About turn in my career

Last month, some departments within the company I work with went into a reorganisation exercise. The organisation was a massive one covering all countries where the company operates. Among the positions affected was my position that was merged into another position. The other positions though not affected, were also opened for other applicants.

Everyone affected by the reorganisation was allowed to apply to a maximum of six positions. One would imagine the number of application going through this period and indeed throughout the period of application, the system hosting the application process was down several times due to heavy traffic. The massive application exercise was the first ever happening in the company history within a short period of time and with the highest overall impact.

In the end, withstanding the system downtime, several extended timelines and some delay in communication; I must say the process went very well compared to the stretching demand of the exercise. Those who were successful and unsuccessful were equally given the same priority in communication and treatment.

Unlike most others, I applied to only three positions out of six possible positions. The three positions comprise of

1. The newly created position where my position and another position were merged. - Regional Transactional Services Manager
2. A position that I have not hold before but have some working experience due to some of the roles I held previously – Employee/Industrial Relations Advisor
3. A position that I have hold previously – Contracts/Vendor Manager

The strategy I utilised in applying for the position was to apply for three different possible scenarios (the sequence shows the order of my preference) i.e.

1. Regional Transactional Services Manager – a position that I know how to handle half of the role.
2. Employee/Industrial Relations Advisor – a position that would allow me to venture into a new area for my career development
3. Contracts/Vendor Manager – a position I am familiar with

The unnumbered option that is not listed above is; I will be out of job and I will be made redundant.

All praise to Him, though I have applied only for three positions, I managed to secure the Contracts/Vendor Manager role. I accepted the offer with some mixed feeling as of course I would have been happier to secure either the first or second preference. However the Contracts/Vendor Manager position is as good though it may not be as visible at the forefront of operations as my previous role. We will see how it goes.