I am one of the few lucky people who is still working on the same job that I had first gotten into right after college. I find fulfillment in what I do. I cam afford to splurge a little once in a while. But more importantly, I appreciate the culture and principles of most of the people I interact with 5 out of 7 days in a week.
This year marks my 7th year working for P&G. This isn't a big number compared to colleagues in other regions who have worked in P&G all their lives and have kids almost the same age as me. Nevertheless, Asia is quite a young organization and I am starting to feel my age manifest itself in the work area.
1. You get questions about the older versions of your systems. When I started working, we were using SAP version 3.0. The 2 previous projects I managed actually moved the last 5 markets in Asia from version 3.0 to version 4.5. This is what we're currently using for the past six years. And now, we are moving again from version 4.5 to version 6. And I have personally witnessed this evolution.
2. It gets more and more difficult to recover from jet lag during and after a business trip. When I was a new hire, regardless of how many continents I've crossed, I would automatically drop my bags in the hotel room and go to the nearest outlet mall and shop till I drop. Now by the time I recover from jet lag, I'm about to return home, which means I need to recover from reverse jet lag again when I'm back.
3. Nobody knows my contacts anymore. I find myself referencing to certain pioneers who have stayed and helped built the organization in Manila and people just stare back at me blankly. They don't know them anymore! It's either that or they have left the company and become CIOs or CFOs in some other company.
4. The people you hire keep getting younger and younger. I get applicants who have just turned 20. The year they graduate from grade school is same as the year you graduated from college! It makes me feel quite jaded sometimes to hear their excited chatter about school projects and thesis during interviews. Sometimes I honestly fear that I can't relate anymore.
5. Your organization's name has changed at least 3x. In the main group that I work in for the past seven years, we have changed names 4x. Even the IT department has changed 3x. Our bigger work groups keep changing names as well. This is the reason why I don't bother memorizing what the names are. I just make sure I know where the latest org charts and I'll survive the next 10 changes.
6. You still remember what the old offices look (and smell) like. This is actually the only positive thing in my list. Knowing what the old offices look like, I have a better appreciation of the current work area I have. And I've also seen the old offices in Singapore and Guangzhou. Trust me, what we have now is way better than what was there five years ago.
Sigh. I am getting old.
2 comments:
hahahaha~that's really part of growing up with a company in general. I interview and hire a lot of youngin's though I sometimes get the weird~want-to-move-out oldies...it's normally the younger ones that I end up picking. :D
i know what you mean about past pioneers, jetlags and old systems. :D
don't worry dear...you're not the only one feeling the age...it's basically the same...though not 7 years with one company but 7 years of working in general to a stressful environment. :D
We may be older, but we are definitely wiser. :D
Cher: The way I look at it, even the young ones will feel the same way. I'm giving them another 5 or 7 years as well. Hehe.
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