Haven’t we worked together?

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you may have worked with me.

You may even have hired me, or we became lifelong friends or were colleagues who barely tolerated one another. I can say all this with complete confidence because I’ve been working full time or part time since about the age of 16.

I was the high school bakery girl who dropped a 25th anniversary cake, that annoying telemarketer who just wanted to ask a few quick questions during your dinner, and the dyslexic bank teller who shorted you $9. Yes, that was me. From the boardroom to the cubicle, they were all me, because I was a serial employee.

There were millions of 1974 college grads looking for work at the same time. Snagging an interview felt like a miracle. I had a memorable first interview at a New York City marketing firm. This launched me to another realm of being and confidence. I would create surveys, impress clients with my data analysis and wow them with psychological insights because I had a college degree in psychology! (Didn’t we all?)

On the day of the interview, I took one step off a bus at the George Washington Bridge terminal in upper Manhattan and immediately lost my way. I ran to a phone booth, stepping in a puddle of urine on the way and wrestled with a behemoth Manhattan phone book to call for directions.

This would not be my first job out of college or my last interview. This was only the beginning of a long trail with no end in sight.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average person changes jobs five to seven times during their working life. Hey, that’s me! Restaurant server, desktop publisher, teacher, editorial assistant and several corporate positions where I could see forever. According to Apollo Technical Talented Solutions, people switch careers for many reasons beyond just securing a better job or higher pay.

Oh, I found myself all right — I was always between hired, unemployed and retired. Only fired once in 50 years because of typos in emails. But they really weren’t dat basd.

Another aspect of serial employment is the “glass ceiling.” This invisible barrier caused me to switch jobs. Being undervalued and paid inequitably catapulted me to do better. One career move garnered me a director’s post with a corner office. Another full-time career change, however, placed me in a cubicle outside a bathroom.

By my late 50s, I hit my stride, crafting seven different résumés. I posted them on Indeed and Monster and created my own website. I could be a teacher, banker, administrator — heck, anything, even a playwright. My play, “The Jobless Chronicle: I’ll Do Anything for a Buck,” was performed in New York. I landed my last full-time job as a college financial aid counselor. Yawn.

Today, there are countless serial employees from the boomer generation. We have seen ourselves coming and going for decades. It’s no longer an anomaly; in fact not changing jobs or careers can be a red flag. A recruiter may question whether a candidate is stagnant, unwilling to learn newer technology, or wonder why they haven’t been promoted after more than eight years at the same company.

There’s something about workplace kinship, celebrating birthdays, holidays and hump days. Going to the same place every day, interacting with a constant cast of characters, is what keeps us sane in an unsteady world. We discover family has less to do with blood lines than with shared confidences and real face time. Over the decades, I have had many tearful good-bye parties and received dozens of cards wishing me the best at my next job. It’s true — you won’t miss the job, just the people.

It was nirvana to be among stacks of books. Too bad it took a lifetime to find my true calling. Which brings me to a quote by Max Ehrmann, author of the 1927 prose poem "Desiderata“: