Taking a leap at any opportunity is an action that is filled with uncertainty. Given a situation such as a job, an interview, or anything else that may have an adverse effect on the person making the choice. Very recently, there was an incident where I felt like I had to make a decision. They say that hindsight is always 20/20, and in light of my current circumstances, my decision was a regretful one.
Earlier this year, I was working at a nonprofit organization. My inspiration for getting the job was more financial than anything career-oriented. The position was part-time and payed a little better than minimum wage. As a student going through college with family funding, I thought this decision to be a good one; it was a minuscule way of paying my family back for the exorbitant amount of money they were spending on my education and the high hopes they had for my future.
The interview went smoothly, and I was given the job until the end of the semester. I would have to reapply once the schools around Champaign finished summer vacation and began the new school year, but I was glad to have been given the opportunity and responsibility to work with such people. People who are very different in their lifestyle and work ethic from myself.
Since sophomore year, I lost all my passion and drive to excel in any endeavor, and being surround by a crowd of antitheses at my new job was a wake up call for me. It opened my eyes to the circumstances of my colleagues and inspired me to give it my all in both the office and in all my classes. Unfortunately, running after your aspirations is easy, but keeping up with it is a far more difficult sprint to win.
As time went on I realized that I was torn between work, studies, and familial responsibilities. It became a chore keeping up all three, and I feel very fortunate to have been given circumstances where I was able to juggle that trio. I may have not been able to keep up with everything in my optimal capacity, but I was happy that I didn't allow myself to give up.
I started out as a model employee, being up-to-date with everything going on and volunteering for difficult, time-consuming projects. My initial surge of efficiency impressed my supervisors, and they decided to pile on the tasks on me as the months passed by. Near the end of the semester, I had become much slower, and my performance had taken such a dive that I felt as though I was a burden to this organization. Despite these thoughts and the disappointment I thought my supervisors must have been going through, I carried on working to the best of my ability.
My employer suggested I work for the summer as well, and she offered to increase my wage. My familial responsibilities had inflated massively between the spring and summer semesters, though, and I was intimidated by the seemingly daunting task of a 9-5 job while maintaining both a summer course and a new life.
This intimidation came to a breaking point when a new employee came to work one day. This individual was working better than me in every aspect of the job, and in the time between the spring and summer that I was not allowed to work, this person had been employed in my place and had, unfortunately, made a mess of some of the most important projects that were given to me.
My supervisor expected me to work with both my new colleague and the Manager at the office. Two weeks passed before I found myself frustrated at how lost I felt. The company was going through a transitioning phase, and soon we would be moving to a new office. My emotions, coupled with the amount of work that was required for a successful transition, broke my resolve to be a part of the organization. I felt as though I was dragging everyone behind, and decided to quit.
My employer offered me a different position where I could work from home. I declined and told her that I had to concentrate on my education and admitted to feeling like I was being a hindrance. A month after my departure, billboards of the organization popped up all over town, and their new office was a much larger, more sophisticated one - a testament to the astounding amount of work and determination from the employees.
Given a few more weeks, I believe I could have been a part of this transition. It seems as though everything that was keeping me from working smoothly has disappeared, and the new environment is even more successful than the last. I believed my resignation to be the better option, or rather one which I considered to be the ethical one, considering my feelings at the time, but I feel like I let go of an opportunity where I could work in an environment that supports individuality, where my supervisors were more like elder siblings and the founder of the organization was more like a mother figure than a boss. I doubt I will find a job even remotely similar to that anytime in the future.
While this may not seem like the perfect example of taking an opportunity, but if you think about opportunity, it comes down to a choice: A or B. More likely it is to either go for something or draw back from it. Drawing back from my job feels like I missed an opportunity that was golden, one that may not arrive on a silver platter like it did once before.
Earlier this year, I was working at a nonprofit organization. My inspiration for getting the job was more financial than anything career-oriented. The position was part-time and payed a little better than minimum wage. As a student going through college with family funding, I thought this decision to be a good one; it was a minuscule way of paying my family back for the exorbitant amount of money they were spending on my education and the high hopes they had for my future.
The interview went smoothly, and I was given the job until the end of the semester. I would have to reapply once the schools around Champaign finished summer vacation and began the new school year, but I was glad to have been given the opportunity and responsibility to work with such people. People who are very different in their lifestyle and work ethic from myself.
Since sophomore year, I lost all my passion and drive to excel in any endeavor, and being surround by a crowd of antitheses at my new job was a wake up call for me. It opened my eyes to the circumstances of my colleagues and inspired me to give it my all in both the office and in all my classes. Unfortunately, running after your aspirations is easy, but keeping up with it is a far more difficult sprint to win.
As time went on I realized that I was torn between work, studies, and familial responsibilities. It became a chore keeping up all three, and I feel very fortunate to have been given circumstances where I was able to juggle that trio. I may have not been able to keep up with everything in my optimal capacity, but I was happy that I didn't allow myself to give up.
I started out as a model employee, being up-to-date with everything going on and volunteering for difficult, time-consuming projects. My initial surge of efficiency impressed my supervisors, and they decided to pile on the tasks on me as the months passed by. Near the end of the semester, I had become much slower, and my performance had taken such a dive that I felt as though I was a burden to this organization. Despite these thoughts and the disappointment I thought my supervisors must have been going through, I carried on working to the best of my ability.
My employer suggested I work for the summer as well, and she offered to increase my wage. My familial responsibilities had inflated massively between the spring and summer semesters, though, and I was intimidated by the seemingly daunting task of a 9-5 job while maintaining both a summer course and a new life.
This intimidation came to a breaking point when a new employee came to work one day. This individual was working better than me in every aspect of the job, and in the time between the spring and summer that I was not allowed to work, this person had been employed in my place and had, unfortunately, made a mess of some of the most important projects that were given to me.
My supervisor expected me to work with both my new colleague and the Manager at the office. Two weeks passed before I found myself frustrated at how lost I felt. The company was going through a transitioning phase, and soon we would be moving to a new office. My emotions, coupled with the amount of work that was required for a successful transition, broke my resolve to be a part of the organization. I felt as though I was dragging everyone behind, and decided to quit.
My employer offered me a different position where I could work from home. I declined and told her that I had to concentrate on my education and admitted to feeling like I was being a hindrance. A month after my departure, billboards of the organization popped up all over town, and their new office was a much larger, more sophisticated one - a testament to the astounding amount of work and determination from the employees.
Given a few more weeks, I believe I could have been a part of this transition. It seems as though everything that was keeping me from working smoothly has disappeared, and the new environment is even more successful than the last. I believed my resignation to be the better option, or rather one which I considered to be the ethical one, considering my feelings at the time, but I feel like I let go of an opportunity where I could work in an environment that supports individuality, where my supervisors were more like elder siblings and the founder of the organization was more like a mother figure than a boss. I doubt I will find a job even remotely similar to that anytime in the future.
While this may not seem like the perfect example of taking an opportunity, but if you think about opportunity, it comes down to a choice: A or B. More likely it is to either go for something or draw back from it. Drawing back from my job feels like I missed an opportunity that was golden, one that may not arrive on a silver platter like it did once before.
Opportunism is more than taking an advantage of an opportunity. It means, in addition, disregarding the welfare of others who may be adversely affected by the action you take.
ReplyDeleteSo in the story you told, I wondered whether your new colleague acted opportunistically. It was unclear to me. This paragraph, in particular, didn't make sense.
"This intimidation came to a breaking point when a new employee came to work one day. This individual was working better than me in every aspect of the job, and in the time between the spring and summer that I was not allowed to work, this person had been employed in my place and had, unfortunately, made a mess of some of the most important projects that were given to me."
At first you say the new employee was working quite well. Then you say the person made a botch of things you were working on. The two don't go together, at least not without some further explanation. Might the person have deliberately made a botch of things, perhaps to irritate you? I can't tell form the story but if that happened it certainly would have been an example of opportunism.
At the outset I said opportunism has an element of harming others. It also requires understanding that potential harm when the choice is made. We all make decisions that we regret after the fact. I've made quite a few of them in my lifetime and often second guess myself. But I wouldn't call those opportunistic, just bad decisions. They are not the same thing.