last week they asked me to take on the role of orientation coordinator here at the firm. that’s not an actual title, but i’m not sure what to call it. basically, i’ll be coordinating all the logistics for the upcoming orientation sessions for the new hires that will be coming into the firm.

since i work in recruiting and coordinate logistics to get the new hires here in the first place, i can see how that can fit. i was a little reluctant at first. i wasn’t sure what i was getting myself into. i know it’s a lot of work and a lot of coordinating with a bunch of different people. but on the other hand, it will sort of be my thing. an admin role that will basically be exclusively mine.

it’s actually an opportunity that i’m looking forward to. it’ll give me extra recognition, which can be a good thing if i do it right. this will give me an opportunity to do something that’s my own and is pretty beneficial to the company.

i’ll be the go-to guy for orientation. i kind of like the sound of that.

don’t get me wrong. working in recruiting is great. i’m very grateful for my place here. i never would have thought i’d make it this far. and as far as i know, i’m think i’m doing an okay job. of course, i’ve had my ups and downs like any other job. it was a lot to take on at first. and i attribute that mostly to this being an entirely new job and new position at this company. i’ve definitely come a long way from facilities. when i started this position last August, it was all completely new.

our recruiting manager left the firm last month. it’s been a little weird since. i really liked having her as my manager. and since most of the team is down in the other office and she was up here most of the time, it felt like i wasn’t so isolated. now that she’s gone, i’m the only one in recruiting here. i couldn’t help but feel a little removed from the rest of the team.

i’ve been going through bouts of apathy lately. i’ve been feeling not sure about where i’m going here. i know that that shouldn’t really be making any sense, since i’ve been going somewhere in this job. i’ve just gone down a different career path. maybe i’m just not sure where i’m going because i’ve never even thought about this career path. i’m not even sure if i can go anywhere in this path. i don’t have a degree. i never finished school, let alone take any Human Resources classes.

but here i am. in recruiting, coordinating orientation. it sounds very HR to me. it looks very HR. i must be HR. right?

i definitely want to keep doing what i’m doing. i definitely want to progress. i never want to go back. i always want to go forward.

although, i do have a personal saying that comes from when we would go hiking on our rockclimbing trips in high school. “sometimes to get higher, you need to take a step down.” which always comforted me whenever i was forced to take a step backwards in life. in order to get to over that large boulder in front of you, sometimes you need to take some steps down and around in order to get up above and be able to move forward with your journey.

so i guess it’s a big deal that i’m taking on this role in orientation. i was approached last week and asked if i was interested. i thought about it and took it on. and then today i was called into our CAO’s office (CAO = big guy at the top when it comes to admin), and of course like clockwork i freak out thinking i’ve done something wrong, but instead, he wanted to make sure that i wasn’t being forced into this position and that i was being asked and that i agreed. of course we talked about other things regarding the politics of the position, but in short, i came out feeling like it’s a bigger deal than i originally thought.

and to add, i’m sort of the guinea pig for this position. depending on how well i do and my involvement with recruiting, we’re going to figure out if it’s the right fit for me or the right fit for someone in recruiting to take on orientation. but hell, i’m all for it.

i now have something that’s given me, yet again, renewed interest in my job and in my place at the firm. i’m excited. and i’ve decided that i want to do such an amazing job that they really like what i’ve done and decide to keep me in this role. or who knows? maybe even find a new role i can be promoted into.

i’m still trying to figure out my place in the world. and finding my place in my career is a good place to start. i’m an avid believer that it’s really important to love what you do (for work). there’s an exceptional few who actually do.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Out and about. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.