Open Source Job Hunt

I can distinctly remember sitting in my 12th grade English class and taking a “personality test” that was supposed to help us determine potential career paths as we entered college with an eye towards the working world.  Given my equal bent towards both numbers and writing, I was particularly intrigued to see the results – to understand how the Scantron read me, in hopes that it would help me read me.

You can imagine my disdain when the test spit out two professions hand-picked for me.

Circus Performer and Park Ranger.

I wish I was making this up.

With my tuition deposit already sent in to Chapel Hill, it was too late for circus school.  And despite what the test said, the closest I was getting to a campground was watching Yogi Bear cartoons from my couch.

After four years at UNC and a bachelor’s degree in Business, I knew perhaps a little more about what I wanted to do for a vocation.  That is, if by “knowing” you mean I had decided on “business”.  I ended up choosing a different route than many of my Kenan-Flagler comrades – I worked at a non-profit focused on entrepreneurship.

It proved to be a great decision, as I quickly became enamored with the venture capital and technology world.  It wasn’t long before I had the itch to work for a start-up, and jumped ship in October 2006 for a venture backed software company.

After only a few weeks, I found that the start-up life is not always so glamorous.  As I spent hour after hour in a bare bones office with no windows or contact with the outside world (save for the rejections I was receiving over the phone), I quickly realized this job wasn’t for me.  It simply wasn’t a good fit – at least that’s what my inner circus performer was telling me.

So I made the big decision to quit that job and enter the brave new world of finance – something that was satisfying for me because the Bank was still very young at the time and allowed me to sow my entrepreneurial oats as well.  It’s turned out to be a great transition – though in retrospect I’ve tried to remember the bumps in the road along the way.

I tell you this long story in light of the turn of events in the Mansfield house in the past week.  Tracy had been enjoying the people at her new job over the first few weeks, but deep down inside there was an unsettling premonition that this role would not turn out to be the best for her.  This ominous feeling became more of a reality this week as Tracy trudged through hour after hour of answering phone calls and taking messages (50+ in one day!) along with her other projects, trapped in a dingy, old hotel room devoid of any light.  As I heard her describe through tears the day-to-day grind, it revealed an almost spooky parallel to my experience at the software company.

So on Tuesday night, Tracy spoke with her boss at school and shared her feelings.  In what will likely turn out, in retrospect, to be a defining conversation in our lives in New York, Tracy’s boss handled the news with grace and unconditional support.  She encouraged Tracy of her abilities and shared similar experiences from her own life.  At the end of the day, the job just wasn’t the right fit, and Tracy’s boss encouraged her to look for a role that is more tailored for her passions.

The end result is that Tracy will be leaving Geneva as soon as they can find a suitable replacement.  This is great news in the sense that Tracy feels she can breathe again, without the weight of dreading getting up each morning for work.  Yet, at the same time, she is now in the position of job hunter again, which can be quite stressful in its own right.

As we think about potential jobs here in NYC, we thought we’d open source the process by asking for suggestions from the blogaudience (yep, I just made that up).  It seems we have a somewhat consistent community of readers here, many of whom are our closest friends who know Tracy well.  If you have a suggestion of a type of job that Tracy would be great at, please let us know in the comments, or send us an email.  Or if you have a connection in NYC that Tracy should get in touch with, please pass it along.

Right now we’re trying to be as open as possible to potential jobs – including areas where she has experience like education and event planning, to fun/unique jobs that may only be available in big cities like NYC.

If nothing else, there’s always circus performing.