Yesterday was my 2-year anniversary at my job. Just like everything else in life lately, it seems like it hasn’t been that long but at the same time, it seems like I’ve been at this job for longer. And it’s been a pretty crazy journey so far.
Before the pandemic, I had been saying for a while that I should look for a new job. I was doing ok with the work that I had at the time, but I also knew that I wasn’t making enough and I was going to continue to have financial issues if I didn’t make a change. But I also know I wasn’t motivated because I was comfortable in the situation I was in. But then the pandemic hit and my hours started to decrease until I was officially out of work in August 2020. I had already applied for unemployment, so I knew that could hold me over for a while since unemployment was paying more than normal. But I also knew I couldn’t just wait and see and I had to be productive in finding something else.
I spent a few months applying for jobs every day, but everyone was doing that so I wasn’t getting any interviews. And I also didn’t want to find a job where I had to go into an office so that limited my search even more. But I kept applying and hoping for the best. I also would occasionally post on social media that I was looking for a job in case someone knew of something. And eventually, my friend responded saying there was an opening at the company he worked for. I interviewed with him and the person who would be my manager, and I really felt good about how things went. And a few days after that interview, I had my first day.
When I started at my job, I was hired to do customer service work part-time as well as another side project part-time. I actually didn’t know I had gotten the job on my first day. I was told to join in for the all-team call so I could meet everyone, and after that call, I got a call from the CEO offering me the job. I didn’t want to assume that I had gotten the job after my interview, but I felt really good about my chances. And I’m glad that I was right.
For a while, I worked those two part-time positions until I realized that I could only really devote time to the customer service one. And a few months after I started, I was offered my old job back. I made it work by doing the new job in the morning and the old job for the hours after. It worked out really well and I felt like I was really back to what I had before everything shut down.
After about 8 months at my new job, I was offered the opportunity to go full-time. I let them know about the other job, and they were ok with me essentially doing both for those few limited hours a week because my old job only needed my attention when we had customer calls. I was so grateful I was able to make that work, and I was doing full-time customer service at one job and then part-time customer service at the other.
I’ve been doing both jobs ever since, and it’s never been an issue for either job (and both jobs are very aware of what is happening). So my hours have been steady ever since I went full-time. But my job title and responsibilities have shifted a lot.
After doing customer service at my new job for a few months, I noticed things that either didn’t make sense or seem efficient to me. I’m very lucky that whenever I brought up an idea like that, they were heard and often acted upon. But by doing that, I think my job realized that I had some skill sets that weren’t being used while doing customer service. They had to hire additional customer service employees as our client base grew, and I started to transition more away from what I had been doing. And eventually, I stopped doing direct work with our clients and only focused on doing administrative work as well as helping to design work systems and procedures.
This is very different from a lot of day jobs I’ve had before. I have mainly done customer service work, and even though I’m still doing work that could be considered under the customer service umbrella, I’m really doing a lot more with my skills and abilities than I have been able to do before. It is still a day job, but it’s a job where I actually see my work making changes besides just answering customer questions. I have different projects that I work on and even though some of them can be challenging, it’s so much better than being bored. At my old job, I spent so many days just reading or watching videos online waiting for someone to call in. Now, I’m usually pretty busy most of the time doing a variety of things.
And yes, I’m making more money than I did before. This isn’t the most important thing, but it’s a big deal to not have to be stressed about money the same way I used to. I still have to budget and save, but I’m not feeling like my bank account is getting dangerously low anymore. I can pay my bills and not worry about how much is in my account. Not having that sort of stress on my mind anymore has been so great for my life.
In the past two years, I have been able to really grow into my job and find my place within this company. That’s something I’ve never been able to do before and now I understand why I felt so stuck in jobs before. I’m so lucky that I get to work with some awesome people and that everyone seems to enjoy their work and have fun. And I know that I was so lucky to get a job when so many others were in the same spot as me and there was a lot of competition for every single job opening. But I feel like this was the way it was meant to happen. I wasn’t supposed to find another job sooner because it wouldn’t have been this job. And I was the one meant for this job because I have been able to go from working in customer service to being a senior staff member helping to make the company better. Things fell into place the way they were supposed to. And all of this has been in just 2 years, so I can’t wait to see what will come next.
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