Bagged a Recommender!

Greetings all... So I wanted to bring up something that has been weighing on my mind lately. I don't really talk about work all that much on here but today's events warrant a full post on this topic. It has to do with recommendations.

So let me back up a bit... it seems as though many people have just recently begun to follow my blog. So I will tell everyone what I do as it will give you a good understanding for why today happened.

I've been working in the Digital marketing/Interactive Space/Online Advertising industry officially since 2005, when I got my first full time job. Prior to that I had an internship in college here in NYC at a start up company.

First Job - I worked at a Search Engine Marketing agency as an account manager. Here is where I learned the basis for what I do now. This was a small place in NJ but was close to the all star cheerleading gym that I coached at. After two years at this agency I decided to start working in NYC.

Second Job - I worked at a full service digital marketing agency on larger accounts. I was introduced into more of the creative process and margins and blah blah etc etc all that stuff. Here is where the story really begins... So this agency was not run properly at all. I won't go into all of the details, but just know that it was a hot mess and uber political.

I started at this agency in September of 2007. I had a director leave around February...then my manager left a couple weeks after. She had just gotten married and was commuting over 2 hours each way to and from work. (this is important to remember) So essentially my two senior peeps left the company...they were the only ones who really knew what I did and what impact I had. So anyway I was put onto another team.

In August, I reminded my new boss (younger than me and was only promoted because the owners liked him...no one that reported to him liked him... and actually he got himself into a bit of trouble later down the road.)

In any event...like I said... In August I reminded him of my upcoming review. He said sure sure... 2 weeks before my anniversary I reminded him again of my upcoming review... Again he said sure sure... So then on my anniversary day I reminded him and he told me to talk to the VP of whatever title it was that they made up for this guy. So the next time I saw him he said "Oh tell ______" to remind me and we'll get it set up. So I told my boss again and he said he spoke to this VP guy. Long story short November rolled around and I still had not gotten my 1 year review. I realized that I could no longer be at this company because it was obvious how they viewed their employees.

This is when I started looking for another job. I sent my resume to one place... got the interview... interviewed again... found out that I got my current job the monday after Christmas. So I was stoked to put in my 2 weeks notice. The very day that I was going to give my two weeks notice...I WAS LAID OFF! It was glorious. I went into HR and she was giving me all of the papers to sign and what not... I was going to say something about my new job, but I refrained when she started talking about severance!

So I took my severance and went on vacation - by myself! I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico...

Ok so now you know how I ended up at my current job so let's get to the good stuff...let me just say that history repeats itself. So I started in my current position as a Search Engine Marketing Analyst in January of 2009. When I started I reported to my manager who reported to the director. 2 weeks after I started the director left, which wasn't a big deal to me. THEN... in April my manager got married. We went all the way through the summer without replacing the director that left. Then this past February my manager, who also commuted about 2 hours to work, decided to leave because she didn't have a "home" life and as a newly wed this was tough. What's ironic is that at one point in time this manager and my manager at my previous job used to work together at their previous agencies!

So once my manager told me that she was leaving I did not want to let history repeat itself and for me to miss out on a review which was to be done in April. I had some conversations with HR... with the VP of my department... to see if I would be a good fit for my managers position. My manager thought so before she left, but that's for another time. The HR person said "no that wouldn't be the next progression for you because you can't report to the VP because you know how hard she can be." Internally I rolled my eyes because that was a stupid statement, because without a manager I would be reporting to the VP. So from April until just a couple weeks ago I reported to the VP.

Here's how this impacts my recommendations... about a month ago I found out that the VP of marketing will be going on maternity leave!!! I wasn't sure how far along she was but this got me thinking. She's the only person left in our department worthy of writing me a recommendation letter, since she's been there from the start. Hold that thought... So she hired a Director who is embedded in between her and I. Thankfully this new director is an MBA graduate of Kellogg. I like her a lot but she doesn't know my work history. So she's been here about a month...and I immediately told her about my MBA plans. She was the first one "above" me whom I told but I knew she would understand. So I've been working with her for about a month and I just found out last week they they've hired a manager for me.

I know what you're thinking... why didn't you get that position and I honestly can't tell you. My company is weird. They like to hire people only to have them leave 5/6 months later.

So between the turnovers...multiple managers....VP preparing for maternity leave...and no promotion/title change, I have been getting antsy. Now I would like to say that I don't just want a promotion/title change just because... but I need more of a challenge. My work has become very routine and that's when I get bored.

I had a formal review today and I asked the VP if we could loop in my Director. She said we could if I wanted to and of course I wanted to. So after the discussion the VP called me into her office and asked if I was ok. I said that I was, but she said that she could sense that something was weighing on me. The thing that was weighing on me was the fact that I'm secretly preparing for business school all the while trying to get ahead in the company. It's tough to answer questions posed like "Where do you see yourself in a year?" or "What do you see your futuring being here?" All I want to say to those questions is... "I see myself in business school." and "Well if all works out as planned I won't be here in the future." But obviously I could not say that.

We talked about career succession and what not within the department and she basically left it up for me to decide. (next week I have to go in to her with an ideal job description of a position that I see myself in.) It was just very tough for me to have this conversation with her because I was holding back this major part of my life and I felt like I was holding back a secret from her. Anyway, I could read her face and I could tell that she was frustrated because I couldn't convey what I really wanted. As I went back to my desk I was very very torn with how to proceed.

I wanted to tell her about my business school preparation and plans, but of course I didn't want it to hinder any possible promotions. Couple that with knowing that she wants to see everyone succeed and grow. She always says that and I believe it's truly genuine. She knows that some people won't be at the company for the rest of their lives. Heck she won't even be at the company for the rest of her life.

So after my conversation with the VP I went in to speak with my director to see how she approached the situation. She played both sides of the fence which was great. On one hand she said that she understood the position I was in because I couldn't fully articulate my goals with this huge thing lingering in the background. But then she said that if the VP wasn't open to the idea that it could hold me back.

I weighed my options... and about 15 minutes later I walked into the VP's office and asked her if she had about 10 minutes. My heart was pounding incredibly hard and I basically just laid all my cards out on the table. I said that I was planning on going to business school. She surprised me when she said "I know!" I asked how she knew and she said that she could sense it from all of the classes I was taking. Then I said... so with all of the new people starting and old people leaving you're the only one still here from when I started and I would like to know if you would be able to write me a POSITIVE recommendation. She smiled and said "OF COURSE IT WOULD BE POSITIVE... WHY DID YOU EMPHASIS POSITIVE?" I told her that you're supposed to phrase it that way just in case some people say that they wouldn't be comfortable writing a positive one. (Check out the podcasts on MBA Podcaster on itunes - they speak to this).

Long story short - she's all for me getting my MBA. I said that another reason I asked her this soon was because I wasn't sure when she would be going on maternity leave. She said "Richard... even if I was away I would still write the recommendation for you!" It was a great conversation and a large weight was lifted off my shoulders. She's very supportive. I told her that I felt like I needed to tell her this so that she wouldn't think that I was just frustrated, disinterested, and holding back an announcement like "I've got a new job" or something of that nature. When she said earlier "I feel like you're holding something back", that statement weighed heavily on me.

I also explained to her that one reason I was reluctant to say something was because I didn't want her to think that me having these career progression conversations were a direct result of wanting to go to business school.

I know all of this may seem very premature but I feel that it had to be done and I'm lucky that it's out in the open. I don't think this would work in a lot of circumstances and each one is its own individual case, so please don't jump down my throat and say "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT".

I can't believe this post is THIS long... thank you to anyone who made it all the way through...