1:20 a.m. - 2002-11-20
Pass It On
We found a young woman who wanted to take my place in the belly dancing class. She seemed quite nice and was very happy she had the opportunity to participate. I hope she has a blast with it. She said when she was in a better position financially, she would pass on the chance of a class to someone else. That's the best thing I could have heard. Pass it on or pay it forward.
My supervisor called at noon. A company has requested someone with skills with very specific types of records to organize their collection. He wanted to know if I thought I had enough expertise to head it up. I have done a little bit of work in that area, but I don't want to be like the people who headed up the last two projects I took over, who misrepresented their skill level and then left a mess for me to clean up, in addition to costing the client and the records management company more than they had anticipated and making our company look incompetent. That's not how you build a clientele or a good reputation. I think the messes that I had to go into have probably cost the company a couple of contracts already. Word spreads pretty fast in such a closed community.
I also don't want to get a reputation for being dishonest or of padding my resume. What's on there now are all things I can back up with documentation. There are jobs I would love to have, but where I'm just a little short of the requirements. I will send a resume along anyways sometimes, but with the comment that I learn very quickly, not with any unsupportable claims. I know in the volunteer community, the strongest coin one has is one's credibility and reputation. I don't think it should be that different in the workplace. The places where packaging is more valued than substance aren't places I want to be. Like the last company I was assigned to. At some point in time, the deception will be discovered and I don't want my name associated with that type of behavior.
What I did offer to do for my supervisor was to call some of my contacts, senior workers who have been in the industry for decades, to see if there would be any one they could recommend either because they have supervised or trained them. Spent the rest of the day reconnecting with some very nice people as a result. All the women I talked with have been good mentors for their staff - the kind of people one wants to emulate. Anyway, I got one name late this evening, so I'll call my supervisor first thing in the morning. He can decide how he wants to proceed from there. It still means I'm not working, but I enjoy it when I can give someone else a boost. That's two in one day. Things generally occur in threes for me so there must be one more to come. We'll see.
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