The military began taking us from one place to another. I pursued work as a behavioral specialist for the autistic in Hawaii. I worked in retail in D.C. I volunteered for the Family Advocacy Program on Fort Gordon (GA) and landed my first human resources job while living in San Diego. Talk about your transitions.
Working in human resources as an administrative assistant and recruiter stirred up old desires of wanting to work more closely with people. I still had that desire to help people solve personal issues through gentle guidance, but saw the correlation between having a satisfying career and a happy personal life.
Recruiting is a specialty I wanted to enter back in the 90s, but I never pursued it the way I did counseling. Recruiting was surprisingly more enjoyable than I expected it to be. It allowed me to get out of the stuffy (and sometimes a little too quiet) office and out into the fresh air. I enjoyed driving to career fairs with my music blaring, windows cracked, and company merchandise at my side to give away to job seekers. I would carry pens, mini flashlights, and anything else the company thought to put its logo on. Job seekers really seemed to enjoy the reusable bags. I must admit, I enjoyed the convenience of throwing job fliers in those bags and tossing them over my shoulder as I searched for a table to call home for the next 2 hours.
I mostly enjoyed the networking, but wished to offer applicants more. Perhaps advice on how to impress the hiring manager and what not to say during interviews. I felt limited in my role like a bird with clipped wings.
Back at the office, I found myself visiting other departments and managers in the building to see what problems they needed to be solved. My brain was longing for more...exercise. So I asked my employer for full-time hours and more responsibilities. My position was originally intended to be part-time, but things change and you'll never know unless you ask. I was told that the board responsible for major decisions, like budgeting, wasn't meeting for another 3 months or so and even then there would be no guarantee that another full-timer would be justifiable.
I took a look at my career map. For those who don't know, a career map, much like a career ladder, is a look at what you want your career to look in the future and the steps it would take to get to the ultimate goal. Being a military spouse and moving every year or so makes it that much harder to progress in any career. For me and my talent acquisition/recruiting career pursuit, it would take 2-5 years to make it to the next rung on my career ladder. Then another 5 years for the next promotion. I would be almost 60 years old before I had the required experience to be a director of talent acquisition. On top of that, I may not make more that $200,000 or even $5000,000 a year according to most job sites like glassdoor.com and bls.gov. I wasn't satisfied with there being a cap on my income potential. Even still, I began to look for another part-time job and even considered quitting and getting a full-time job.
Around this time, a member of our human resources department was fired and a bulk of the extra work was given to my supervisor. She complained to me that she didn't like having this extra work load. Apparently, she never voiced this to her supervisor because during conference calls, when asked to do more tasks, she would simply say okay then roll her eyes and shake her head.
Her stress overload showed in the way she began to address me as well as other employees. So much to the point they complained to me about it. I found it embarrassing that another employee took notice of her disrespect towards me. My supervisor was nice enough during the beginning stages of my employment, though irritating at times like many supervisors. She was the type that would say, "I'm not a micromanager," but would stand right behind you, pointing at the screen saying, "click here, now click there," as if she was the only person in the room to have navigated through an inbox. I grew tired of her insults and rude comments when I would try to work through misunderstandings with her. Enough was enough and I ended up quitting.
I took a full-time, temporary recruiting job a few weeks later and was so thankful for the opportunity. Management actually asked us what we thought and worked through misunderstandings with the employees. I felt so at home and appreciated at this place. I was even offered regular employment towards the end of the temporary hiring project, but decided to go back into business for myself. I was not satisfied with the income potential of working for someone else.
I have begun recruiting from home and love the freedom working from home brings. I have also started back coaching in which I blend my therapy background and recruiting background with career coaching. I have redesigned ShalandaSays from a website into an interactive vlog and podcast and am looking forward to reaching more people than before.
