Thursday, August 26, 2010

What Do YOU Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Not many people can say that they loved their first job out of college. In fact, not many people can say they even stuck with it for very long. I happen to be one of the lucky ones. About three weeks after college graduation, I went to work at The Planned Approach to be a financial goddess, and knew it was the perfect fit. From the job to the people, everything about it was great. So I new trying to find something just as great in Denver was going to be hard.

I never really had to do a job search the first time around. The position at TPA got sent to our department head at K-State, and I had the job before I graduated. I was in for a rude awakening this time around. Not only is it a tough economy to be even searching for a job, but I was job searching from nine hours away, and no one seemed to care about what was on my resume, nor were they interested in someone who wasn't even living in the city yet.

The biggest hurdle I faced was really deciding what I wanted to do. I had spent four years in the same position and I wasn't sure how much I enjoyed it anymore. With all of my work with Relay For Life, I contemplated going the non-profit route, and taking my fundraising and event planning to a professional level. I applied for a few jobs, but still wasn't sure what path I should go down. I'm the kind of person who sets my goal on wanting to do something, and then doing it. So to think that I might want to change career paths, or just spend time not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up was a scary thing. It's the planner in me - wanting to know what's going to happen next. :)

I talked to many people about it, though, and realized that I was not alone, and that it was not just a case of the '20-somethings'. Everybody always questions if they should maybe be doing something different. So with that, I decided to continue on with the job search. I felt I hadn't truly accomplished everything I wanted to in the world of financial planning and I wanted to stick with it. I mean, I passed the 10-hour CFP exam, I wanted to make sure I got the most from it!!

I kept applying for jobs, and found one that seemed like a perfect fit. I applied for it on a Sunday morning, had a phone interview that evening, they called TPA the next day for references, did a couple more interviews and tests over the next few days, and she then decided she wanted to sit down for a face-to-face interview. Quite the whirlwind! So yesterday, I flew out to Denver for what ended up being a 6-hour interview, and today I got the offer. I am very excited to say that I am officially employed as a financial planning associate with Abacus Financial in Denver. I will be starting as soon as I move out there. Technically, I like to say I've only had three days of unemployment. :)

And if this job doesn't work out, I've still got my hopes set on the big lottery winning someday!!!!!

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