(Note: This artlcle appeared at the March 22 edition of the Bohol Tribune.)
In one of my more recent job interviews, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), a power-dressed European expatriate, seated comfortably across the table from me, had only one item he wanted clarified regarding my credentials. “It has to be said, Steve, that you have been around. Is there any particular reason to that?”
And like a cacophonous beauty pageant finalist, I wanted to answer, “Thank you for that wonderful question. I believe…” Of course, that was just all in my mind! Wouldn't it be more fun though if all job interviews were conducted like the final Q&A portion of the Miss Universe pageant. But I digress. The subject of the question, of course, is his observation from my resume, that just in my mid 30’s, I have already worked for a total of five companies - with the engagements ranging from one to six years. What was not spoken out loud in the question, but one which my answer was going to confirm or rule out, was whether such behavior indicated a lack on my part to commit, to be loyal, to the company that hires me. The soft paranoid voice in my head recoiled at the implied accusation - that I was of lesser character compared to those who possessed a more stable employment record. I cannot begrudge Mr. COO the question though. Interviewers are under tremendous pressure to make character assessments within that hour, or so, of conversation.
What dawned on me then was that not everyone subscribes to the greater Steve (Jobs), who is known as an American entrepreneur, marketer, inventor, co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Apple Inc., when he said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.”
No two person’s career path is similar, though there may be generational idiosyncrasies to how we view job love and loyalty.
My mother, a retired teacher, is no doubt imbued with a far more superior character than I have, but for sure, this is not because she worked, and retired in just one institute in this province, the Bohol Island State University (BISU), erstwhile known as the Bohol School of Arts and Trades (BSAT) during my time. I believe many in her generation, and the generations before, ascribed to the one-employer-policy. At the very least, they did not have as many employment movements as I have had, when they were my age.
Then, there is the younger generation, those who just joined, or about to join the workforce, a generation that has baffled all the others. Allegedly, and I use this word here because I do not really believe in collective labeling, these new young adults have a high sense of entitlement, and are characterized by their seeming difficulty to commit to their responsibilities.
I have worked with these young adults, and without understanding fully what drives them, I have experienced first-hand how they do tend to jump from one company to another, at the first sign of a better opportunity. But is this a character defect? Is this not a function of several factors, one of which may be the technology that affords them transparency and mobility, to assess things much more quickly than their more senior predecessors?
For my part, and I have been vocal about this, in all the five companies I have worked for, there was never the intention at the start to make the relationship short-term. I do not think any rational person reports to work on the first day, and declares to himself that this job is good for fun only. On the contrary, for those of you who can still remember their work’s first day high, it is almost unbridled optimism, and joy that describe the feeling. As the relationship progresses, like any other, re-calibration happens naturally. And unlike marriage that cannot be put asunder, work relationship is by nature, contractual.
Graduation season is again upon us, and with it, the influx of starry-eyed, beaming-with-idealism, optimistic fresh graduates eager to join the workforce, the real world, to make a difference. Consider at the end of the school year in 2014, last year, the Commission on Higher Education, as published in the Philippine Star on March 26, 2014, estimated that 553,706 college students would have graduated then. "Of the more than half a million candidates, were graduates of Business Administration and related courses (142,061), followed by Medical and Allied disciplines (110,280), Information Technology (68,178), Education and Teacher Training (65,092), Engineering and Technology (61,786) and other disciplines (26,298)", the article goes on to declare.
One has to wonder if these half a million graduates already really knew what they wanted to do with their lives, based on the career their chosen courses would have led them to. At what point in our life do we get that light bulb Eureka! moment regarding our life’s calling? I consider myself fairly more self-aware than my contemporaries, and that is supposed to mean that I have things figured out already. My five-company stint over the last 15 years seem to belie that. Or does it?
Interestingly, I know Accounting graduates who became top-notch musicians, Medicine students who pursued and excelled in careers in Advertising, Economics majors who are now sought-after stylists.I also know of people who coasted through three degrees during College, and are still in pursuit of their goal in life up to now. There are, of course, also those people, who failed, no, chose, not to graduate from college, but have very happy, and rewarding lives as entrepreneurs.
To be honest, I have nothing but envy for people who find contentment in their first jobs. Whether they have found true bliss, or are just settling for stability though, is a matter for their own conscience to bear. I also know that in reality, the time for searching follows its own biological clock. Still, like matters of the heart, and if we put our faith in the musings of one of the greatest minds of our time, we can rest in the knowledge that we will know our calling when we find our calling. Sadly, it has also been rumored that they who are superior in intellect, are idiots in the affairs of the heart.
So, how did I answer Mr. COO’s question? With all the subdued acting and drama I can muster in such a circumstance, I faced him, and declared, that early in my career, my job decisions were driven by economics. It was about maximizing my financial returns, and learning opportunities. However, as I moved up the corporate ladder, my decision to stay or go has become dependent on finding meaning and relevance in the experience.
I have worked too hard to settle for anything less.
