New kid on the block

When I started this “Deliberate Spontaneity” project I had no idea that I would quit my job after almost six years. After nearly 10 years working at membership associations, I have accepted a position at a company. While I will still be a health editor, I’m accepting more responsibility and new challenges. And working at a company, which is inherently more demanding than nonprofit associations, will be a new experience. The last time I worked for corporate America was at a daily newspaper owned by a major newspaper corporation that will go unnamed here. I had an old-school, inspiring editor who was from that community and had worked his way up from photographer. A couple of weeks after I started at my daily newspaper gig, fresh out of college, corporate headquarters fired the editor who had worked there for 30+ years. Soon the seven reporters started dropping like flies. One, my closest buddy of all the reporters, quit in a fit of rage after he and our immediate editor had a screaming match one night in the newsroom while I was off covering a town council meeting. I came back to hear all the details from our 16-year-old sports intern. Two more reporters soon quit, and the four of us were now doing the work of seven. Soon, our ever-inspiring editor said we would have to stop collecting overtime but continue to write two stories every day instead of just one. I was poor, demoralized and thinking that life after college was frustrating and lonely. After four months, I too quit that job when I learned my hometown editor was hiring a reporter. I couldn’t move back in with my parents quick enough.

So, now I’m joining corporate America again, but I know it won’t be like my first experience. The fact that the company has been able to hire during this recession should be a good sign. And I’ve had exciting conversations with my soon-to-be bosses about how they use social media and new media and the magazine teams I’ll be leading. But still, it was a big decision to leave my “work home,” where I’ve worked longer than any other job. My department is a close group. We complain together, we laugh together every day–sometimes holding our stomachs and with tears streaming down our faces–and most of all, we work together, developing new ideas and creating websites, magazines and health awareness campaigns out of thin air. They were there when my boyfriend broke my heart, when I started dating again, when my now-husband showed up at work unexpectedly after just our second date with an orchid (because I had told him no guy had ever given me flowers before “just because”). They were there for my engagement and my marriage.

While six years may not seem a lot to those of you who have worked at the same place for 10, 20, 30 years, imagine leaving that place. OK, quit smiling. Seriously, imagine leaving your work family, knowing realistically you’ll stay in touch with only some of them. Imagine having to make new work friends, learn a new corporate culture, get accustomed to a new computer system and workplace rules. Imagine being the new kid again.

I was comfortable at ACOG. I knew my job, I knew my co-workers, I knew the expectations. I knew who was helpful, who was a pain in the a**, who I could count on and who I should just leave alone. Deep down, I know I’ll enjoy my new responsibilities and succeed at my job, but I’ll miss my comfort zone. So I suppose that accepting a new job out of the blue is definitely “deliberate spontaneity.” I feel like I’m heading off to college in two weeks — the nervous anticipation of a new environment, the excitement of being able to reinvent myself if I want to, wondering if I’ll make new friends easily and imagining what my new assignments will be like. It’s back to school time.

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