Dealt with my 8-month unemployed life…
Roughly speaking, work can be broken down into a job, a career, or a calling. A job pays the bills; a career is a path towards increasingly better work; a calling is work that is an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity. (Clearly most people want their work to be a calling.)
(Jeff Haden in an article from www.inc.com)
If you are about to finish your degree… and not sure what you want to do in life. This blog about my experience might reflect your situation and stimulate you to think about “stepping back” to think about what you really want to do…
Rushing things when approaching the end of my PhD ending
Around 3 months prior to my thesis submission, I was worried that I could not find a job here in the UK. So I have handed in a few applications for the positions I was interested. Yes… I decided not to continue my career in academia albeit going to have the PhD (read previous blog about “What was my “PhD Accounting” like?”. One of the reasons might be that I had been depressed about my PhD progress, not because I did not do well on the PhD but because it is my nature.
I am achievement-thriving person… During my PhD journey, which was about 4-year time, I considered that, for this PhD project, the achievement would be accomplished once I finished the PhD. I have realized in the end that this mentality is not true because completing each milestone along the PhD can be considered as one small achievement. Inevitably, my nature and such mentality could not help me realize about that sooner. So I was a bit depressed and sometimes hated the project. Thus, I was thinking that I could not work as a researcher ever again. So I rushed to apply for jobs in the industry.
Suddenly, I got a good job offer from a company. The position was really interesting and the colleges were talented. I had the job interview and secured the job offer before my Viva. The company asked me to start the job right after the viva, which was on the 6th October 2016. So, the position was starting on the 10th October 2016.
After my submission on the 12th August 2016, I felt relieved and worried at the same time. I was relived because I knew that I would be graduating no matter what the results of the Viva. I was worried because I wanted to get A2 (minor correction) as the worst result. This worried me because I thought it was quite difficult to get A2 for qualitative research piece, where debates and disagreements can occur…
Finally, I got an A2 as I wished. The corrections were only some typos. That made me even happier. I would have 1-3 months to do the final submission for the A2 result. Then … the result was changed by the program director as he commented that there were only few typos, I did not really need a month to correct it. So he upgraded my result to A1 – allow 10 days until the final submission. I was thrilled and extremely happy with the result with the result. But this meant I had less time to apply for my Doctoral Extension Scheme… I was so so happy about the result, but this made my life more complicated re the visa application.
Decision to discontinue the first job offer
Due to personal reasons, and bad timing about my starting date, I decided to leave the company after one month. I had a number of things to settle down, which inevitably made me not fully enjoy the job and dedicate 100% to the job. Those include timing for visa application, driving lessons and getting my driving license, transportation to office, and so on.
And more importantly, I realized that I am not an office-hour and I did not like the working environment. The colleges were great, but the place was not for me. Ones might think that those were just my excuses to leave the job, and I should have spent more time to learn more about it before leaving. I agree that it takes time to realize what is right for you. But it does not take much time to know that something is not right for you. When I knew that I did not want to waste my time.
Even though it was a short period of time with the company, I think I have learnt a lot from its operations. I am still very thankful for experiencing the job. But after a month, that was the time to say goodbye.
Decision on what I want to do
I actually was quite upset about my decision, though I know it was the right thing to do. My mom said I had been rushing things for all my life and I literally had no break …
- Beginning March 2010 – Finishing my Bachelor’s degree
- March 2010 – Going to California for a short project for a month
- April – September 2010 – Working for half a year
- September 2010 – June 2011 – Having and finishing my Master’s
- July 2011 – Starting an internship for a month
- August 2011 – August 2012 – Staring and being with the new job for a year
- October 2012 – October 2016 – Having and finishing my PhD
Those events were strictly adjacent to each other. My mom told me I needed to give myself some space and it is not wrong to take a break and listen to myself what I really want and what I “value” the most.
At the end I decided to apply for jobs in academia because I realized that I push my own voice forward (more or less) if I am a researcher. I do not have to sell things I do not want to buy, or I do not like. I will have certain targets to achieve, yet have flexibility regarding working hour. Also, I can manage my life more effectively. After I have made the decision, I started my job applications for UK universities. With the encouragement and help for referencing from my supervisors and my examiners, I managed to secure a lectureship position.
This time, I do not want to rush starting the new job. I asked the school if I can start the job in July 2017 (the offer came around the beginning of February) so that I can take a month to go back home in Thailand, take time to sort out my driving license, and take time for relocation. I think this time I made the right decision not rush things.
8-month unemployed – What have I done during the period?
The gap between the offer and the starting date is quite long. This almost killed me because I am hyper active kind of person. From November 2016 – June 2017, it is about 8 months that I had been an unemployed. I was thinking “what should I do…” to make this waiting time more valuable and adding something meaningful to my life.
So I decided to take an invite from my friend to work as a marketing assistant intern at the company he is working as a senior international marketing. I started the internship in March 2017 (till end of June 2017). I will write about this internship later in my blog.
Also, during this time, I have been working on my website development and learn about analytic functions and personal branding through the process of making my website. Moreover, I have spent time developing journal papers from my PhD together with my supervisors. We have submitted one paper to a journal, and been working on the other one. I have also written a book chapter, which is in press and will be coming out in July 2017. In addition, I have done a number of par-time freelance jobs to do including tutoring, modeling and business consulting jobs during the period.
I was thinking I had nothing to do during this gap period… but it seems I have quite something to do, don’t I?
Lessons learned and what’s next?
Rushing things can potentially lead to wrong decision. It is ok to be confused and unsure what you want to do. When I came across this quote below by Jeff Haden in an article from www.inc.com, I knew that the first job was not for me.
“Roughly speaking, work can be broken down into a job, a career, or a calling. A job pays the bills; a career is a path towards increasingly better work; a calling is work that is an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity. (Clearly most people want their work to be a calling.)”
Being a researcher / thinker was my answer because it fits both categories – job, career, calling work. The purpose I am writing so far is to document my experience of my turning point moment and to send the message to others who are confused about what they want to do that “Take your time in an appropriate manner and listen to yourself. Think about a job, and also a career, also a calling work”. I am not going to say “do what you love and follow your passion” because they are bad advice (Why?).You need to do more than what you love, but do what pays the bills, providing you good path, and fits your identity.
I am so excited to start my new step with confidence and being well-prepared… this time I know what I am doing!