January 2012 I was hired by the U.S. Department of State.
February 13, 2012 I was sworn in at the U.S. Consulate in Vienna Austria, as an Official employee.
February 14, 2012 I worked my first official day at the U.S. Public Diplomacy Vienna Training Office.
April 11, 2012 I almost walked away from my job in frustration.
It has been a challenging transition period in my life. I am hopeful that all the intensive training I am doing will give me more employability in the future. And that very soon I will be a happy effective employee.
My job is a flexible time- 20 hour a week job. It is flexible in that some weeks I must work more that 20 hours a week in order to fulfill my job requirements. And it is flexible that I can work shorter or longer days in the week as long as I work 40 hours in a 2 week period.
Sometimes I have found juggling my other responsibilities around the job really difficult.
And I have been surprised at how exhausted I am at the end of the day.
Slowly I am developing a routine at home. And slowly I am gaining competency with my tasks at work.
I was perfectly honest in my job interview that I was completely unfamiliar with the data bases and computer programs I would be required to manage and work with. For the most part learning the new skills has been interesting and fascinating.
I hope that as I gain confidence in my job I’ll have more energy in the evening to return to some of my hobbies, like posting blogs. :-)
Shaura, good job at stepping way out of your comfort zone and jumping into something new and unfamiliar. "Data bases and computer programs"-sounds intimidating! I wish you the best and hope that you can find that balance of learning the ropes and working effectively, and having enough energy to enjoy hobbies. Good luck! We miss you guys.
ReplyDelete