated the expensive IBM tool that Adobe had bought with some other tools that Adobe had built internally and turned the initiative into what Adobe had set out to accomplish with the Data Steward team (in fact creating a whole new worldwide team in the process).
However I was insecure about being able to handle being the manager of the team when Kathy left, I was doing OK as team lead for a few months but taking on all of the responsibility was a bit intimidating. I knew there were gaps in my understanding of how to work in a large company and I didn't want those gaps to be revealed. SO I jumped at a chance to join the Order Management team as an analyst when one of the managers at the time noticed my bachelors degree and urged me to apply.
For the first few years of the job as an Order Management rep I was really nervous about making mistakes. I would ask over and over again about procedure and conveyed an aura of incompetency because of this. I poured my heart into improving the process documents that they had on file but still felt frustrated at times. We moved to a new building and we moved to a new invoicing system and I poured my heart into documenting all that came with the changes.
During this time I was trying to develop my EQ, interactions with my manager were strained, I was so worried about mistakes and he was focusing on mistakes during every meeting. My strength at capturing processing procedures became a weakness when it came to actually following the procedures because I mixed myself up with the changing tides of policy.
After several years of this I went back to school to get my MBA and went through several major emotional events (break up with fiance, break up with boyfriend, MBA, engagement, wedding, 2nd divorce) and this all affected my attention and focus at work.
I was extremely disappointed when my colleague was promoted to manager (and praised for her efforts on the process doc team) and I was constantly being called to task for my error rate and not recognized for my contributions to the process documentation effort.
This embedded a seed of jealousy, hurt and resentment that colored my working days and festered at night. It was frustrating, I really, REALLY wanted to leave but I had to finish my MBA and find a good comparable job to apply for.
Well, I had to learn patience and I had to learn to purge the jealousy, hurt and resentment because they were doing me no good. When I got my MBA I was being asked why I didn't move on, my answer is this.
I needed to develop the job skills that experience would give me and I needed to develop my EQ by sticking it out and working on being a part of a team.
It takes time, it takes patience, it means not giving up when the going gets tough. I'm working on developing friendships with the people I work with, learning how to applaud others even when I get overlooked. After all it seems to me that a good pleasant, personable personality is a valuable skill to possess.
SG
First of all I didn't know how to interview, I was reclusive and shy both traits were not conducive to developing interpersonal skills. Next I didn't know how to write a resume, lucky for me a good blogger friend helped me there. Lastly I really didn't know what a day to day job in an office would be like so I was quite unprepared and awkward when I did land a job.
My first position was with a fly by night home security company and their accounting department was a mess. The manager was wrapped up in an enormous project to automate all of their processes using sql and didn't have the time to train. The other employee's had settled into their grooves and didn't really have time for training either so I was paired with different people every day to learn their processes. I was awkward, but persistent in learning and documenting the processes in use. Eventually I was asked to be a supervisor. Unfortunately I was not prepared to do all of the tasks of a supervisor and all of the tasks of a worker as well. My interaction with those I was supervising was ineffective and frustrating, but not surprising given how little time I had spent in the workforce.
I had to quit that job, I was overwhelmed and working way too hard (I'd spent entire nights trying to figure out how to do things at times and didn't log my hours). I didn't know how to prevent myself from being taken advantage of and that wasn't the place to figure it out at anyway.
Fortunately for me the resume that my blogger friend made for me was good enough that I got noticed by a recruiter for a temp job at Adobe. This was a lucky break! I got hired on as a "Datasteward" which was meant to be a 6 month Adobe project but which turned out to be a longer term position. I worked with an experienced, supportive and savvy manager who put a really fantastic team lead in charge and she was my first example of how to interact with others well in the workplace.
Unfortunately my first job had left it's scars, I was terrified somehow of messing up. I worked well with the team lead Kathy and we successfully built a process that incorporated the expensive IBM tool that Adobe had bought with some other tools that Adobe had built internally and turned the initiative into what Adobe had set out to accomplish with the Data Steward team (in fact creating a whole new worldwide team in the process).
However I was insecure about being able to handle being the manager of the team when Kathy left, I was doing OK as team lead for a few months but taking on all of the responsibility was a bit intimidating. I knew there were gaps in my understanding of how to work in a large company and I didn't want those gaps to be revealed. SO I jumped at a chance to join the Order Management team as an analyst when one of the managers at the time noticed my bachelors degree and urged me to apply.
For the first few years of the job as an Order Management rep I was really nervous about making mistakes. I would ask over and over again about procedure and conveyed an aura of incompetency because of this. I poured my heart into improving the process documents that they had on file but still felt frustrated at times. We moved to a new building and we moved to a new invoicing system and I poured my heart into documenting all that came with the changes.
During this time I was trying to develop my EQ, interactions with my manager were strained, I was so worried about mistakes and he was focusing on mistakes during every meeting. My strength at capturing processing procedures became a weakness when it came to actually following the procedures because I mixed myself up with the changing tides of policy.
After several years of this I went back to school to get my MBA and went through several major emotional events (break up with fiance, break up with boyfriend, MBA, engagement, wedding, 2nd divorce) and this all affected my attention and focus at work.
I was extremely disappointed when my colleague was promoted to manager (and praised for her efforts on the process doc team) and I was constantly being called to task for my error rate and not recognized for my contributions to the process documentation effort.
This embedded a seed of jealousy, hurt and resentment that colored my working days and festered at night. It was frustrating, I really, REALLY wanted to leave but I had to finish my MBA and find a good comparable job to apply for.
Well, I had to learn patience and I had to learn to purge the jealousy, hurt and resentment because they were doing me no good. When I got my MBA I was being asked why I didn't move on, my answer is this.
I needed to develop the job skills that experience would give me and I needed to develop my EQ by sticking it out and working on being a part of a team.
It takes time, it takes patience, it means not giving up when the going gets tough. I'm working on developing friendships with the people I work with, learning how to applaud others even when I get overlooked. After all it seems to me that a good pleasant, personable personality is a valuable skill to possess.
SG
