It was in November 2006 when my 2nd quarterly probation form was due for completion to be signed and handed in to HR.
My boss had then wanted to confirm me in my employment although officially, the probation period for a new hire was 12 months. It was apparently, not uncommon that management would want to confirm a staff earlier than the 12-months timeline, unless that staff was exceptionally bad in his/her performance.
At that point, it dawned on me that I should also be thinking about my career direction. Up until now, I had gone along with the flow of things, unsure of where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do.
After 6 full months of managing a staff of 6, doing cost management accounting and reporting (50%), budgeting (30%), cost recovery advisory work (10%) and process improvements (10%), I find that I had benefited in many ways. I now understand the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) environment better, have a better feel of the cost and system setup in the SAP system, stumbled upon many faulty areas and fixed up about 80% of these (the 80-20 rule applies, good enough), trained my newly graduated staff in analytical skills, and fostered better relationship with the more veteran staff.
KK was the boss I worked for when I first came into this company. Andy, my ex-boss 5 years ago, is now my boss again effective Dec '06, as KK has been transferred out to do special projects and Andy has been transferred to take over KK's position. Both my bosses have been giving me positive feedback on my team's performance, and commented on the driving force behind my team's improvement.
However, almost 9 months has passed since I came over to Miri. Overall, work has not been particularly exciting for me, pretty mundane stuff although I managed to make a few improvements and changes here and there. I am, not surprisingly, already itching to look for something more challenging to work on. At the moment, the most challenging part is to try and get the people around me to co-operate to get results. While there are some who are eager to listen, contribute ideas and work together to make improvements, there are others who cannot seem to want to get out of the "old ways" of doing things, and worse still, many do not even know why they are doing things the way they have always been doing it!
My bosses tell me that I have to do some form of "expectation management" within myself, so that I may handle situations better, and be more patient with the responses I receive most times. True, I confess that expectation management is an area I very much need training on.
All these had played a role in my recent decision... to reject confirmation of my employment. I have never done so in my entire 10-years of employment history, rejecting early confirmation.
The way I saw it, why commit myself to the company when I cannot yet see the light at the end of the tunnel? Talking to both my bosses, KK and Andy, has not given any results. I had asked to know how long more I needed to be in my current job before I can move on to something more business-related, less accounting- and reporting-related. I had gotten wishy-washy responses, non-commital replies, that they will look for something which might suit me more "soon". When they asked what I was interested in, I was very specific in my respond (Investment Finance or Mergers & Acquisition team) but was disappointed again to be told that the job I am interested in is for "high level" people, so is therefore, currently out of my reach.
First, they tell me that they are "very impressed" by my steep learning curve, and my strong leadership qualities which lead to my team getting back their sense of direction, and that they are happy that I was able to make improvements especially in the system which, in some areas, had not been properly setup for the last few years, causing reporting hiccups and countless manual adjustments.
Then, they slap me with the anti-climax statement that I am "not ready" to be in the Investment Finance or Mergers & Acquisition team. I am "too young", I dont have enough industry knowledge and my CEP (Current Estimated Potential) points (an appraisal system currently practised) have to be assessed at "Senior Management" level before I can even think of being positioned in those teams.
Well, if I'm outstanding in the normal operational jobs, but yet, not good enough for the "high flying" jobs, is there anything else in between for me, to earn that "mature credibility" and "industry knowledge" they are looking for, to move on up?
They could not give me an answer...instead they asked me in return what other jobs I may be interested in (more "realistic" jobs).
Last week, I finally decided to go and have a chat with my Finance Director, Mike T, to find out what other kind of jobs there are in the group of companies globally. He told me a few, which sounded relatively more interesting than the usual accounting and reporting jobs, but ended by saying that, again, I am "too young" and do not have enough industry knowledge. I left his room feeling more down than before.
I have, hence, decided to continue to look for more suitable jobs elsewhere while "serving my time" here for as long as it takes. In the meantime, I shall make the best of my situation and get the most out of my experiences.
Seeing my lack of enthusiasm in the career track the company offered, my sudden chat with the Finance Director, and my hush-hush phone conversations outside my office grounds (KK and Andy happened to stumble upon my secret rendezvous), Andy and KK has quickly reacted to recommend me for an upcoming job opening, which I acknowledged interest in.
I am due for an interview sometime soon, so I may find out about the job scope. I hope this job can offer me that in-depth industry knowledge I look for, so that it''ll be beneficial for me in ANY oil & gas company... and I hope that accounting and reporting functions will only form a minor part of the job scope, if at all.
I am supposed to keep this confidential until the matter is settled. So wish me luck in my upcoming interview! Hopefully I make it through with flying colours. Otherwise, it's back to my mundane management accounting role!
My boss had then wanted to confirm me in my employment although officially, the probation period for a new hire was 12 months. It was apparently, not uncommon that management would want to confirm a staff earlier than the 12-months timeline, unless that staff was exceptionally bad in his/her performance.
At that point, it dawned on me that I should also be thinking about my career direction. Up until now, I had gone along with the flow of things, unsure of where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do.
After 6 full months of managing a staff of 6, doing cost management accounting and reporting (50%), budgeting (30%), cost recovery advisory work (10%) and process improvements (10%), I find that I had benefited in many ways. I now understand the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) environment better, have a better feel of the cost and system setup in the SAP system, stumbled upon many faulty areas and fixed up about 80% of these (the 80-20 rule applies, good enough), trained my newly graduated staff in analytical skills, and fostered better relationship with the more veteran staff.
KK was the boss I worked for when I first came into this company. Andy, my ex-boss 5 years ago, is now my boss again effective Dec '06, as KK has been transferred out to do special projects and Andy has been transferred to take over KK's position. Both my bosses have been giving me positive feedback on my team's performance, and commented on the driving force behind my team's improvement.
However, almost 9 months has passed since I came over to Miri. Overall, work has not been particularly exciting for me, pretty mundane stuff although I managed to make a few improvements and changes here and there. I am, not surprisingly, already itching to look for something more challenging to work on. At the moment, the most challenging part is to try and get the people around me to co-operate to get results. While there are some who are eager to listen, contribute ideas and work together to make improvements, there are others who cannot seem to want to get out of the "old ways" of doing things, and worse still, many do not even know why they are doing things the way they have always been doing it!
My bosses tell me that I have to do some form of "expectation management" within myself, so that I may handle situations better, and be more patient with the responses I receive most times. True, I confess that expectation management is an area I very much need training on.
All these had played a role in my recent decision... to reject confirmation of my employment. I have never done so in my entire 10-years of employment history, rejecting early confirmation.
The way I saw it, why commit myself to the company when I cannot yet see the light at the end of the tunnel? Talking to both my bosses, KK and Andy, has not given any results. I had asked to know how long more I needed to be in my current job before I can move on to something more business-related, less accounting- and reporting-related. I had gotten wishy-washy responses, non-commital replies, that they will look for something which might suit me more "soon". When they asked what I was interested in, I was very specific in my respond (Investment Finance or Mergers & Acquisition team) but was disappointed again to be told that the job I am interested in is for "high level" people, so is therefore, currently out of my reach.
First, they tell me that they are "very impressed" by my steep learning curve, and my strong leadership qualities which lead to my team getting back their sense of direction, and that they are happy that I was able to make improvements especially in the system which, in some areas, had not been properly setup for the last few years, causing reporting hiccups and countless manual adjustments.
Then, they slap me with the anti-climax statement that I am "not ready" to be in the Investment Finance or Mergers & Acquisition team. I am "too young", I dont have enough industry knowledge and my CEP (Current Estimated Potential) points (an appraisal system currently practised) have to be assessed at "Senior Management" level before I can even think of being positioned in those teams.
Well, if I'm outstanding in the normal operational jobs, but yet, not good enough for the "high flying" jobs, is there anything else in between for me, to earn that "mature credibility" and "industry knowledge" they are looking for, to move on up?
They could not give me an answer...instead they asked me in return what other jobs I may be interested in (more "realistic" jobs).
Last week, I finally decided to go and have a chat with my Finance Director, Mike T, to find out what other kind of jobs there are in the group of companies globally. He told me a few, which sounded relatively more interesting than the usual accounting and reporting jobs, but ended by saying that, again, I am "too young" and do not have enough industry knowledge. I left his room feeling more down than before.
I have, hence, decided to continue to look for more suitable jobs elsewhere while "serving my time" here for as long as it takes. In the meantime, I shall make the best of my situation and get the most out of my experiences.
Seeing my lack of enthusiasm in the career track the company offered, my sudden chat with the Finance Director, and my hush-hush phone conversations outside my office grounds (KK and Andy happened to stumble upon my secret rendezvous), Andy and KK has quickly reacted to recommend me for an upcoming job opening, which I acknowledged interest in.
I am due for an interview sometime soon, so I may find out about the job scope. I hope this job can offer me that in-depth industry knowledge I look for, so that it''ll be beneficial for me in ANY oil & gas company... and I hope that accounting and reporting functions will only form a minor part of the job scope, if at all.
I am supposed to keep this confidential until the matter is settled. So wish me luck in my upcoming interview! Hopefully I make it through with flying colours. Otherwise, it's back to my mundane management accounting role!
5 comments:
wow.. 9mths in miri alreadie? so fast man!! really 9 mths? seems like 4 or 5 mths only.. really, time flies.. and yes, wish u all the luck!
yup, I will complete 9 months in 2 weeks time, when the 10th month starts clocking in.
Fast hor? I also feel like I just got here.
If I do move on to the new job, Andy wants me to commit at least 2 years...which is until end of next year 2008. Ok what, ya? Doesnt seem that long, unless it turns out that I hate the job or the new boss, then it can seem REALLY long!
Thanks for your wishes. I really dunno how the new boss will be like though...need luck to get a good boss too.
2 years is fast.. when's the interview? email us the outcome.. :P
Hey, but you should have known where ppl in accounting (or even legal) almost always end up -- BACK office. It would take a very determined employee and a very supportive boss to break that barrier!
So, Good Luck my friend!
WS, ya, unfortunately, u r right. That's why, since I tasted the excitement in the FRONT office before, it makes it even less bearable for me to be in the back office now.
will write abt what happened to date...
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