I'm an accountant...what job can be more boring! Looking back I cannot remember what made me decide to follow this route, I guess it was my ambition, my secret wish to become a career woman and to be in management. I always saw accounting as a good means to slowly infiltrate myself into management. Well I could say that my wish came true, as in the eleven years I worked in accounting, I reached managerial levels in leading companies.
I was thirsty to be a high achiever so imagine my ecstasy when, at twenty-three, I became one of the youngest managers on the island. I really thought I had it all...I felt fulfilled and worked my soul out in order to achieve my goals. My last job was that of a General Manager (well I was more of a factotum as I did a million and one things). This job changed my life in many ways, through the exhausting daily routine, through the people I met and through the experiences I lived. One thing which I learned from this job...how much I was missing out on life and how much dedicating your life to work does not really pay you back! Being a workaholic I used to enjoy working long hours and forgot all about my personal life, until the point where it seized to exist.
Luckily for me, I have learnt from all the mistakes I have done. I am not saying that it's a mistake to love your job and I am not saying that it's a mistake to spend long hours doing your job if it gives you happiness...I'm only saying that there has to be something wrong if you would rather spend time at work than be with your loved ones or enjoying some time for yourself.
Coming back from my travels was a sad experience. It was already uncomfortable enough that I was totally penniless without thinking that I had to get back to a job which, after the eighteen months experience I had just gone through, was not going to give me any emotions at all.
I wished I could get a job where I helped people in some way or another,but I knew it would be impossible. Little did I know that what I thought impossible at the time was going to materialize.
An advert on a newspaper, Yakof's encouragement to apply for the post, a call the week after, two consecutive interviews, and the job was mine. I could not beleive it. I was engaged as a Facility Manager in a Home for the Elderly. It was perfect. I was in management, something I love; I would not be working as an accountant, something I was dreading; and I could help people : the winning combination.
Eight months down the line I can say that finally I know the true meaning of job satisfaction. It's not about working successfully to a deadline, winning a tender, creating a good management information system or giving good advice to a company's directors. It's about receiving a smile from a person; it's about seeing people enjoying themselves during activities you organise for them; it's receiving a thank you for just caring; it's having your heart warmed up when you receive a thank you note from relatives who appreciate the care being given to their loved ones.
I have never experienced something this nice in my previous jobs, the human element is as tiring as it can be awesome.
It's not always easy to deal with a considerable amount of elderly people but it is also very rewarding at the same time. Working with others for others is the best thing a person can experience...at least for me...it's the best!
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