If you’ve followed my blog long enough, you probably know that I change jobs a lot. Since graduating college, I’ve done a stint in digital advertising and political advertising, spent a year as a contractor at Apple, and finally ended up at my current employer working in post-sales email and chat support.
Well that changed yesterday because I started a new job!
There are a few things different this time, though.
- This is going to be a new career, not just a job to tide me over.
- This is with the same employer.
- This is finally the first time in my adult career I’m getting a payraise instead of a paycut.
All of these are pretty signficant for me and it feels like this year is really moving for me now. Today I want to talk about why this one change is a big deal and what it means to me.
1. This is a Career, not just a job
The past few years have seen me working in post-sales tech support. While that’s a job, there isn’t a lot of career growth. I’ll be moving into a sales role – still in chat and email. Sales is such a versatile job you can do really anywhere. Just about every place will need a sales team and I know I’m going to learn a lot of valuable skills in the process.
After spending so long in a job that didn’t have a lot of transferable skills to build a career that could follow me to different employers.
That being said, another reason I’m excited for this job?
2. It’s With My Same Employer
I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve struggled with staying in the same company. My job in politics was a short stint and my job at Apple was just a contract. I’ve never had the opportunity to move and grow within a company. It’s a cool experience to have managers and employers that want to help you develop and care about you as a person.
After a truely terrible experience with managers in my job in politics, I had a bad taste in my mouth about managers. That was my first experience with a boss I saw every day. Working at Apple and my current employer have helped ease that tension. And because I’m going to be at this job hopefully for a few years, I have the opportunity to really build a relationship with my leadership team.
Having great management can 100% change how you feel about your job.
3. It’s a Pay Raise, not a Pay Cut
Since graduating college, every job I’ve taken has been a pay cut. Now, I took these to survive. Before my job with Apple, I was unemployed for seven months. They were going to pay me less than my previous job, but more than nothing. Once I took my most recent job in post-sales support, I took the job because it would mean there would be no lapse in jobs. Sure, it was another pay cut but I would still be getting income, and that was better than nothing.
Now, I’m finally moving up and getting a pay raise. I’ll admit, there were times I felt like I would be stuck in a loop, never going to break out and I’d be stuck in these low end jobs for the rest of my life.
Now I’ve finally managed to break my own glass ceiling and it feels really good, y’all. Really good.