Excited and terrified
Posted: January 30th, 2013, 4:15 pm
I've been passively watching job postings in my field for months. Haven't sent out any resumes for most of that time, but today I saw two postings that I really liked and took a huge, scary step: I asked my direct supervisor and my manager for letters of recommendation.
I'm really excited about these two jobs. I can't quite tell if from the postings if they're exactly my dream job, but it exists within the organization, so my dream job would be a short lateral move away at most. And I totally fit the qualifications they're looking for.
But asking for letters of recommendation from my current place of employment is scary, because I almost feel like I'm effectively saying, "Oh, by the way -- I hate you, I hate this job, and I want to leave."
I know that's not how it works. Bosses get asked to write these things all the time. It's routine. And they know I never planned to stay here forever. But still, the discomfort is there.
I'm really excited about these two jobs. I can't quite tell if from the postings if they're exactly my dream job, but it exists within the organization, so my dream job would be a short lateral move away at most. And I totally fit the qualifications they're looking for.
But asking for letters of recommendation from my current place of employment is scary, because I almost feel like I'm effectively saying, "Oh, by the way -- I hate you, I hate this job, and I want to leave."
I know that's not how it works. Bosses get asked to write these things all the time. It's routine. And they know I never planned to stay here forever. But still, the discomfort is there.
