I have had a job since I was 11 years old and started babysitting. When we moved to another state, I started working for relatives in their retail/artisan shop. When I graduated from high school/college, I moved back to my hometown and began a career in banking. When we were established enough, we decided that I could slow down my work schedule and, eventually, no longer work. Then my husband decided that he didn’t want to be married to me anymore and I geared back up to worked full-time.
When I met my current husband, he was self-employed and doing it all – the paperwork and the labor. I quit working for others and started working for us. I have been self-employed for over 17 years. Now we want to close the business so I want to find a job.
Since I am going back into the job market and I am no longer looking for a career, I want to do what I love. Sounds like a great idea, right? It is! Unfortunately, with all that I’ve done over the years, I am overqualified for what I love to do.
Searching for a job is now done on the computer, through the Internet. You upload your resume and, if you are lucky, they also want a cover letter so that you can explain that you are looking for a job – not a career, you are past that point in your life, you no longer strive to be the boss or to climb the corporate ladder, and you just want to make a decent living, work your 8 hours, and have a life outside of the office. The problem is that you cannot put that in a cover letter. You cannot write that you know that you are overqualified (how conceited is that?!) but you are willing to do this job because it is what you LOVE to do.
It took me a few weeks and I went on several interviews. I got a decent-paying position with a mid-sized company. It was about 40 minutes from home and the hours were 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with one hour for lunch. There was no wiggle-room in those hours. The job was interesting. BUT (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?), everyone was micro-managed like I’ve never seen before. Every email had to be copied to a large group of people (and they copied theirs to me) in case someone was out of the office. Every document was reviewed by a senior manager before anything could be done with it. When I made a document to help me with my job and for my use only, I was reprimanded because that’s not how they did things. One of the managers was incredibly mean and rude to other employees. I lasted 1.5 weeks before I went to HR and said that I just couldn’t do it. HR asked if I would stay with the company if I worked in a different office. I asked if the atmosphere was different and, when I was told that it wasn’t, I declined. I agreed to work my 2 week notice period. Once the word got out that I leaving, the mean/rude manager told everyone to not talk to me (they did talk to me when she was out of the office). No, this was NOT high school, but it sure felt like it. After 3 days of having nothing to do (the manager also told everyone to take my work away and not give me anything to do), I went to HR and gave them an earful about how I was treated, how I saw others being treated, how unprofessional the organization is, etc.
Back to the drawing board. This time, though, I decided to say “it”. I wrote in my cover letters/emails that I wanted a job doing what I love and that I was not interested in a career. I mentioned that I knew that I was overqualified but I wanted to work somewhere that made me happy which meant that I wouldn’t be looking for a better job while working there. Believe it or not, I got a bunch of calls from being open and honest about the situation.
About a month (and more interviews) later, I received a follow-up phone call from a place that I had interviewed with months before. I went in for another interview and was offered the job on the spot. This job is close to home, part-time (which I determined was best for me and my family), paid as much as the other job, had more responsibility, I’d be able to work from home if I chose, and they were going to let me do my job without looking over my shoulder (it helped that they had no idea what I do – and they still don’t).
That was a little over one year ago. The job has grown, I’ve cut back my hours, and I report directly to the owners with all other employees reporting to me. I don’t want the responsibility of being a senior manager, so that part will go away.
I learned a lot about myself during the 2 weeks I worked at that other job. First, I’ve “still got it”. I caught on quickly to the computer system and procedures. I tried to streamline my job (though they didn’t want me to). Second, I haven’t changed and don’t work well when I am micro-managed. Third, I am ALL about efficiency. I will work harder right now to make something easier down the road. That’s what I really enjoy!
My current job allows me to do all of those things. Is it the perfect job? Absolutely not! When working for someone else, there is no perfect job. When I close my door and am left alone to work, it is as close to perfect as it can get. [Wink, wink.]
Just a Woman Trying . . . 
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