- When you go (and if you do), what could be the reason?
- What makes you most insecure right now?
- What is the best part of your work?
- How do you feel about work on your worst days? How could we make it better?
- How do you feel about work on your best days? How could we do more of those?
- What part of the job you hate?
- If you had to change one thing forever, what would that be?
- What would be a part of struggle that you look forward to?
- What is an unnecessary struggle?
- Do you sometimes tend to lose your faith on the company? How can we make sure that the trust remains intact?
- How can we make your job a better place to be?
Tag: job
One question that I get asked a lot is:
“How were you able to make your career switch? Did you not face any challenges? Did you fail? How did you bounce back?”
This blog, is an attempt to answer that.
Well, to give you a background, I am a Chartered Accountant by profession. Worked in the corporate for five years, and kept writing on the side because I loved it.
In 2020, I quit my job and took up writing full-time.
How was it possible?
Before how, let me address the question of why.
I used to work as an Internal Auditor. Which meant on any given day my high rating would be a function of how many errors and how huge errors I detected. It, in turn, meant that someone else had to screw up badly in order for me to perform greatly.
And I kid you not, I was great at my work.
Sometimes people were fired because of me, sometimes people were issued warning memos, and almost every single time someone else’s annual rating was adversely affected.
With all this going on, I was not very happy. If wherever you go, you are welcomed at a superficial level yet at a deeper level people wished I didn’t come or went away quickly. The money that we earn brings blessings. For me, it came at the cost of many people’s career. My career, no matter how legit, was someone else’s nightmare.
And with my love for writing, it was just nudging me daily to make that move.
So here’s how I quit my job and made a career switch:
- Started freelancing part time. I had already been creating my content – so initially that and a few cold emails served as a starting ground.
- Over a period of time and some force of luck (that always shows up when we do the good old hard work) when I got good clients + I managed to save a year’s worth of expenses, I made the move.
- The expenses that were saved are not used yet, thankfully, and will never be used as an emergency. But that cushion keeps you from making bad choices.
Simple. That’s it.
I did not know this would be the process, I just kept creating content without any direction of where it would go, and soon it did lead to some good places.
As far as problems that were concerned, I solved them the way I solve all my problems – by surrendering them to God. The results are never short of epic.
Try it out! And reach out to me to tell how it was 🙂
Today I saw a dance video of a friend of mine. She apparently was dancing with her college gang. Their energy, sync in moves, facial expressions and body language – revealed more than words ever could.
Here’s what my little knowledge of psychology tells me:
- The people we surround ourselves with determine who we become.
- Even they didn’t know that their friends play so important role in their happiness.
- It is the best thing if we choose our people wisely, and if we don’t that’s a doom on us.
But why are we talking about this?
Because I was a star player in my first job because I was nurtured that way.
In my second job, things changed drastically because:
- I asked a lot of questions, which made my manager believe I am getting too excited and I don’t know anything.
- I was always happy and booming with joy, which was also perceived as a sign of dumbness.
- Most importantly, there was once a trainer who was invited to our office. Those days my manager wasn’t talking to me (yes, that also happened!) because I had taken two days off owing to ill health. My work was in sync, so I attended the one-hour zumba session that the trainer conducted.
And damn, after that session it was a guilty feeling that encircled me. The feeling that I should have sat stuck at my desk because my boss would like it – I just didn’t want to be limited by that feeling so I attended the Zumba session. And more than anything else, it was organized by the HR of the company, and I, inter alia, received a formal email from her for attending the session.
This was just one instance, I could lay at least ten such instances that made me feel small in the organisation. Btw, instead of teaching me how to solve difficult problems, my manager used to ask me: “Will you be able to do it?” This wasn’t because I had proved my inability to him, it was because in our informal conversations he always highlighted how he felt men were more apt to doing this job.)
Was I wrong? Yes, in the desire of joining that organisation, I was wrong. Was I wrong in my stint at that workplace? Well, only if curiosity and cheerfulness are wrong.
In a fortunate tale of events, my leader did not like me and asked me to “look for further opportunities” because I didn’t fit the bill of fitting in.
I did get out of the organisation, and it was the best thing that happened to me.
Now, before we conclude, there were some good things in the organisation:
- They did provide me bread and butter
- The operations and sales team were driven to meet the customer needs, always
- We had a break of one month after working for two months (good as well as not so good as all drive was lost).
- My manager (yes the one who stopped talking to me) was cool and calm (sadly not driving me to performance.)
- He said he felt bad about the leader asking me to leave, and it was all in good intent. He treated me like his daughter and perhaps because of which never bothered enough to make me bold enough to face the muddy waters of the job which is of the most importance to perform.
But this post isn’t necessarily about what was good in the organisation that I worked with, and what wasn’t. It was more about the culture. All organisations are the best – if they hire the right people
My friend was dancing along with her friends and they all enjoyed it. I danced with my colleagues and my non-communicative manager felt worse because of this. Of course that guilt slid into me. Of course that did affect me.
That is why it is important to review the company and the culture you are working with.
It is going to be hard, but so is it hard for the company to find the right fit for them. If they could do the emotional labour of being patient and going through the difficult stuff, so is it your responsibility to move the needle and go to the place you would be proud to say in your first page interview.
If you want to do something,
And you do it
You’re great.
However…
If you don’t feel like doing something,
And known it’s the right thing to do.
You’re a real fighter.