A Big Career Change ★
Today I made an important decision to rebalance my life and change jobs.
I genuinely enjoy the work I’ve been doing over the last few years in banking, but it’s become clear to me that overall I wasn’t really in balance. All my recent employers have had generous flexible work options, but I’ve still needed to do long commutes, long hours, and lots of travel, which means lots of time away from home. I haven’t been around my family as much as I need to be. Yesterday I got the opportunity to change that, and I’ve grabbed onto it.
I’ve been actively searching for a new role for a few months now, and I’ve interviewed for a couple of internal roles at the bank. About a month ago another role came up in a totally unexpected place, and yesterday after interviewing it was offered to me: I’m going to be the Business Manager at the school my kids attend!
This is a role I would never have normally considered, but after a lot of reflection and some great coaching from friends and family (thank you!) I think it’s exactly the right place to be. This is a sharp right turn for my career that I didn’t expect, but this is entirely about what is most important to me: my family.
I’ve been very involved with the school over the last four years on the school council, so I know the people and the history of the school very well. I’m super excited to be able to get in and take a more active role in moving the school forward: we’ve made some amazing progress over the last few years and I can’t wait to get in there and contribute. It’s a fantastic group of people and I couldn’t be more pleased to be joining their team.
It’s going to take some readjustment though. I feel privileged that we’re in the position overall where I can make the choice to trade in a high-paid, busy bank job for a more modest but far more engaging local school position, but there are lots of other differences, and I’m excited about all of them:
| Bank Job | School Job | |
|---|---|---|
| Commute | Roughly 2 - 2.5 hours per day of either driving on the Monash, or driving and then a PTV train ride. | A total of 688 steps door-to-door (I counted with my FitBit) and about 5 minutes of walking each way. |
| Morning Routine | I leave for work before my kids get out of bed and sneak out of the house. | I can have breakfast with my wife & the kids every day, and walk to school with them. ❤️ |
| Evening Routine | I get home in time for dinner (if I'm lucky) and hopefully in time to say goodnight to the kids before they go to sleep. | I can walk the kids home each day, be a part of their day, make dinner and be properly connected with the whole family. |
| Holidays | Four weeks of leave | School Holidays! We're going to do so many fun projects together! |
| Work Environment | Fully flexible working (hot desking) in a modern building in the Docklands wind tunnel. | For the first time ever in my career I'll have an office with a _door!_ Honestly that just feels weird. |
I’m excited about the opportunity to make a positive choice to rebalance my life – not only will I be able to spend significantly more time with my family, I will have the time I need in my day to look after myself both physically and mentally. It’s been too easy to let that slip.
I’m so pleased that this unexpected opportunity fell into my lap, and I’m so proud to be able to announce that I’m prioritising my family, the most important part of my life.
