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| Red and Navy Plaid Coat L.A.M.B. | White Cut-out Blouse Kut from the Kloth | Black Midi Pencil Skirt Escada | Black Elissa Cedar Bag Kate Spade New York | Call Me Necklace Kate Spade New York | Navy and Black Leather Wrap Tassel Bracelets E.Kammeyer Accessories | Red Suede Heels Diane von Furstenberg | Le Rouge Carmin Escarpin 305 Givenchy (here) | |
Towards the middle of May, I was serving Jury Duty and interviewed for a new position on campus. I landed an event and communication specialist role and gave my two-week notice at the office I had been working at for over 9 years and transitioned to the new office amidst planning for a wedding.
To say it was stressful would be an understatement.
I had been looking to find a role that I felt could give me more creative freedom than what I currently had and honestly, I needed a pay increase. The work I was doing was no longer fulfilling and I was doing what I could to change that. I took marketing classes through UC Extension and focusing my attention on planning our wedding reception back in June.
Despite not being fulfilled with the work I did, deciding to leave my department was not easy. I started working with UC Berkeley’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) as a work-study student. I got the job through a referral and had an insanely easy interview. Since October 2009, I got to know all the people that made up the department as I worked as a front desk assistant, receptionist, and project & communication coordinator. I developed a strong fondness of this group of amazing and dedicated staff members and came to know them as my second family as I navigated living alone in the Bay Area. (Armando and my sister lived with me at some points, but consistently I had a lot of time on my own up here.)
I worked hard in my role and felt like a valuable team member in most groups I participated. It’s complicated to explain, but despite feeling like I had a second family established, it lowered my moral knowing I wasn’t making what I knew I was worth based on my experience and length of service. There were other issues, like with any work environment, but it came down to deciding to leave was the only way to really move up within the campus.
I felt a lot of anxiety leaving something so familiar and really I knew when it came to a working environment. I stayed so long in my old role because most days I looked forward to working with specific people, or I knew I would be catching up on stuff with genuine friends I’ve made. I knew I was doing the right thing for myself by moving on, but on my last day in the office, it was hard walking into my undecorated, empty cubicle. My stomach was in knots when I transitioned my work and when I returned my office keys. After getting home after attending a happy hour celebration in, I read a card my office signed for me in our studio apartment and burst into tears.
It’s been 6 months since I’ve left the EH&S department and teams. In some ways, it doesn’t feel like much has changed. I see a lot of the people I used to work with since Armando worked in the same department and I am still on campus. Other times, I recognize what I had was a good thing when it comes to a welcoming work environment. I felt I was most myself there and now I am figuring out how to reinvent myself in a not surprisingly different environment as a more independent worker. I am still adjusting to life after EH&S, but I am really grateful to have had such a good foundation to start off with and for working with some incredible people that I can call close friends.