Good Managers

What in my personal opinion makes it or breaks it for an employee of a company, the manager.

At my previous place of employment I had very interesting managers. Smart, extremely insecure. They had been in the industry for years. Yet, anything that was new that came in was perceived as competition. They were so afraid of their own shadows that they were extremely lousy managers. For a company that boasted innovation there was nothing new on the market the 2 years that I was in that role. That's 2 years of what are now thought of as useless time wasting projects. That were never needed in the first place. BAD MANAGEMENT.

Enter new place of employment. For many of you that do know me personally, I found a job....wooohooo. Thank g-d!!!
I have worked here a whole week and 11/2 days. This company in comparison to the last is much much smaller and yet runs like a well greased robot. It is incredible. This company boasts innovation as well. Last year they came out with so many new products that when it came time to evaluation and review (keep in mind it is a down market) EVERYONE got a bonus!
But, again it goes back to management. My manager is very trusting. He give you a project. You update him. You mess up, he gets involved. You need guidance, ask, if you don't ask it's assumed that everything is going smooth. I love it! Nobody is telling you how to think, what to think...its like...they actually think that you can/are capable of doing the job that you were hired for!

Another huge difference is when you have a great HR department. Old company laid off the department and had all of two people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. New company has an HR army. Awesome!!! My computer was set up the day that I started, same with phone line, safety training and all the other 'necessities' for when you start a new job!

Now, I just have to stop trying to fall asleep and read my assignments :-)

Job Fair

If anybody out there has ever been to a job fair then they will not be as surprised as I was with this particular culture. This was my first job fair. Hopefully my last.
What interests me is that the people that are interviewing for positions are so glum, boring and depressed. Then they go into a tiny room and become vibrant, enthusiastic, optimistic candidates. Its really an amazing phenomenon to watch.
I personally found it draining and for the most part a complete waste of my time.

Here's hoping that America will stop this downward spin.

Do you HAVE to work?

I am surprised by the amount of people who like to question my family's financial status by the question "do you HAVE to work"? At times I am appalled. Other times I'm surprised. We live in a world where two incomes is the normality not the rarity. That is why I am surprised to hear these questions being asked of me.
Maybe people feel like it is no big deal to ask if I really have to work. Yet, for me I wonder what do they really mean? Do they mean: "hey are you just killing time working on your career before you have kids and drop it all?" Or do they mean: "hey, why should you work, clearly your husband works, is that not enough money for you two?", or is it possible that they are saying: "common, everyone knows that your work is silly, why don't you just give up and be a stay at home wife!?"
Well in any way that it is meant, I am totally shocked an appalled. Firstly, if I haven't told you otherwise, my household income is none of your business. Secondly, I, like you have obligations and clearly those include me working! Thirdly, why are you sticking your nose into my business!!! If I have shared with you that I am currently unemployed and looking for a job, then what I am sharing with you is that if you can help me out that would be great! If you can't, then hey know that we are available for Shabbat meals!
Its not that I am wishing hate upon people that are interested in helping me out, I'm just shocked an appalled at the level of intimacy that people are willing to go into. Of course I cannot respond with none of your business. Or, are you kidding me, are you really asking me this! I usually respond in a clear, level headed way "We are great till the unemployment runs out, then not so much". My husband on the other hand had a great idea, "why don't you just tell people that you wouldn't need to work if they would like to pick up the tab for our mortgage". Even though I do agree with him, I still think it's kind of rude to answer this way, though these people have no mind about how rude they are in digging into my life.
I am in shock that this is even a question in our day in age where most women I know work. Some work because they have to. Some work because they want to participate in the family finance and want some extra cash to kick in. Some work because of the combination of those two reasons. I am sure there are many, many more reasons why women and men for that matter work. Yet, I do not think that it is anyone's business which of these reasons is true for me!

Awesome city!!!

Yesterday I had to go downtown to meet with a placement agency. I had so much fun!
My experience getting to the agency was so nice. I was holding a map and every time I stopped to look for street names there were at least two people asking me if they could help me find my way. SO NICE!
The agency was good too, I want to take pictures and post them next time. Its actually really fancy and for me its free to use their fancy facility.
Woooohooooo
Now, all I need is a job.

Job Searching, self exploration.

Well I haven’t written in a while really because I’ve been concentrating on my own feelings and my own family.
Don’t get me wrong I really did want to get the severance package I really did want to get laid off; I know it sounds bad but I did. The truth is I didn’t think how it would feel to come into work for the next three months knowing that I have no job afterwards. I also don’t think I put in to much thought as to how it would feel not to have any projects assigned to be me, and the projects that were to be assigned to me would be interesting tasks such as scanning in Certificates of Analysis and then having to put them on the shared drive…wow there is something exciting.
After hearing of my task to be shared with another chemist (who has 30 years experience) I couldn’t help but think and then say out loud with no tone of sarcasm…”this is why I went to school? This is why I have a chemistry degree?” I’m not saying I’m a superstar by any stretch of the imagination. I got decent grades at school, definitely not a straight A student, and definitely not my mom who is a genius, but, decent none the less. Yet, here I am scanning papers and logging them in, like an intern at a first job.
Am I being ungrateful, I don’t think so. I think that I am just being human. I have no ambition to come to work. I come to work 3 hours late and leave early and nobody says anything to me. I guess that is the only way I can really show the company my true feelings of not only being laid off, but being demoted to a position that interns hold. I am however, grateful to have worked in a big corporate mess, now I know what it is, and now I know how to deal with it.
Since I have been pretty miserable here at my position for the last 2 and half years I’ve decided not only to find a job that I will love but also that I no longer want to be a chemist. I’m not sure what I really want to be (when I grow up) but at this point it is not a chemist. I want to get into the business sector and see if my personality is a better match there. I feel that it will be. The other thing I have found out about myself is I refuse to drive as long and as hard as I have been to get to work. I am not looking for a 70 mile daily commute. I want something close to home and preferably downtown. Those are the things that I know. Everything else I want to explore. This is a good opportunity to really do what I want to do…the only problem is trying to figure out what it is that I want to do.
At this stage in my career I know I don’t want to work in a lab. I want to be a boss, a manager, someone that actually gets to make decisions and execute plans. I want to climb the latter and I want to do it now.
I wish I had a guidance counselor around to ask advice. You know the kind we had in high school and absolutely hated. I remember the kind sweet old lady that was my counselor. I couldn't stand her. She was so clam it was inevitable that she was a bad person, because good people aren’t that sweet and calm…I saw her blow once…not pretty, like I said not a good lady. Yet I wish that something like this existed for people out of high school. I could just walk down to the first floor office and brows through books of professions that I would like to do when I grew up. I guess when I go visit my parents in t-1 hour I can see if the old high school is open and see if I can step inside for some nostalgia and a book or two on professions.

Job

I’m sorry I’ve been gone.
I’ll be back hopefully soon, currently trying to find a job since I’ve been laid off.
G-d willing see you all soon.