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I gave two-weeks notice at my job on Friday. I've been working at a nonprofit in DC for over two years (a children's advocacy group) and in just over two weeks -- my new employer want me to start as soon as possible, so I won't be taking a break in-between these two jobs except for the regular weekend -- I'm returning to the corporate world.
I'll be working for a large consulting firm, and although it will be a vastly different place to work compared to what I've been doing for the past few years, I'm ready for a change. My biggest reasons for making this switch are:
Opportunities for advancement - The nonprofit I currently work for isn't large enough to offer me a position other than the Executive Assistant role I'm currently in (at least not any positions that I'm interested in pursuing). It's not their fault; it's simply their size and what they do.
Less risk for boredom - In the consulting/advisory world, contracts tend to last anywhere from a few months to a few years. Once the project is over, you move on to something different. I think this would be a good fit for me because I tend to get bored doing the same thing, at the same place, with the same people, for a long period of time. Switching things up on a periodic basis and working on a completely different project (with new people, in a new location...but still in the DC metro area) would seem more like an entirely new job. But even though it would seem like a new job, I'd have the stability of being employed by the same company.
Training and career development - A large company has the resources to introduce me to a lot of new things, in addition to offering benefits like tuition reimbursement -- which can be used for outside training, degree programs, and/or certifications that I might like to pursue.
This whole new-job thing is part of the reason I've been so distracted lately. Although the nonprofit I work for is great, and there are certain people I'll really miss seeing on a daily basis, I've known for a while that I need to move on.
When I took the Executive Assistant position last year, I knew it wasn't something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it out, but at least it proved to me that it's not what I want to do for the long-term. Although I'm entering my new job at an associate-level and will be doing a lot of administrative-type stuff in the beginning, it's their expectation -- and mine -- that I'll put in a lot of time to learn the ropes so I can move onward and upward and handle increased responsibility down the road.
When I made the new-job announcement on Facebook after work on Friday, a few people asked if I would still be in DC or if was moving back to Richmond where most of my family lives. I was surprised at first that they would ask -- if I was moving out of the DC metro area, I definitely would have mentioned it. But then again, I guess the question makes sense given that I've previously asked whether it's possible to go home again (Richmond is a city where I lived for eight years).
The thing is, I still like where I live. There's a lot of stuff to do, I've met a lot of really cool people, and there are a lot of job-related opportunities in a city of this size that you just can't find as easily in other places. In other words, I'm not looking to leave anytime in the near future.
You know what I really love? I love that taking a new job is guaranteed to shake up my life. Think about it. I'll no longer be taking the same route to work. I'll be interacting with people that I probably would never have come into contact with otherwise. I'll be learning a lot of new things. When I made the decision to take this job, I changed the current trajectory of my life.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what's going to happen.
Related Reading:
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