Career Aspirations

I still haven't figured out how to insert hyperlinks like "click here" or "read this" with a link to a previous post - and no one has offered up any help! So, if you're interested in what spurred the 6 month personal debate that I'm about to comment on further, read my post from 11/18/2009. It's not necessary though, and you may already have read it anyway.



I am not flustered and heated about my job like I was when I wrote the post on 11/18 so obviously I'm thinking more clearly. I have had more time to think on my job and career-future and I've decided that I was right in thinking I need a new career. Not today or tomorrow, but not too far in the future either.



In knowing that I want to do something else, but unsure what that would be, I have been thinking over the last 6 months about what else I'd be interested in. As I mentioned on 11/18, I'd still love to write as I do enjoy it, but I don't know how well that pays the bills and I'm not sure I write well enough to be successful anyway. Plus, it doesn't matter how well you write if you've got nothing to write about! Because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I decided to focus on what it is that I want to get out of a career. I determined that the main thing I care about is that I want to positively impact another person by the work I do. I don't know what spurred this need because I didn't always have this conviction, but I definitely do now. I can see myself having to answer to my son (and future sibling/s) as they look at me and ask: Mommy what did you do with your job to help someone else? I don't want my answer to be: I helped stock holders' pocketbooks. Maybe I'm jealous that their dad will have an answer with more integrity and selflessness.



Don't get me wrong, I am in no way belittling my job or any other job for that matter. We are not all called to be firemen, and what a non-productive world it would be if we were. There are people who get satisfaction and fulfillment from tax accounting, and I'm glad they found their niche. I think its important that we all find intrinsic value in our jobs, but right now I do not. So I knew I wanted to find something that would benefit the lives' of others, I just still wasn't sure what that would be. I know things I don't want to do, for instance I'm not about to put on a uniform and go fight the War on Terror, that's for sure! But I couldn't just keep eliminating options I don't like, I needed to find something that I do like.

Then something happened: I took William to daycare for the first time.

I found a new appreciation for William's school when I dropped him off that I hadn't had just by visiting. I appreciated the cleanliness, the order, the structure, the curriculum, and the location back in December when we put down our deposit. What I didn't fully appreciate then, though, was the staff. I knew I liked them, and at the time that was good enough for me. I didn't realize how invested they were in the children's lives, the relationships with the parents, or the overall job they are entrusted with. I didn't realize it at the time, nor did I realize the value it carried.

The teachers in the classrooms absolutely love each child. I visited some child care centers where the teachers were there for the same reason I am at Western Union: to pay the bills. I can't knock them for having that job-perspective as I have it too, but I did notice their lack of concern for the overall growth and development of each child. At William's school, the teachers not only care - they have a sense of responsibility and develop an individual love for each one of their students. When I visited the school before I actually dropped him off, to me it was a room with 8 babies in it. But to Miss Kim and Miss Jennifer it was a room with Conner, Alexis, Helen, Mateus, Emmett, Diego, Ethan, and Rylan. More impressive than the love that the teachers have for each child, to me, is the love that the education director and school director/owner have for each family. Miss Elise, the education director, says bye to each kid as he/she leaves and when she goes home for the day she goes into every classroom and gives every child left a hug goodbye. She knows each one of their quirks and personality traits, knows their favorite foods and toys, how they sleep, etc. She knows them all, and loves each one of them. Brooke, the school owner, is no different.

I don't have the capacity to be a teacher at a daycare or the education director, unless I want to go back to school, but what I realized is that I would absolutely love to be the owner of a Goddard franchise location. I believe very strongly in the curriculum they use to spur the development of the children, and I can appreciate as a parent the value of the quality of staff they insist upon hiring. Teachers shape the lives of children, regardless of what age they teach, but I now know that the directors directly impact the children's lives as well as their parents. I can leave William every day knowing that not only are Miss Kim and Miss Jennifer wonderful with the babies, but Elise and Brooke are equally capable and just as invested in his life. I never could have understood the value of that until actually leaving William in their care.

Owning and operating a Goddard school seems like it'd be the best of both worlds for me. It would allow me to utilize my business background and knowledge, while making an impact on the lives of my students as well as their parents. Not only would I be making a difference, but I'd be doing something in which I strongly believe. I couldn't ask for more out of a career.

As for the timing, I won't be turning my notice in at western union anytime soon that's for sure! I don't have the net worth required to open the franchise, and we are not "settled" here for the long haul so it'd be pointless to begin the process now anyway. So I know I'm looking a little further down the road, but it makes working here less meaningless if I know what I'm working towards. So...someday...