oliviatamccue

 March – May 2013: Stroke of Luck and off to Medical Industry

Previous job leads have not borne fruit.  It is unclear if it needs patience or a different approach.  Confidence is an interesting thing.  We feel more confident when the recruiters call us for an interview.

I got a gentle stroke of luck to land on a senior position in a Medical device company, close to home and in industry that has direct relevance to our well beings.  Just that I have enjoyed my employment break so much, it is a dampened excitement to get something that matches up well with what I have been looking for.

Just to name a few differences:

From a company of 300,000+ employees to a company of just over 1000 employees; from a permanent position to a consultant position; from high-tech industry to medical device field; from IT management to program management in marketing; from applications management to product development; not to mention from IE 10 to IE 8; nor from SQL2012 to SQL2008; the contrast is amazing.

Differences aside, there are not small similarities.  And there are so many skills and experiences that can be leveraged.  I am naturally grateful for what I have learned in the past.

As a consultant, one could be a bit remote from office politics, and enjoys the feeling of earning tangible $ every day as well as the overtime payment protection of working more hours.

Opportunity of a permanent position presents itself when it is too early to call.

June – August 2013: Hits and Misses

It is not so much what the decision is, more what we make of the decision.

Misses –

• The friendship and comradeship for a company I have worked for many years.  That every one of the 300,000+ employees is a phone call or email away.
• Miss the perceived sense of security and certainty.
• Miss the respect and authority established over the years.
• Day of self-doubt when interviews do not end up with an offer

Hits –

• Time for so many activities I enjoy.  Every day is full of stuff that I like to take up.
• Time to reflect and put the first half of career in perspective.  Realization of how much has been done, and how to apply the experiences in different settings.
• The experience of retirement days if not months.
• The exposure of non-profit organizations and how to get in.
• Refresh on latest technology and its trend – cloud, software-as-service, blogging and mobile application.
• Connect with people
• The confidence and reality that we can move on to another challenge – change is possible.

How we set our goals affect what we get in the end – I start off the journey, with the top reason to do something different and relevant.  It is certainly different, and time would tell if it is relevant.

What would you do when you are “looking for something different” in middle age before too late, and when the choice presented itself as a financial reward to leave; or stay in a well-respected and secure position in a company of 300,000+ employees?

With the courage echoed in the song of “Ready to take a chance again”, biblical verse “Launch into the Deep” and to no small extent, the financial cushion, it was not a hard decision.

On the first anniversary, what have been the hits and misses on this road less travelled?

September – November 2012: Living like a retiree, years prior to the social security age of retirement.

Life fast forwards itself to years later, to be on discussion about retirement, annuities, medical care, not to mention about the approaches from financial planners.  What best to help planning than considering important decisions years ahead of time? A relaxed mindset is precious, even doing the same thing feels different; it allows reflection of the career so far, and allows the space to ponder what to do up next.  A typical day is like rising early, surf internet, exercise, read WSJ, watching TV, read books, learn something, volunteers, check out jobs, before cooking dinners.  In between afternoon tea, school activities, financial stuff, classes, tennis, family cooking and exploring opportunities, there has been so much more things to do than time affords.

December – February 2013: Launch into the open, Ups and Downs

I got job relocation to United States years ago, and have been in the same company since, my job search experience is nothing serious at best; with some career transition service, I am off to training in job search, resumes, interviews and offer negotiation.  To prepare for job search, I enjoy the moments of looking back on what has been achieved, and to plan out what I would look for.  Joining job search group is one of the easier approaches to know people of vastly different experiences, and connect with people of common goals of getting a job.   These months are months that I get to know/reconnect with folks and their stories, than the last 20 years together.  The initial desire of non-profit did not quite plan out the same way, volunteer is possible, but trying to combine meaningful purpose with my core competence is not straight forward.  I got close to working for a non-profit educational setting, but have a wake-up call the reality of a noble objective may not mean working in an environment within the comfort zone.  For the commercial worlds, the resume to interview ratio is about 3 – 5%, most of my interviews were from companies that I have no connection.   There is some stroke of luck to often have job leads each week, though I fully understand the seed of doubt in days with no calls.

December offers a number of opportunities, where the chance to get deep in interview in senior positions in companies of household names, with meaningful products, or exciting start-up, boasts confidence.   Answering challenging questions in interviews, knowing the interviewers are awfully smart, has been an intensive experience similar to pushing your brain to work times faster than usual. There have been days I fancy my chance of getting “multiple” offers, yet I exit the quarter empty handed.   If looking for a job is a job itself, I chose to take a week off.