Foot in the Corporate Door

I mentioned before that I'm still with the same company I started my career with straight after getting my Bachelor's degree. Since then, I've held four different roles and even left the company for a few short months.

Overachiever

To give you an idea of my work ethics, I need to share a little background. I am a very ambitious person by nature and that bloomed during my educational career. Graduating with the highest honors you can get was my ultimate goal. I was the student who could not accept anything lower than an A. There was even one time where I spent half an hour during my professor's office hours arguing about one quiz question I got wrong because I answered based on the lecture earlier that week. I didn't win, but I don't regret speaking up. I worked throughout high school and college and held as many as three jobs at once. I was determined to continue to be financially independent so my chosen path was to graduate from college to land a career that paid well enough to support me and my future family. I achieved my goal of graduating with the highest honors in high school, community college, and university.

Entry-Level Job

After graduating, my game plan was to get my foot in the door and I would figure it out from there. My professional career started off as a customer service representative, an entry-level job. I didn't know then that all of the work I would do that first year would be the foundation to my success in the corporate world. This eventually led me to a promotion as a team lead. The three years I was in that role allowed me to face challenges I never knew I needed. I learned how to find the right people to be on the team whenever we had open positions to fill, manage (and tolerate!) different personalities, and be a good example to my teammates.

Burnout

Shortly after, I took an opportunity to apply for a supervisory role that I didn't think I was 100% ready for. Not only would the role have actual direct reports, it was a completely different department so I would've had a lot of new processes to learn. I went through the interview process anyway and to my surprise, I was offered the job! Fast forward to a couple of years and even though I enjoyed that role to an extent, I got burned out. It led me to resign from the company that I loved. It was so hard to let go because I loved everything the company stood for and I loved the people. I even cried when I told my boss I was quitting! I just needed a fresh start and to step outside of my comfort zone.

Career Change

I went on to pursue a career that was nothing like my previous company or jobs I held. Right when I was getting into my groove, I was catching up with a former colleague and naturally talked about how I was doing with my new job. This was when I realized that I wasn't happy with the career change. It was a cool job because I made a lot of money and more importantly, it proved to me that I can do hard things and excel at it. However, I didn't see myself in that path long-term.

Dream Job

While talking to my former colleague, I found out about an open position at my previous company that made my eyes pop out. It was literally a job that I had dreamed about during that first year of my career! It was a no brainer. I had to apply. The dream turned into reality and I went right back to that company I loved! That was the first time I genuinely felt what success was. I can still feel it to this day and relive it every now and then to remind me how blessed I am even through the hard times of juggling my career with motherhood. I'm still in that role today, which is probably the longest I've held the same job title!

My professional career has taught me that working hard in everything I do is the only way I can achieve everything I want.