Take This Job and Shove It

(YUD’s intro for me) 

I recently got this note from Judd Marcello, the husband of one of my college roommates: “I’m about to be unemployed once we move to London. Does YUD need guest bloggers? A “YUS” [Your Unemployed Son] perspective? A UK perspective?”

 

To update you briefly: J, my roommate, then housemate, now simply good friend across the world, moved to Boston after we graduated from our esteemed East Coast university. She took a job with a certain established company and has been with them ever since, moving, along with her promotions, from Boston to Miami to Sydney and now to London.

 

Judd has carved out his own career in each of those locales, quite impressively if I do say, bypassing established career path norms and hurtling conventional ladders to do what works for him—and what he’s really good at. Now, he’s choosing unemployment, embarking for the land of tea and biscuits, and deciding what will come next.

 

He says, “I’m an American in Australia moving to London, where the economic situation is at record lows where unemployment is concerned. I’ll have a good job hunt story to talk about.”

 

Indeed he will. Read on for more, and stay tuned for more of YUP’s (Your Unemployed Partner’s) adventures in unemployment.

 

In Judd’s own words:

“Sometimes with being unemployed you have the chance to hit the reset button. If you liked what you were doing…get back on the horse.  If not…choose your own adventure.”

 

I loved those fucking books.

(my posting on YUD)

“Gloriously unemployed” is how I have been describing myself of late—usually followed with an ear-to-ear-shit-eating grin.  “Willingly unemployed” is another way to describe my

situation.  I just quit my job without having anywhere to go…aside from London.

 

You see, my situation is a bit different. I am currently living in Sydney, Australia, and have been for nearly five years. In a couple of weeks my wife and I move to London, where she has accepted a promotion with her company. This means that I had to fire myself again.  

Yes, I did say “again”. This is the third time that I have done a big, fat, gratuitous belly flop into the unemployment pool.  A quick timeline of events to get you up to speed:

 

 

• 2002: Wife and I are living in Boston, MA.
• 2002: Wife gets promoted and we move to Florida.  I quit work and look for new job in Miami.
• 2005: Wife gets promoted and we move to Australia. I quit work, get an MBA, and look for new job in Sydney.
• 2009: Wife gets promoted and we move to the UK.  I quit work  and look for new job in London.

 

 You get the idea? Willful unemployment and I are old friends.  It is a bit of a love/hate relationship, but it works. I choose unemployment, it shakes its head at me in disgust and we agree to disagree and get on with it. “Choose” is key here.  My wife doesn’t just tug on my leash and I nip at her heels (I swear).  We make the best decision for what we think is right for us…and for my career as well.

 

Chopped the “corporate ladder” into kindling means that my career has morphed into this collection of rewarding experiences that doesn’t follow a traditional linear pattern. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Right?  That is what we are told when we start out career.  Find a path and dryhump it until you either make it to the top of the ladder, or you toil away at middle management job while someone better than you gets the corner office.

What I have learned from my situation is that a bag of tricks that incorporates a number of different roles, departments, people management and countries can give you more flexibility in the true path(s) you take in your career.  I am not suggesting that Bank Teller, Lawn Mower and Dog Walker are going to get you to CEO of Proctor & Gamble.  Let me give you an example of what I mean:

Originally I was hired on at my last company as a Category Manager.  A Brand Manager position opened up and I saw it as an opportunity for me to get needed experience in a pure marketing role with a very strong brand.  The role required someone who had held traditional marketing/brand management roles…of which I had none.  I applied for it and got it. The business in question was struggling. It needed to have a solid commercial backbone in order create a stronger brand presence in the market.  I got the role based on my experience as a sales manager, trade marketer and category manager even though I had no traditional brand management experience. 

To make this business successful in the market, I had to first market it internally.  Based on these past experiences, I knew what made the internal sales and category teams tick. Ultimately, I built a team of people internally who wanted to be part of a success story. I was successful at giving the business firm commercial foothold so that I could put a thick layer of fun, fluffy marketing stuff on top of it. I left the role having achieved unprecedented levels of internal support for the brand, set a few revenue and profit high water marks and learned a hell of a lot about how to market brands and about how to reach consumers.

I very much enjoyed the marketing role. I learned quite a bit of how it all works. Now, if I want to set out to be the best of the best as a marketer, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I think I would benefit from spending a bit more time in a brand role, but not as a long term, one-track-mind brand marketer. I would do it to broaden my perspective of how this “piece” of the “whole” works in context.  

As I said before, my career path is not traditional. That is fine with me; I don’t like “conventional.” This path has given me flexibility and, over time, has allowed me to focus in on what I do best…what makes me unique. My uniqueness.  What is that?  I am best at understanding the big picture and being able to take disparate pieces and putting them together to drive the right business outcome. I am successful at this because I am a good leader and and can create strong relationships.  My time at my last company is a direct reflection of this. 

 

So, here is the truncated version of my Job Find Manifesto, the London Edition: Find a cultural fit where my talents can be used to the greatest effect. Work in an environment that rewards risk takers.  Ensure the leadership mix in the organization has healthy doses of both experience (older) and upstarts (younger). 

Fortunately my wife’s visa also applies to me. My employment opportunities will be greater because of this now that I won’t have to request sponsorship from the big companies. This makes thing much easier.  More companies will be willing to have a look at me knowing they don’t have to spend up to $5,000 to sponsor my visa.  

 

Yes, I am fortunate to be afforded such opportunities in life through my wife and her work. Some people call me a “kept man” or even better…”The Purse.”  I think from here on in, on this blog, I will refer to myself as “YUP” (Your Unemployed Partner).  While I don’t have a boss, I still have a wife/partner that I need to keep happy.  I like YUP because it is positive. Here, let me show you:

 

Wife:  You look for a job today?

Me: Yup.

Wife: You have any leads?

Me: Yup.

Wife: You have any interviews lined up?

Me: Yup.

 

See?  That sounds positive and, dare I say it, proactive.

 

Ok fellow YUDdites, I think that is enough for now. I will check in weekly as my unemployment progresses. You can play along at home as we move from Sydney to London and I ramp up the search.