Office pleasantries
I changed jobs (yes, again!) in May and started writing a blog about why I needed to leave the old one and start fresh. I had worked for a real estate agent offsite (sometimes waaay offsite) for 16 years, but took an in-office job in the same city in which I live in June of last year. Then, after less than a year at that job that seemed so ideal, I took yet another new job, this time with a real estate team. After several days of wrangling the words (and the thoughts behind them) into something coherent and readable, struggling with the whys and hows of my leaving that job after just 11 months, and trying not to be too negative, on the drive to work one day I had a huge AHA! moment. I realized that all I was doing with the blog post I was writing was dredging up memories of the dissatisfaction and frustration of the past 6 months. Why on Earth would I want to subject anyone to those thoughts? It was enough that I lived thru them myself, but putting them down on paper (ha!) wasn't the cathartic experience I was hoping for, but rather wallowing in and sending out negative energy. It's past time to let it all go. So, no sad, poor little me for suffering that way, pardon me while I whine blog (there wasn't much in the way of real suffering involved but there was a fair amount of whining). Instead, here is my I'm So Happy at My New Job blog.
From the very first day at this new place, I felt the love. No sarcasm here, I genuinely felt the love. Every single person in the office, all 7 of them, welcomed me and told me how happy they were that I was coming to work with them. Two of my office mates even shared with me that, after sitting in on the 2nd interview with the whole team and the big boss, both of them told him he would be an idiot not to hire me. Working in an office with other people around is such an unexpected pleasure. For years I worked by myself, then moved to a small, cramped office that I was shoe horned into with another person. The huge office space I now share with 2 other people has tons of windows, and ceilings that have to be 30' high, and there are equally spacious training rooms, prospecting areas and other offices. Quite apart from the room-to-run-around-in office, though, and much more important, is the environment itself. It is open and giving and incredibly supportive. It's the type of office where everyone does their job and does it well, and is appreciated for it. Over the last 3 months, I have been thanked for some little thing I have done more than I can ever recall being thanked for a big thing I had done at my previous jobs. This is a true team approach to real estate. We each have a specific job to do and there are clear expectations of what we each need to accomplish, but an amazing amount of flexibilty regarding how we accomplish it. And there is nary a micromanager in sight! We have general office hours, but even those are very flexible. No one is watching the clock when you arrive or when you leave, and no one cares if your lunch runs long or short or anything in between. In short, we are treated as adults who know how to act as responsible employees. It's refreshing and empowering and I am just really, really loving it. The fact that we are all caffeine addicts and take turns driving thru Starbucks with company $$ is just the cream in my coffee.
Not too long ago I was about ready to quit the whole industry and work in some other field, something not even remotely real estate related. I knew I was reaching some kind of breaking point when I was picking up breakfast from The Good Food Store (kind of like Whole Foods, only locally owned and better!), and I found myself fantasizing about how lovely it would be to work there as a clerk, just smiling at customers and wishing them good day as I rang up their purchases. The perfume counter at Dillards was looking better and better, and then I stumbled across this job posted on Indeed.com. I submitted my resume, took an online test and 2 interviews (and 2 months) later, I was hired.
Is the job perfect? Of course not. I doubt any job is perfect. But this one is pretty darn close.
As I was organizing my new desk a couple of days after starting work, I discovered this label inside a drawer. It made me smile.
From the very first day at this new place, I felt the love. No sarcasm here, I genuinely felt the love. Every single person in the office, all 7 of them, welcomed me and told me how happy they were that I was coming to work with them. Two of my office mates even shared with me that, after sitting in on the 2nd interview with the whole team and the big boss, both of them told him he would be an idiot not to hire me. Working in an office with other people around is such an unexpected pleasure. For years I worked by myself, then moved to a small, cramped office that I was shoe horned into with another person. The huge office space I now share with 2 other people has tons of windows, and ceilings that have to be 30' high, and there are equally spacious training rooms, prospecting areas and other offices. Quite apart from the room-to-run-around-in office, though, and much more important, is the environment itself. It is open and giving and incredibly supportive. It's the type of office where everyone does their job and does it well, and is appreciated for it. Over the last 3 months, I have been thanked for some little thing I have done more than I can ever recall being thanked for a big thing I had done at my previous jobs. This is a true team approach to real estate. We each have a specific job to do and there are clear expectations of what we each need to accomplish, but an amazing amount of flexibilty regarding how we accomplish it. And there is nary a micromanager in sight! We have general office hours, but even those are very flexible. No one is watching the clock when you arrive or when you leave, and no one cares if your lunch runs long or short or anything in between. In short, we are treated as adults who know how to act as responsible employees. It's refreshing and empowering and I am just really, really loving it. The fact that we are all caffeine addicts and take turns driving thru Starbucks with company $$ is just the cream in my coffee.
Not too long ago I was about ready to quit the whole industry and work in some other field, something not even remotely real estate related. I knew I was reaching some kind of breaking point when I was picking up breakfast from The Good Food Store (kind of like Whole Foods, only locally owned and better!), and I found myself fantasizing about how lovely it would be to work there as a clerk, just smiling at customers and wishing them good day as I rang up their purchases. The perfume counter at Dillards was looking better and better, and then I stumbled across this job posted on Indeed.com. I submitted my resume, took an online test and 2 interviews (and 2 months) later, I was hired.
Is the job perfect? Of course not. I doubt any job is perfect. But this one is pretty darn close.
As I was organizing my new desk a couple of days after starting work, I discovered this label inside a drawer. It made me smile.
