Introduce Yourself

When you are in a social setting. How do you introduce yourself? I imagine you say your name. What is the next question? Come on, you know this. You are asked where you work. This is why it is so hard for people to be out of work. Even when someone is unemployed because of restructuring or a company going out of business, it is embarassing to be without that identity. We talk about wanting a life and that we are more than our 9-5, yet we let our job be a major driver of our identity. One of many epiphanies that have failed to sink in appropriately for me. We often fail to take our own advice. I found some notes where I reminded myself to keep in touch with the world. Interesting considering where my head has been for the past two months. That little thought prompted a question. To what are we sacrificing ourselves? There are great stories of love and giving everything for a true belief. Short of running your dream company at a high level of success, your job is not a noble thing to give your health, happiness and life to support. In HR, we are on the front line of providing life altering messages to people. We offer jobs and promotions. We also turn down candidates and preside over terminations. The need to manage our conscience allows us to believe that it is just business. This isn't personal. Bull*%$#! It is definitely personal for the person receiving the news and it weighs on us. If the non-HR readers think we haven't been on the receiving end, they are wrong. Personal experience has included reinterviewing for my job twice, getting struture out once and being on administrative leave awaiting a verdict. As I sit here, I'm asking a question. Who will be there for us when it is all just business, but our needs aren't? Introduce yourself to nice people that want to eat hotdogs with you on your deck and don't care where you work. Introduce yourself to people in need that you can help. Introduce yourself to the people that live in your house and call you family. Introduce yourself to the family that doesn't live in your house. Join a group that does something you truly enjoy and identify with it. Then you have an answer to the question, "who will be there".