Transitioning into a new field of work (Part II)

After joining FDD, the learning curve was very steep (thanks also to insufficient onboarding in my opinion), and it really rocked my confidence going from an experienced senior to an ignorant new associate. I felt so insecure and it seemed like everyone else could see right through my cluelessness and stupidity. 

Comfort in the midst of Challenges 

On one of my recent projects, I was traumatized by a team manager who was unappreciative, unemphatic and honestly not a very good communicator. Someone had previously shared with me that they did not enjoy working with this manager, and now I know why. Every time he messages you, you brace yourself and know it's going to be something bad. Combined with the many client requests, tight deadlines and messy, outdated data, that project was by far the most stressful and toxic experience in my career. All of this seemed to confirm my insecurities, and I must have cried at least once every week. 

Amazingly, by the grace of God, a senior manager from another office was also assigned to the same project. And based on how the project was divided, I ended up working mostly with this senior manager instead. He was such an understanding, appreciative and supportive manager - a complete contrast to the previous manager I was working with! Although I was slow and made many mistakes in my work (which he had to take the blame for), he was so patient and encouraging, it made a HUGE difference to my emotional and mental health. 

However, there was one other problem. I had to work on sabbath. 

A Push in the Right Direction

At first, I debated whether or not to make up an excuse to skip the client call. But I ended up not saying anything because there was a tight deadline and everyone else was working their butts off. I was upset that I couldn't take a break from my stressful week and rest on the sabbath or take in sermon. But at the same time I apologized to God for not keeping the sabbath in prayer, I also thought to myself: it wasn't my fault, God knows and understands that I didn't have a choice here - it's not like I wanted to work on sabbath. 

But that night I had a horrible dream. I don't remember the exact contents of the dream, but when I woke up from it in the middle of the night, it was super clear to me that I had to email my director/HR to communicate my religious beliefs. 

I had not wanted to do this initially because I was new and was intimidated by the toxic work environment; I didn't have the courage to speak up. I also didn't know how much of a reoccurring thing working on sabbaths would be - perhaps it would only be a one time thing and doesn't warrant such a formal email to HR. 

This dream was a reminder and a much needed push from God. Although I had previously chosen not to reach out to HR and didn't fully understand why God pushed me towards this so apparently, the next morning, I drafted and sent the email to my director and HR. It went something like this:

"Hi [Director name],

I understand you are quite busy with [Project] currently but wanted to communicate my circumstances to you and [HR personnel] sooner rather than later as we work continue to together on [Project] (and other potential future projects). 

As a Christian, it is incredibly important to me to be able to observe the Sabbath day and attend services (albeit virtually now). Many Christians observe this day on Sunday, but my church (https://tjc.org/true-jesus-church/) observes this from Friday night to Saturday night. It is written in the Bible and part of my religious beliefs that I cannot work during this period. 

I know the team has been working very hard for the last week and I want to do everything I could to help out by working yesterday, but going forward I would like to request this flexibility if possible so that I can work around this time between Fri night to Sat night. I am more than willing to work late and make up the hours to do my part, and can work on Saturday nights and Sundays. I do apologize in advance if this causes an inconvenience to the team and really appreciate your understanding.

Please let me know if you'd like to discuss this further. 

Thank you"

Grace Upon Grace

My director responded surprisingly quickly and respectfully. He mentioned that he wished he had known in advance and would have made accommodations for me, and that they had made similar accommodations before for others! I felt relieved and even teared up a bit.

In the months that followed, I ended up working with this director multiple times for other projects, and yes, there were client calls were scheduled on Saturdays (this proved to be a re-occuring theme). But because he was aware of my situation, I was excused from working on Saturdays! Of course, once Saturday evening rolled around, I would open up my laptop again and connect with the rest of my team to see where I can help out. This has worked really well for me so far and I am so thankful that God pushed me to send off that email sooner rather than later and encouraged me to ask for accommodations! I'd imagine it would be much harder to have this conversation later on. 

I also feel that God helped me to improve my work performance after I took this step to keep the sabbath and as I slowly gained more experience. Although there is still a lot for me to learn, I am feeling more confident now and recognize that God is with me. He's been hearing my prayers, guiding me, and providing me comfort/relief. 

As a bonus, it was during this time of self-doubt and transitioning that God put, not one, but two, life coaches in my life. Through S, whom I met via a firm-sponsored opportunity, I learned the difference between growth and fixed mindsets, dealing with different communication styles, and reframing my perspective to be kind to myself for the progress I was making.

All in all, this experience more deeply imprinted within me the need to rely on and look to God for help. And when God helps us, even if we do not understand why He's leading one way or the other, we just have to trust and follow along because it's for the best. 

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

Transitioning into a new field of work (Part I)

Last year (2019) at this time, I was busy auditing away. My audit client was stressful given the acquisition, turnovers, and of course, accounting complications - but at least we got an extension. 

I remember having a career conversation with my career coach (AK) about transferring into another line of service, and sitting at the call room in the client's office talking with my HR manager (D) about my next steps. I was deciding between two lines of service, and was leaning towards one option because it was more closely related to accounting, whereas the second option (FDD) would've been a new field. When I told D that I wanted to transfer into the first line of service, she encouraged me to go for FDD instead of being intimidated. 

That led me to be introduced to some people from that team, and being interviewed in July. And throughout this time, an ex-coworker who had also transferred to the US (AH) reached out to me unexpectedly to share his tips, interview experience and compensation expectations. The timing and how people and things lined up was really amazing. If AH hadn't mentioned this team while we were chatting about something else, and D hadn't encouraged me to go for it, I would not have pursued my top choice or be where I am today. If AK and D hadn't advocated for me to transfer as a senior 3, or if AH did not give me a benchmark expectation for compensation to negotiate for, I would also have been paid 8% less for a whole year! 

I have to admit I hadn't always been fully focused or devoted in my prayers in the last year. But one thing I actually prayed for with more intention was God's guidance with my career/next steps, because I really didn't know what I wanted and what was best for me. There was no longer one set path for me to follow after obtaining my CPA and big four experience, and as my friends were jumping out into industry and other roles, I also wondered whether I should too. 

Someone had long-ago advised me: don't jump ship for the sake of jumping. Jump when I have reason to and a good exit plan, because what I jumped into next would determine the start of my new path, so make sure to jump into a good one. But the time had finally come when I knew that I was no longer learning and did not find the work meaningful/impactful in audit. So even though staying another year would have allowed me to make manager, the title alone wasn't worth my time. I felt that expanding my experience year by year would outweigh the value of a title when looking for my next job anyway. 

Well, things weren't always that clear when I was in the middle of it. Not having clear principles to narrow down my options was semi-paralyzing. It wasn't until after one prayer that it occurred to me to ask myself: with my life ahead of me, what do I actually want to learn next? While I am still young, I can afford taking more risky, adventurous jobs, or even start over to pursue a new career path. 

Knowing myself though, I didn't want my accounting experience to go to waste and preferred to leverage my CPA, so I was reluctant and not ready to fully jump out of my comfort zone. I had always been interested in mergers & acquisitions, and private equity/venture capital, so FDD seemed like a good place to be! Looking back now, I realize God had led me to the make the right choice. It's a much smoother journey to transition internally to another line of service, then externally into industry, than the other way around. Also, this last year was much more chill (given my 45% utilization this fiscal year LOL) compared to my perpetual audit stress in the past; this was much healthier for me and gave me time to work on my personal development/growth. 

So thank God for His guidance, He truly answered my prayers when I put my heart into it! Time and time again He shows His wisdom and foresight, pointing me and leading me to the best direction even though I didn't know where I was heading. I really should seek Him and ask for His guidance more often! :)