When I hear a job title, I normally think, oh nice, that sounds cool! But actually, I have no idea what that really means or what the day to day job entails. Even when my friends tell me I can never relay to someone else what their job is. Each person's job is so different and it's hard for others to understand, but I'm going to try to explain it, so you can see a little more about where I'm coming from in my experiences.
My Job Title: Emerging Leader at GEICO
Not your typical job title. It is very vague and implies a work in progress and a future oriented goal, which is to be a leader. My job is a rotational program that's end goal is to develop me into a department manager after three(ish) years. It is very individualized based off of what I need to become a successful leader.
The point of the rotations is to start from the bottom and work your way up. You need to do the job before you manage the job. I firmly believe in this, as well. To become a respected leader you can't just come in over everyone else who has been doing the job and knows the in and outs of what you are managing. It's important as a leader that you have the technical background too and can relate to and respect the people you are managing.
However, the day-to-day job when starting at the bottom isn't very glamorous. For me, when I started in July it was taking customer service calls. GEICO is a low-cost company that uses that as part of it's competitive advantage and is very strategic in its direct service model. In the business perspective, I think it is very smart but that mean's my office isn’t the place with fancy cubicles and free food and perks all the time. It's quite the opposite, but I respect it and the culture around it is very supportive, fun, hard-work oriented, and merit-based. I identify with these values, which is why I like it. It's important to make sure you identify with the values within your work culture because that builds a foundation for whether or not you like your job overall.
I also like my job because the day-to-day is always temporary because I know I'm on the path to rotate out and with around. Some rotations are longer than others and it's based off my performance, development, and what I need to be successful. Currently, I am shadowing a supervisor to learn how they manage their team, coach other employees, and drive results. I do trend analysis to get to know how the other employees work and help identify behaviors they need to improve.
Sometimes the day to day isn't exciting and I don't feel very satisfied, but overall I know this is really good for me and I enjoy it because it is such a good personal development opportunity. The upper-level managers take time out of their day to sit and ask me what they can do to help me, what I need to be successful, and give me advice and guidance. It pushes me to develop my leadership and professional skills and I love being in a positive, growth-centric work environment. When reflecting back on your job it's important to understand if the company's values and practices relate to your values and ideals, and also if they support you to grow personally to get where you want to be. No job is perfect. My day-to-day isn't glamourous whatsoever, but my long-term is. That's why I'm here and that's why I like my job.
CHEERS, CIERRA