Career Moves

Music: Sending Out an SOS

Caught up with a couple of friends who'd just been on an extended holiday in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Both of them were unhappy with their jobs for different reasons and were looking for a change. One of these friends' brother, in his mid 20s, just quit his job as an accountant and was going on a one year working holiday to South America and Canada. I wonder if it's a common phase of life or just a recent Gen-XY phenomenon. I know more than one person who has done that. I still haven't got my head around what defines "Gen-X" vs "Gen-Y" since there's nothing definitive out there, unlike the definition for "baby boomer". I have friends in their 20s and 30s and in terms of outlook in life, it's not the age that counts.

I know a guy "L", in his early 30s who's doing an MBA now and looking to switch careers because he feels that as an expatriate he's making a reasonable amount of money but it wouldn't be enough to sustain him if he chose to work in the same capacity back in his home country. He's going through what another guy "A", a late 20 something year old MBA graduate from the same school, termed the "spin cycle". The school, whose slogan is One Year Will Change Your Life, or thereabouts, has a lot of "lost souls" -- generally intelligent people who don't really know what they want. Before entering the program, "L" thought he wanted to get into a particular field. Now that that particular market has tanked and jobs are harder to get in that field, he's changed his mind several times. It sounded more like "whatever I can get for more money" than "this is what I really want to do". I think the money issue is really bugging "L". The last time I talked to him, he was looking at going into partnership with another classmate and setting up a company. From what he said, I had my doubts about it.

One friend loves working with the people she works with. She'd go out on social activities with them even on the weekends. But she hates the politics and company management. She's been promoted to a managerial position and one year on, it still doesn't sit well with her. She "liked management theory and liked reading about it, but hates applying it in practice" (or thereabouts in her words). She's a former technologist working in a certain technology sector who isn't really that passionate about technology unlike some of the tech heads she works with and had worked with in the past. All she wants, is to find the right tool to get the job done, instead of being anal retentive about the technology. The politicking and managing of expectations wears her down and she hates it because it's a never-ending vicious cycle. She wants to feel like she's on top of her job (ie. being really good at it) but when she was in that position before, she was bored with it because she no longer felt challenged. She'd consulted with a career coach before but after several sessions, she still didn't get a clear sense of where she should be headed. She's afraid of going back to school and completely changing careers because she's "so close to 30" (her words) and not knowing if the path she's thinking of undertaking is really the "right" one for her.

The other friend has a great boss who provided my friend with some mentoring in his limited capacity. His boss would tell him what he should do on which projects to improve his skill set and he really enjoys working under his current boss. However, he is unhappy with the company overall because of certain policies and his boss isn't high up enough in the "food chain" or influential enough to effect significant changes. Working in a multinational company wasn't as banged up as he'd imagined and he's seen wastages in manpower. He's generally happy with his chosen career but is considering a lateral move to get a more broad based experience. That and he wants out from the current company.

Some friends have changed careers or changed industries but kept some aspects of their previous jobs. One friend is a quantitative analyst who was previously a programmer for an R&D company. Some are working in fields completely unrelated to what they studied. One friend who majored in political science now works in logistics. Another who majored in philosophy currently works in the FMCG industry and is reponsible for supply chain management issues.

Relatively few friends (in the 20something and 30something category) have expressed job satisfaction/love. Out of all the friends I've discussed career issues with, only one could really say she loved her job.

She was rather disappointed and somewhat surprised by how bitter and jealous/envious some of her friends were because she actually liked her job and didn't complained about how much her job sucked or how much she hated it like they did. In fact, when I talked to her, she told me that I was the first person to express happiness and congratulate her on finding her career path in life. Somehow, that bit of news saddened me.