Constant Development? I'm quite happy where I am thank you
I've been looking for a job recently. I'm not looking to return to my previous career, I just want a job to help eke out the savings while my novels continue to get noticed. Part time would be perfect.
I'm quite open to roles, whether it's in an office/bank where I can utilise my twenty years past experience or in retail, where I've also had some experience. I've yet to find something although I have applied for quite a few.
Why haven't I got one yet? There are three possible reasons: -
1. I've had a four year break from my banking career and even though I do actually remember what I did and haven't lost any of the skills and have, in fact, used them quite a lot in my writing career; perhaps firms see the break as a negative.
2. The break isn't a problem but then I'm overqualified for the level of role I'm applying for.
3. (My favoured answer) The problem is that I want a job.
Yes, you heard me right. I want a job. I don't want a career; I just want a job. That's the problem in a nutshell. These days (& I realise I'm basing this just on the banking industry) everyone must have a career development plan. It's not enough to just do a job that you're happy with; you have to have new goals in your yearly appraisal.
Now if you want to progress your career, that's great and we all start out eagerly when we first get a job. We put in the extra, unpaid hours because that's what you do to get noticed; but then life changes.
We age, we marry, get a mortgage, have children and perhaps we'd rather leave the office at five to spend time with them or with friends, rather than working until 9pm because there's a deadline and the company expects you to work those extra, unpaid hours otherwise you won't achieve all of last years goals on your appraisal and therefore you could jeopardise your bonus.
There's nothing wrong with reaching a certain level in your job and saying, 'This is me now.' Surely a firm should be glad to have someone who's happy in their work and therefore productive. They know their job inside out and will continue to maintain the high standards they've achieved.
But it isn't like that. There's this need for continuous development. I've worked with many people over the years and believe me, a lot of them should never have been put in charge of a team of people. I count myself as one of them.
In my last role before I left to write my first novel I was in charge of a team of six people. I'd only ever managed one person before. I'd previously worked in this department a couple of years prior (when there was only three of us but then a merger occurred). I returned there as a contractor to sort out some problems with their cash reconciliations. It was only after I'd started that I discovered the plan for me to take over the team. I was totally out of my depth and, although I knew exactly what the whole team did, as a person who naturally lacks confidence in himself, I was definitely the wrong person to be in charge. Still, it did make the decision to leave and write easier.
So, here I am, looking for a job. This week I was turned down for a part time role in a department store. After applying I had to answer a few questions based on different scenarios and having passed that stage I was then asked to record answers to four more questions (an awful process by the way, where your own voice sounds completely different and you start noticing mannerisms you never knew you had).
The store obviously has one set of standard questions and again, it's all about career development.
Q. Where do you see yourself in five years?
A. Living off the considerable proceeds of my first 7 seven novels while I write number 8; perhaps at my Caribbean holiday home.
It was a 20 hour a week job to serve customers in a shop, not an opportunity to become the next Richard Branson! So what was my real answer to the above question? I had to play the game and talk about a change of career, gaining retail experience to add to my finance experience so that I could move into a new role etc. Mind you, it didn't work so perhaps I should have just been honest and gone with the above answer after all or something like it.
Me: "Yes I'm happy to stay in the role for now but if I start outselling J K Rowling in six months I will have to leave."
Interviewer: "Well in that case welcome aboard. Let's look at your goals for next year shall we?"
I'm quite open to roles, whether it's in an office/bank where I can utilise my twenty years past experience or in retail, where I've also had some experience. I've yet to find something although I have applied for quite a few.
Why haven't I got one yet? There are three possible reasons: -
1. I've had a four year break from my banking career and even though I do actually remember what I did and haven't lost any of the skills and have, in fact, used them quite a lot in my writing career; perhaps firms see the break as a negative.
2. The break isn't a problem but then I'm overqualified for the level of role I'm applying for.
3. (My favoured answer) The problem is that I want a job.
Yes, you heard me right. I want a job. I don't want a career; I just want a job. That's the problem in a nutshell. These days (& I realise I'm basing this just on the banking industry) everyone must have a career development plan. It's not enough to just do a job that you're happy with; you have to have new goals in your yearly appraisal.
Now if you want to progress your career, that's great and we all start out eagerly when we first get a job. We put in the extra, unpaid hours because that's what you do to get noticed; but then life changes.
We age, we marry, get a mortgage, have children and perhaps we'd rather leave the office at five to spend time with them or with friends, rather than working until 9pm because there's a deadline and the company expects you to work those extra, unpaid hours otherwise you won't achieve all of last years goals on your appraisal and therefore you could jeopardise your bonus.
There's nothing wrong with reaching a certain level in your job and saying, 'This is me now.' Surely a firm should be glad to have someone who's happy in their work and therefore productive. They know their job inside out and will continue to maintain the high standards they've achieved.
But it isn't like that. There's this need for continuous development. I've worked with many people over the years and believe me, a lot of them should never have been put in charge of a team of people. I count myself as one of them.
In my last role before I left to write my first novel I was in charge of a team of six people. I'd only ever managed one person before. I'd previously worked in this department a couple of years prior (when there was only three of us but then a merger occurred). I returned there as a contractor to sort out some problems with their cash reconciliations. It was only after I'd started that I discovered the plan for me to take over the team. I was totally out of my depth and, although I knew exactly what the whole team did, as a person who naturally lacks confidence in himself, I was definitely the wrong person to be in charge. Still, it did make the decision to leave and write easier.
So, here I am, looking for a job. This week I was turned down for a part time role in a department store. After applying I had to answer a few questions based on different scenarios and having passed that stage I was then asked to record answers to four more questions (an awful process by the way, where your own voice sounds completely different and you start noticing mannerisms you never knew you had).
The store obviously has one set of standard questions and again, it's all about career development.
Q. Where do you see yourself in five years?
A. Living off the considerable proceeds of my first 7 seven novels while I write number 8; perhaps at my Caribbean holiday home.
It was a 20 hour a week job to serve customers in a shop, not an opportunity to become the next Richard Branson! So what was my real answer to the above question? I had to play the game and talk about a change of career, gaining retail experience to add to my finance experience so that I could move into a new role etc. Mind you, it didn't work so perhaps I should have just been honest and gone with the above answer after all or something like it.
Me: "Yes I'm happy to stay in the role for now but if I start outselling J K Rowling in six months I will have to leave."
Interviewer: "Well in that case welcome aboard. Let's look at your goals for next year shall we?"
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