This essay continues from where I left off in Part I.
We met up for coffee in early November. It was great seeing my former boss again, the same guy I saw go up the ranks to where he is now today – a Mananging Director. It was wonderful to reacquaint after so long.
After exchanging pleasantries, we got down to business and he shared with me the new role. I was intruiged by the offering – to lead and set up a transformation office for a major government agency here. It sounded interesting and my ex boss believed I had what it took to get the job done and lead the time.
Admittedly, it felt good to be appreciated and recogisned by my boss on my abilities. This was something that was lacking in my currennt role – lack of any feedback or recognition on how I was doing and something I felt I was craving for.
It was around this time too I was also questioning about my current job. Was I truly happy? Yes sure I could do the job with my eyes closed, but that was not the point I felt – I didn’t feel satisfied with my delivery and probably for the first time I was questioning whether I was making a difference. With all the issues I faced as mentioned in the earlier post, I made the painful decision that it was time to move on. After a 1-1 discussion with my boss, I felt this was to be the best outcome for me.
Of course the journey for me to move on was not a smooth sailing one. While I didn’t have any interviews to attend, it was a long 2 month journey before I would finally hear back from the HR team that things were finally agreed and that the offer letter would be ready. Finally, towards the tail end of January, the offer letter finally came and after a week later, I finally signed the offer letter. It was time for me to move on.
I was very surprised that the notice serving period in my current place was only 1 month! I think because of that, everything became a whole lot quicker and I didn’t feel the days going by as slowly as I thought it would be. In fact you could even say I found the 1 month to be a little restful in some ways as I relinquished most of my existing responsibilities (especially the opportunities pipeline stuff) to my colleague and boss.
As I reflect on my closing chapter here, part of me also does wonder – did I make the right move? – to be honest, I will never know, even after joining back, I guess I will never know. But to move on, I am definitely happy. I think my one year stint here showed me the grass isn’t always so green on the other side.
