I’m plugging away at work this week, trying to get caught up from being out on vacation.
Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder if being gone is worth trying to catch back up!
Yesterday, it seemed as if all of my clients saved their big HR issues for 9 am Monday morning. I feel the love, really, I do. I had some big issues to deal with, several phone consults that were close to an hour each.
All of that made me think: how the heck did I end up in this career?
I work as an HR Consultant. I really enjoy it. I’ve met great, amazing people both at work and out in the field. As a former business owner, I totally dig helping other small business owners.
5th grade, hoping to be Quincy.
But I can tell you that if you had of asked me when I was like, in 5th grade, “what do you want to be when you grow up,” I would not have answered, “HR Consultant.” Nope, not a chance.
The funny thing is, I like it, I’m pretty good at it on most days, and somehow I found the right place for me.
I remember a few years ago, I was trying to explain to the kids what I do (other than ‘fire people’) they nodded their heads, but I could tell they didn’t get it.
Later, they were watching “The Office” one night, and Chase came running in and said, “Mom, are you TOBY?”
I’m like, “who the hell is Toby?” He said, “you know TOBY, off The Office! Is that YOU?”
Yep, that’s me, a female version of Toby, only much cuter.
I don’t know how I ended up here, but I did, and it works. Thinking back to what my answer would have been if you had asked me at age 10, or 15, (okay, maybe 25) what I wanted to be when I grow up, here’s what I would have likely said:
1.)Quincy: You know, like off the TV Show? For years, I wanted to be Quincy. I totally ignored the fact that in the opening 
credits, a whole row of policemen faint when he rips back the sheet on the dead body. Somehow I thought it would be cool to figure out why people died. That all came to a screeching halt when one of my mom’s friends heard my plans and said, “so what are you gonna do when they hand you a body that’s been in the trunk of a car in Houston, for like 6 months?’ Nothing like squashing a kid’s dreams. I decided Quincy could stay on TV.
2.)Doctor: I moved from Quincy to doctor and decided that living people would be much easier than dead people. Except I could barely pass biology and never stood a chance at chemistry. See why I wanted to work with dead people? No chance I could accidentally kill them.
3.)Deejay: I started out college majoring in Radio/TV Communications. Awesome, how fun to talk all day to thousands of people who couldn’t tell me to shut up and even better, I didn’t even have to look at them or wear real work clothes? This sounded like the perfect job. Until I heard that they make about as much as a garbage man. So I switched from deejay 
dreams to just winning the radio contests and for the next three years in college, the Fairy Godmother and I ate out at least once a week on our radio station contest winnings. Not bad?
Those were the three things I really wanted to do, other than play in a rock band, like some sort of back up instrument for Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi? You don’t need to sing, just stand there and shake a tambourine or something, keyboards, you know-anything.
That just didn’t work out.
I’m still waiting on Jon to call me. I swear, I can shake a tambourine just as well as anyone else. How hard can that be, I have SOME rhythm?
I wonder if he needs an HR Consultant? I’m sure I could help him out if it came time to fire the tamborine player, make sure everything was properly documented, and then just interview and hire myself!
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you end up in your field or did you do what I did and find yourself in a profession you never dreamed of? Or are you still waiting to grow up? 
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LOVED Quincy! Used to watch it with my sister faithfully! Great post. I have the same trouble trying to explain to my kids and friends…”Why I blog?” LOL Holly at lifelaughlatte.blogspot.com
Did you write this post just to taunt me?!
As a child, I can’t say that I had notable ideas about what to be when I grew up. I liked my pets. Veterinarian sounded fun.
In high school, I had no clear career aspirations. Computer science and accounting classes seemed practical, so I took those and thought maybe I’d major in one of them, or both, in college. But, that was not really me.
Once in college, I took intro to psychology my second semester, just for an easy credit. Easy it was. I skipped every Friday and made an A. “This could be my major,” I thought. And, so it was. You have to grad school to get a job? Who cares! The more classes I took, the more interested I was, and the better fit it seemed to be. With my 3.1 GPA, I could not get into a PhD program, so I got a master’s. I thought I’d work a while and go back for it, but I got burned out instead.
Then, I thought, I loved science and even minored in biology. Medical school. That’s the ticket. Yeah right. I enrolled in and dropped chemistry three times, the first time I started and stopped physics concurrently. The pre-requisistes wrecked the med school plan. Math-based sciences are over my head.
I took a job for my dad in business, something I thought I’d never do. But, I ended up making a career out of it and have stayed 13+ years.
In the middle of that, I tried law school, part time at night. Despite making the Dean’s list two semesters, I could not keep juggling that on top of work and family duties, so I withdrew.
Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to career issues. I have to say that I have come full circle, and my most current thought is that I think I was on the right track in the beginning with psychology. I’m not sure it makes sense to consider that now. In the short-term, I have family responsibilities that make going back to school impractical, probably impossible. In the long-term… I’m 41… what kind of long-term career goals can I take on at this point?
When I grow up, I’d like to be independently wealthy, one of the idle rich, living on an Island perhaps, off the coast of Italy would suit me.
jdemott´s last blog ..Tales From The Pit.
TOBY! I love him! oh that was a fun read. Thank you!
Laura´s last blog ..Never Leave the House Without a Bra
I’ve only ever wanted to be what I am – a writer. And, this is corny but true — happy.