“I’ve always struggled with parsing how others view me, and whether I’m appreciated or valued in a role, etc. I’d been in my role with the employer for about four to five months, and thought I was doing quite well. The response from them seemed to be positive, and I was enjoying the job.
In this company, they used a program that ‘filed’ all communications with clients, so all letters were scanned in, and e-mails were copied in, so you could look through a list of communication history. One of the ‘clients’ on there was the recruitment agency who had placed me, and whilst filing some unrelated communications in there, I saw further down the list an e-mail titled ‘another Rebecca, please’.
Curiosity got the best of me, and feeling a little pleased I clicked on the email.
It read as per the title, ‘Can we have another Rebecca, please? Cheap, hard-working, and no backchat.’
Well, that wasn’t quite the ego boost I was expected. It didn’t make a difference to how I approached the role; it wasn’t really negative, and I was enjoying the role itself.
But, firstly it taught me that nosing doesn’t do any good. And it’s something I’ve kept in the back of my mind since then, particularly when I’m trying to evaluate my role objectively when deciding on career moves. At the end of the day, I’m not naive enough to think that a job role isn’t transactional. You’re there because you’re of use to the company. But I’d like to be able to evaluate whether I’m valued in a role for the quality of the work I can do, or just seen as someone who will put up and shut up without asking for anything in return.”
