. . . . I'm a federal employee again! Yes, I got that job with the agency I just interviewed with last Friday. My soon-to-be boss is a no-nonsense, "do it" hands-off manager - I'm talking pure heaven here. It's a great job - working for the federal agency that administers the trust moneys and lands set aside for American Indians. No, really, it's a cool job. It's so damned cool! I'm flying. I won't be able to start for a month, so I'm not giving notice at my current (been there 50 days) job for a couple of weeks. I feel kinda bad that I'm leaving after such a short time, but it's dog-eat-dog out there. No, I don't really mean that. It's just that I had no way to assess the management style and interpersonal dynamic of the office prior to joining it, so as I have come to realize it just isn't a place where I can thrive, I thank God the federal job came trotting along. Totally serendipitous.
Just shocking to think I'll be starting another job, but I sure do have practice now! Pee in a cup? With my hands tied behind my back. Sit through a presentation on benefits? No sweat.
And so on.
I promise, this is it. No more interviews, no more choices to make. I'm stickin'.
And if I don't, sue me.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Oh my schnorkel
Well, the dreaded thing has happened - my sweet, charming, dynamic new boss lady turns out to be a MI-CRO-MAN-A-GER of the first order. They could use her picture on the cover of Micromanager Monthly. She's crazy, I'm tellin' ya!
Just one little example: She asked me to draft a few form letters to send to people who make it into the "moving up" column in the business section of the newspaper, you know, "Sarah Jones has been promoted to Assistant Manager of the Hallmark Card Shop at the Maplewood Mall." Set aside for a moment the futility of this idea as a way to raise funds for the children's hospital. Set aside for a moment the likelihood that a letter of this kind will result in a donation. We met for almost an hour initially so she could thoroughly explain her concept. She went through the entire column, sharing ideas and strategies for each person specific to their business (e.g., "Here's a woman who has opened a day spa. Maybe we could suggest she donate bottles of lotion to people undergoing radiation treatment or something!") I managed not to roll my eyes and went away thinking I grasped generally what she wanted. I wrote some good letters. That was two weeks ago. We are now onto the FIFTH draft of this damned thing and I swear, I've logged about 10 hours of draftin' and discussin' on this project alone!
I have since learned that, in an office of 7 people, there have been 9 departures in the 18 months this woman has been manager! People leave in one of two ways - either they quit in disgust after their first three months on the job (those are the smart ones) or they're maneuvered out the door by impossible-to-please Mommie after they reach the breaking point and start to either take charge (oooh, Mommie hates that!) or zone out (oooh, Mommie REALLY hates that!).
Tragically, she keeps trying to "solve" the problem of a tuned-out, burned-out staff by throwing micromanagment solutions at us: endless staff meetings (conducted like group therapy), endless individual meetings, daily status reports, coach-led teambuilding sessions, pep talks, and an avalanche of structure, until everyone is running around like chickens. And any actual work that is done is stymied by Mommie's persnickety changes, suggestions, revisions, questions, requirements for approvals, general interference. It's dismaying. We're completely hobbled. These are some good people here, trying to keep cheerful and productive, in the wake of a torrent of time-wasting, confidence-breaking, energy-sapping crap.
Now here's the tragic part: aside from the number of careers that have been derailed and ulcers this person has caused, millions of dollars in funds to support the children's hospital are NOT being raised because all this time and effort is being wasted on unproductive effort.
Soooooo . . . as I've been trying to adjust to things on my new job, just 45 days into it, and hoping somehow that I could fix things (now I understand it's completely futile and even self-sabotaging to try to help), I'm getting calls for more interviews, from jobs I applied for months ago. And I went on an interview yesterday.
The prospective boss lady is the complete polar opposite. Sixty-ish, sharp, confident, wearing a necklace of stainless steel pearls (!), self-described as curt and demanding, but a real "handle it" type who stressed she wants a take-charge, self-starting person who can jump in, do the job, use common sense, take on as much responsibility as they can, and not need any damned babysitting, because she's enormously busy. Pure heaven! I feel like Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors, delighted to have found the dentist/sadist of his dreams. "Candy Bar! Candy Bar!"
And I thought, "Be careful what you wish for, young man, because you just might get it."
I wished for a "nice, friendly" boss. And that's what I got. And now I realize I asked for the wrong thing.
I want a hands-off manager I can respect, who gives me tons of latitude to get the job done, someone who respects common sense, who knows what they want, who's bright and capable and tough in the ways a boss needs to be, and in the end, who appreciates my capability and rewards me accordingly, if infrequently, with a curt but honest, "Good job."
Besides which, if this job comes through, it's $20 K more a year, and I fall back into the federal lap of benefit luxury - 26 days of vacation time (because of my tenure) plus 10 federal holidays a year, almost a year of accumulated sick leave balance reinstated from my previous years in federal service, and a retirement package beyond imagining compared to the 401-K bullcrap people have to accept these days.
Now, if I don't get the job, I'm prepared to cope with the current situation. I just ordered a book from Amazon on how to deal with a micromanager.
But I sure have learned a lesson: ASK about the boss' management style during the interview. If I had, I might not have gotten the truth, but maybe there might have been some eye-rolling by the "peer interviewers" when Mommie said, "Oh, I like to give people the opportunity - and the space - to excel at what they do!!"
Just one little example: She asked me to draft a few form letters to send to people who make it into the "moving up" column in the business section of the newspaper, you know, "Sarah Jones has been promoted to Assistant Manager of the Hallmark Card Shop at the Maplewood Mall." Set aside for a moment the futility of this idea as a way to raise funds for the children's hospital. Set aside for a moment the likelihood that a letter of this kind will result in a donation. We met for almost an hour initially so she could thoroughly explain her concept. She went through the entire column, sharing ideas and strategies for each person specific to their business (e.g., "Here's a woman who has opened a day spa. Maybe we could suggest she donate bottles of lotion to people undergoing radiation treatment or something!") I managed not to roll my eyes and went away thinking I grasped generally what she wanted. I wrote some good letters. That was two weeks ago. We are now onto the FIFTH draft of this damned thing and I swear, I've logged about 10 hours of draftin' and discussin' on this project alone!
I have since learned that, in an office of 7 people, there have been 9 departures in the 18 months this woman has been manager! People leave in one of two ways - either they quit in disgust after their first three months on the job (those are the smart ones) or they're maneuvered out the door by impossible-to-please Mommie after they reach the breaking point and start to either take charge (oooh, Mommie hates that!) or zone out (oooh, Mommie REALLY hates that!).
Tragically, she keeps trying to "solve" the problem of a tuned-out, burned-out staff by throwing micromanagment solutions at us: endless staff meetings (conducted like group therapy), endless individual meetings, daily status reports, coach-led teambuilding sessions, pep talks, and an avalanche of structure, until everyone is running around like chickens. And any actual work that is done is stymied by Mommie's persnickety changes, suggestions, revisions, questions, requirements for approvals, general interference. It's dismaying. We're completely hobbled. These are some good people here, trying to keep cheerful and productive, in the wake of a torrent of time-wasting, confidence-breaking, energy-sapping crap.
Now here's the tragic part: aside from the number of careers that have been derailed and ulcers this person has caused, millions of dollars in funds to support the children's hospital are NOT being raised because all this time and effort is being wasted on unproductive effort.
Soooooo . . . as I've been trying to adjust to things on my new job, just 45 days into it, and hoping somehow that I could fix things (now I understand it's completely futile and even self-sabotaging to try to help), I'm getting calls for more interviews, from jobs I applied for months ago. And I went on an interview yesterday.
The prospective boss lady is the complete polar opposite. Sixty-ish, sharp, confident, wearing a necklace of stainless steel pearls (!), self-described as curt and demanding, but a real "handle it" type who stressed she wants a take-charge, self-starting person who can jump in, do the job, use common sense, take on as much responsibility as they can, and not need any damned babysitting, because she's enormously busy. Pure heaven! I feel like Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors, delighted to have found the dentist/sadist of his dreams. "Candy Bar! Candy Bar!"
And I thought, "Be careful what you wish for, young man, because you just might get it."
I wished for a "nice, friendly" boss. And that's what I got. And now I realize I asked for the wrong thing.
I want a hands-off manager I can respect, who gives me tons of latitude to get the job done, someone who respects common sense, who knows what they want, who's bright and capable and tough in the ways a boss needs to be, and in the end, who appreciates my capability and rewards me accordingly, if infrequently, with a curt but honest, "Good job."
Besides which, if this job comes through, it's $20 K more a year, and I fall back into the federal lap of benefit luxury - 26 days of vacation time (because of my tenure) plus 10 federal holidays a year, almost a year of accumulated sick leave balance reinstated from my previous years in federal service, and a retirement package beyond imagining compared to the 401-K bullcrap people have to accept these days.
Now, if I don't get the job, I'm prepared to cope with the current situation. I just ordered a book from Amazon on how to deal with a micromanager.
But I sure have learned a lesson: ASK about the boss' management style during the interview. If I had, I might not have gotten the truth, but maybe there might have been some eye-rolling by the "peer interviewers" when Mommie said, "Oh, I like to give people the opportunity - and the space - to excel at what they do!!"
Sunday, October 01, 2006
My first two weeks on the job
There is nothing terribly newsworthy or insightful for me to say about coming to the end of my first two weeks on the new job, except that my life is completely different, I am a completely different person now. Completely.
The scurrying little mole I had become during the job search - scampering around anxiously, searching for jobs, sending out resumes, participating in the dog and pony show of the interview process, scurrying back into the dark hole of despond to lick my wounds - gone. Buried in a shoebox along with the just-short-of-begging cover letters and the rejections and the fears and insecurities the experience brought up for me.
My new job isn't that amazing or anything, actually it's almost the definition of pedestrian, but somehow, it's just exactly what I need right now. Easy, secure, acceptably remunerative, bennies galore, done in a pleasant environment with pleasant people, 8-minute commute, convenient parking, just enough potential and creative outlet to keep me interested, and most of all, at the end of the day it gives me that feeling of contributing to the greater good which I didn't experience during all those years I was in my entrepreneurial phase.
It's quite lovely to have an 8 to 5 job. I actually have to punch the clock in and out (online, but still), and I simply cannot rack up any overtime, it's not in the budget, so I MUST take a one-hour lunch, I MUST leave at 5. I'm home at 5:10 pm. I don't have to do a damned thing for my job in the evenings or on weekends. There's no nagging feeling that I really should be working, or researching, or doing a tarot reading. A weekend feels like a looooooong break - 62 hours to spend exactly how I want to spend it. (Sleeping, mostly.)
And as I approach Monday morning there's no fluttery concern about the work I do - it's as easy as pie. Requisition this, file that, proofread this, mail that, answer this, draft that. Lovely. Mondays are especially nice, what with the weekly staff meeting, the weekly one-hour private meeting with the boss (there's lots of "communicating" and "team-building" going on), a little of this and a little of that. So pleasant. Yes, there's the ebb and flow of office politics and conflict and personality issues, and I've received my share of whispered catty remarks as my new co-workers have attempted to recruit me to their side of things, but I float above it all with a grin on my face, secure in knowing how to stay out of it, how not to let it affect me. They seem like kids to me, sweet kids for the most part, and I don't deride them, I just understand them, so it's all absolutely okay to me. I feel like I'm armed to the teeth to handle anything that may come my way. I'm skilled at every aspect of office work, not just the typing and the payrolling but the sociology, the anthropology.
In a word, I'm prepared. It all makes sense. And nothing shakes my equilibrium.
So I have the perfect platform upon which to return to focusing on my first priority: getting healthy, following my food plan, and being more active (did I mention one of the bennies is free access to the University's pool, tennis courts, racketball courts, golf course, and gym?).
And today is the day when I begin again.
I'm just so grateful.
The scurrying little mole I had become during the job search - scampering around anxiously, searching for jobs, sending out resumes, participating in the dog and pony show of the interview process, scurrying back into the dark hole of despond to lick my wounds - gone. Buried in a shoebox along with the just-short-of-begging cover letters and the rejections and the fears and insecurities the experience brought up for me.
My new job isn't that amazing or anything, actually it's almost the definition of pedestrian, but somehow, it's just exactly what I need right now. Easy, secure, acceptably remunerative, bennies galore, done in a pleasant environment with pleasant people, 8-minute commute, convenient parking, just enough potential and creative outlet to keep me interested, and most of all, at the end of the day it gives me that feeling of contributing to the greater good which I didn't experience during all those years I was in my entrepreneurial phase.
It's quite lovely to have an 8 to 5 job. I actually have to punch the clock in and out (online, but still), and I simply cannot rack up any overtime, it's not in the budget, so I MUST take a one-hour lunch, I MUST leave at 5. I'm home at 5:10 pm. I don't have to do a damned thing for my job in the evenings or on weekends. There's no nagging feeling that I really should be working, or researching, or doing a tarot reading. A weekend feels like a looooooong break - 62 hours to spend exactly how I want to spend it. (Sleeping, mostly.)
And as I approach Monday morning there's no fluttery concern about the work I do - it's as easy as pie. Requisition this, file that, proofread this, mail that, answer this, draft that. Lovely. Mondays are especially nice, what with the weekly staff meeting, the weekly one-hour private meeting with the boss (there's lots of "communicating" and "team-building" going on), a little of this and a little of that. So pleasant. Yes, there's the ebb and flow of office politics and conflict and personality issues, and I've received my share of whispered catty remarks as my new co-workers have attempted to recruit me to their side of things, but I float above it all with a grin on my face, secure in knowing how to stay out of it, how not to let it affect me. They seem like kids to me, sweet kids for the most part, and I don't deride them, I just understand them, so it's all absolutely okay to me. I feel like I'm armed to the teeth to handle anything that may come my way. I'm skilled at every aspect of office work, not just the typing and the payrolling but the sociology, the anthropology.
In a word, I'm prepared. It all makes sense. And nothing shakes my equilibrium.
So I have the perfect platform upon which to return to focusing on my first priority: getting healthy, following my food plan, and being more active (did I mention one of the bennies is free access to the University's pool, tennis courts, racketball courts, golf course, and gym?).
And today is the day when I begin again.
I'm just so grateful.
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