Loyalty in professional life
"What can you recommend for me this time for three weeks from mid-September?", The customer wants to know in the travel agency. Bettina Pröhl does not need to think twice. She has known the young woman almost since her birth. She used to come with her parents when booking a family vacation and then stayed with the trusted travel agency. "A lot of sunshine, a lot of peace and quiet," she says, the travel agent knows that. The two quickly agree: La Gomera becomes the destination.
Bettina Pröhl, 45, has been working in a travel agency on the outskirts of Hamburg for 17 years and has almost only regular customers. Many come already in the second generation. Owner Ute Grönwoldt, sitting at the desk next door, knows what she has about her employees: "The longer Frau Pröhl is here, the more valuable she becomes to me," says the 51-year-old. She does not need to give instructions to her employee because she is doing the right thing by herself. That's exactly what Bettina Pröhl finds pleasant: working independently and being able to make decisions without asking the boss.
She would not be able to offer a professional CV with many different stages and career jumps if she applied elsewhere. But she does not want that either? She loves her job: "No two days are alike, I do not have to change to keep things exciting." And even after all these years, she still likes to get to work every day. So why should she look for something new? Hamburg career counselor Doris Hartmann finds a good point: "If you need, be challenged and valued at your workplace, you can stay there."
In professional life, loyalty now has a bad image
However, this loyalty today has a bad image. "And then I got another great offer from the competition, spontaneously said yes, and two weeks later I was gone," sounds just more exciting than "I'm still there, where I've learned the job is just right for me, and I want to stay there too ". Company anniversaries used to be a reason to celebrate. Today, more and more employers are saving buffets, bouquets and gratuities, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported recently? And many employees are just right: "They do not want to hang on the big bell that they have not made the jump for 25 years," it says in the article.
A new job can be as exciting as a new love. One reinvents oneself, shows oneself from the best side, does many things differently than before, learns to do so. And that makes it more versatile and interesting. That's why some career counselors recommend changing employers whenever possible, especially at the beginning of working life. But that does not mean taking root anywhere. Always on the take-off, when familiarity arises. Never to be able to say: "What have we done with each other, remember?" And: Anyone who always starts from scratch again and again with the same problem around: to make the beginning and learn new rules of the game.
Loyalty alone is not enough in professional life - you have to develop further
Which topics are included in the Tuesday meeting and which are on Thursdays on the agenda. Which customer may also pay a bit later and who gets a reminder immediately. When to call the computer technician to help and in which cases it says: "That's what we always do here ourselves." Who knows his "shop" for years, does not need to think about something like that anymore? and has a head free for what really matters: the job.
Always a new job, that's how to be in love forever? exhausting!
Fidelity alone is not enough, being attractive and interesting is important. To develop like lovers in a long lasting relationship. For example, Bettina Pröhl thinks like a leader without being "what brings the office forward, how can we increase sales?" Not only because she knows that many jobs in travel agencies are at risk, she says, "I want to stay here." She identifies with what she does. She has a bond of trust with her boss, even if the two women are victorious. They share memories: Ute Grönwoldt saw Bettina Pröhl's children grow up, Bettina Pröhl saw Ute Grönwoldt open a second office? and later sold again. Everyone knows that they can rely on each other 100 percent. Bettina Pröhl means a lot.
But where is the challenge? Will Bettina Pröhl not regret having dared so little in her professional life in 20, 30 years? "I do not believe that," she says. "I'm more of a loyal guy, also in my job.And changed enough for me, even without a job change. "Who is still working exactly as taught in his profession ten or 15 years ago? When Bettina Pröhl began her training, she did not even suspect what a computer Today, she uses several daily programs that are constantly updated, and she likes the "lifelong learning" that is demanded in the job market, so she has been familiar with the online travel market right from the start, and she always wants to have a convincing offer ready when they hear from a customer: "On the Internet, it's all a lot cheaper!"
Go or stay, change or permanence? which way is the better, that is above all a type question, says the expert Doris Hartmann. "Some people find it horrible to always be in the same place, but significantly more people like safety, they want to know what to expect." You can stay curious and learn in a familiar environment.
For Bettina Pröhl her job is still exciting today, after so many years. She enjoys the tingling sensation when a new customer comes in. What does he want? With the Intercity to Dortmund? Four weeks to New Zealand? Or maybe just a few catalogs?
Anyone who feels like being in the wrong movie in their professional life needs a change of scenery
Bettina Pröhl likes her work, feels well cared for there? and it never gets boring.
To like his work, to feel in good hands among colleagues, to the superiors, which helps to make everyday life interesting again and again, even without major changes. And if that is not the case? If someone feels "like in the wrong movie" at work, whether after two weeks or after 20 years? And if thinking, sleeping and talking does not change this feeling? Then Doris Hartmann advises: "One should leave an unloved place in time." Anyone who only stays because he sees no alternative, is in danger, not to develop further, to remain technically, in the long term even possibly to lose qualifications. Then it says: get out of the waiting loop without a goal and apply elsewhere? no matter how well paid or secure the previous job was.
And no matter if it was the dream job. Some eventually grow out of their workplace, like children from their pants and clothes. Suddenly it pinches and pinches everywhere. Because you've gotten older and more experienced and what used to be one, now one size is too small. "Especially between 40 and 50, many women feel that far-reaching decisions are still needed," says Doris Hartmann. To put on an additional qualification, to specialize further, then perhaps to do something completely different? Bettina Pröhl has decided against it: "In my current job I can sell trips every day and that's what I like to do for my life."
