Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Entry Level: Humbling


Even with 3 recruiters, job searching 4-5hrs a day and continuing on-line education 4-5 hours a day, didn't get me anything. I'm not saying that it didn't aid in my overall skill/knowledge set. I'm just saying that it looked pretty scarce. Well, it did came to pass. An ex-customer, working for another major Japanese company, had heard I was becoming desperate, called and offered me an "entry-level position". The statistics were correct. 80% of the jobs acquired come from people you know or are familiar with; the other 20% is from job hunting.
With that said, I must tell all who plan to take an entry-level position, it is a humbling one. My mentor was very patient, as I would expect, in taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes. The main problem was I kept getting tangled in these ropes. Thank goodness for taking good 'how to' notes. It's kinda like Hansel & Gretel, and the cookie crumbs. I was able to retrace and re-edit much of what was shown to create multi how-to guides making specific requests easier to execute.
I celebrate my 90 days in about 10 days, which is the end of my probation. I can comfortably say in those 90 days, everything, including the kitchen sink was thrown at me. I too would confirm, this is the way to learn. This practice had its drawbacks though. In the final 30 days, my mentor left the company, for greener pastures, which left me staring done the double-barrel of the most stress I think I had felt in years. In a week I lost 5lbs and have yet to gain them back. Truthfully, I can't afford that.
I am a little anxious on what waits around the corner since I had that double-barrel staring at me but, it's amazing what you can do if you side-step frequently. Still, it is a humbling period with great expectations and accomplishments. I can do it.