Situations Vacant

Hello dear readers!

This week you join a saddened and slightly deflated seated person. The reason for this is that, just two days ago, I reluctantly said goodbye to the firm that had been supplying me with gainful employment since the end of last October.

You may, if you’ve been following me for a while, remember a post entitled ‘The End Of The Beginning’ in which I gushed enthusiastically about my employer, and the wonderful people with which I had gone through training. In that post I mentioned the wonderfully supportive culture, the fantastic work life balance on offer, the disabled positive policy, and the truly amazing people I found myself working alongside.

All of which is still very true.

Why then, you may ask, did I choose to end my relationship with such a fantastic company? Well, truth be told it’s the one thing that I’ve not mentioned so far. The job.

Yes, that all important part of one’s work life which are the duties that one is, as a matter of course, asked to perform on a daily basis has proven to be my undoing. I think the issue, for yours truly, was threefold. Firstly there was the breadth of the role. The sheer number and variety of the different tasks that presented themselves on a daily basis was sizable to say the least, with four different systems to contend with and a product knowledge requirement that was, well shall we say… expansive. 

Secondly there was the exactness of the role. What I mean by this is the number of procedures and scriptings that needed to be absolutely perfect. There were any number of things that needed to be said and done in very specific ways, many flowcharts that needed to be followed. Often the scriptings needed to be repeated word for word, with no room for error. Now this was a financial services company so a degree of that is to be expected, and indeed is necessary. Being penalised for not giving the correct scripting when transferring a call, or thanking a customer for holding did seem a little draconian however. Now obviously there are a lot of people that work for this (still mysteriously unnamed) employer so it is obviously more than possible to cope with this aspect of the role. Personally though, this was a major struggle. Maybe I lack something in the procedural department, a lack of a logical, rule following mentality perhaps. Maybe I need a little more flexibility and freedom in what I do. Maybe I'm just thick. Whatever the reason this hurdle in particular caused me major issues and led me to go from really looking forward to a workday to almost dreading it. Not nice.

The last issue was purely and simply my own. I'm not saying the above were independent of yours truly, but at least I can point to external things that just didn't fit with my personality and talents. From the moment my training team were let loose on the phones however, I managed to completely sabotage myself by putting crazy amounts of stress and pressure upon myself. I don't know why I did this. I'm not sure if it was because I'd fallen a little in love with the company, and in particular the amazing people I'd trained with, or if some hidden vital importance had subconsciously attached itself to me doing well in the job. Whatever it was, the first couple of weeks being coached on live calls went stupendously badly, and I never really recovered from there. 

I think my prospective team leader, having witnessed this explosion, began to have her doubts about me, as did my coach. I began to harbour such doubts myself if I’m honest, my brittle confidence straining under the self-induced pressure. Round, and round, and round this went; playing with my little head until it was fit to explode and something simply had to give. On a couple of occasions this was my always sensitive stomach and two working days were lost to this in the last two months, leading to yet more pressure. Two sets of people that helped me to deal with this, and in fact were instrumental in me getting as far as I did were my always wonderful wife, and of course, the fantastic people I trained with. I can say without fear of contradiction that those ten people number amongst the most wonderful, caring and supportive people it has ever been my privilege to meet and I hope to stay in touch with each and every one of them.

So there we are. I am once again looking for gainful employment. Hopefully this time I can avoid the trap of falling back on what I know and find something more suited to me. Writing certainly ticks all of the boxes, giving vent to my creative inclinations and suiting my reflective side down to the ground. Whether this is a viable route to look down I guess we'll find out in time. It's a shame such a chance wasn't available at my former paymasters but I suppose we can’t have it all. Whatever the future may hold though, I do know one thing. I would not swap the last three months for the world. It has been a wonderful, sometimes terrible experience but I leave it far, far richer than before. 

Onwards and upwards, eh?

‘Til next time...