I put "career" in quotes because I would have never and still have a hard time believing that I am a "career woman." But yesterday was my three anniversary with good ol' JPMorgan so I guess it's official. I have a career. No quotes.
Back in May I applied for a promotion - to become a manager. My current position is kind of like an assistant manager so that is the natural career path. They were expanding the management team by about 4 or 5 people to make smaller teams and develop our people more, so I thought, "Well hey, this is my chance." I interviewed and didn't hear anything. In June they met with me and said, "Hey, we told everyone else in your position no, but we'd like you to know you're still in the running. We just aren't ready to make any decisions yet." In July, my current manager went on military leave so I took over the manager role for a team of 25 people. He came back last week so I'm back to my old job. And they still haven't hired anyone for the additional manager position or followed up with me since June. (It doesn't help that they started an unofficial "hiring freeze" a month or two ago. Bad timing.) It's been 5 months, y'all. That's a long time.
So, my "thoughts" on the next steps of my career are mixed right now. There are two options for me at this point.
1. Stick it out. Pay my dues. And wait patiently. Our generation has a tendency to believe we should have everything now. We don't believe in paying our dues. We easily forget that my dad had to work the third shift at Hallmark at the beginning of his career until her gradually moved up to being a well-paid manager. All we remember is that my dad made a lot of money as a manager and so I should, too. I've been working for 3 years. I have little to no experience. I may need to just pay my dues and wait. A promotion will come soon enough. (Here is a really good article about this idea that my brother Joel sent me one time.)
2. Look for something else. This is the scary option for me because I don't really know what I want to do with my life so I don't even know where to start looking. I know I like: people, creativity, baking, crafts, business, writing... but I don't really know what that means for me. It's probably time that I freshen up the old resume and start looking. It doesn't hurt to look, right?
I think the solution is a "both and." (I always think it's funny when people say "both and". I'm not even sure it applies in this situation but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it does.) I'm going to stick it out. Pay my dues. Wait patiently. And in the meantime, I'm going to start looking for something else just to see what is out there. And you never know, maybe the reason why things aren't working out at JPMorgan right now are because there is something better in store for me somewhere else. Who knows... But prayers and words of wisdom are appreciated.
(This was a long one. Sorry...)
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