Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Final Stretch
I am on the final stretch to leaving the current job. This week, the next, then I go on holiday and don’t come back. It has been a rough few weeks. A lot going on, and though I’m able to emotionally withdraw from a lot of it, I can’t from all of it.
The projects I shepherd continue to be tough old grinds. They’re moving along at pace, but it isn’t easy. Then there is the re-organisation my boss is taking everyone through. He’s using the toss everything up in the air and gets everyone to re-apply for their jobs technique.
I personally don’t like it, have never used it. I think its demeaning to make people interview for jobs they technically already hold. Its used though as it is faultlessly legal. You make it “open and transparent” and no one can complain of discrimination on any grounds. However, open and transparent doesn’t mean rigged. Interviews are always somewhat subjective, open to interpretation. The interviewer still, in the end, is doing the selection.
He got a shock though in that a lot of people didn’t play the game. Many of our senior managers didn’t apply for new positions. That’s the danger, because if you don’t apply what then? Technically, you’re redundant and the company has to pay you off. For people who’ve been there for many years that can be attractive, especially when the job market is nice and buoyant, which it is.
There was another shock. One of my senior colleagues, one whom I rated highly, had a stroke two weekends ago. Out of the blue, unexpected, just… wham. It’s a bad one, he was in a coma for over a week, and now that he’s conscious again he can’t speak and his right side is paralysed. Its horrific, one of those nightmare scenarios in life. Hard to say how much he’ll recover, though he will. He may not be able to work again, and though the company is being generous now, will it still be so in two years time? I really feel for both him and his family.
But soon I’m out of it. From one frying pan to another, but with three weeks off in between. Then the whirlwind will start and I’ll be spending a good few months living out of a suitcase. I’m looking forward to it though, it’s a company with challenges, but great people and a definite purpose.
The projects I shepherd continue to be tough old grinds. They’re moving along at pace, but it isn’t easy. Then there is the re-organisation my boss is taking everyone through. He’s using the toss everything up in the air and gets everyone to re-apply for their jobs technique.
I personally don’t like it, have never used it. I think its demeaning to make people interview for jobs they technically already hold. Its used though as it is faultlessly legal. You make it “open and transparent” and no one can complain of discrimination on any grounds. However, open and transparent doesn’t mean rigged. Interviews are always somewhat subjective, open to interpretation. The interviewer still, in the end, is doing the selection.
He got a shock though in that a lot of people didn’t play the game. Many of our senior managers didn’t apply for new positions. That’s the danger, because if you don’t apply what then? Technically, you’re redundant and the company has to pay you off. For people who’ve been there for many years that can be attractive, especially when the job market is nice and buoyant, which it is.
There was another shock. One of my senior colleagues, one whom I rated highly, had a stroke two weekends ago. Out of the blue, unexpected, just… wham. It’s a bad one, he was in a coma for over a week, and now that he’s conscious again he can’t speak and his right side is paralysed. Its horrific, one of those nightmare scenarios in life. Hard to say how much he’ll recover, though he will. He may not be able to work again, and though the company is being generous now, will it still be so in two years time? I really feel for both him and his family.
But soon I’m out of it. From one frying pan to another, but with three weeks off in between. Then the whirlwind will start and I’ll be spending a good few months living out of a suitcase. I’m looking forward to it though, it’s a company with challenges, but great people and a definite purpose.
