OK…it’s official so now I can say it. I’ve been made the Director of Information Systems for the hospital, and it feels good. Damn good. I didn’t actually want it until the director who hired me took a promotion. Why didn’t I want it you ask?

I was coming off 11 months of unemployment, I found a job with great people and I liked the director. I got to wear blue jeans and work four 10-hour days a week. I had no responsibilities above making sure things got turned around in a timely fashion. Having project management, computer, networking and people skills made me rethink this stance when the director got promoted so I applied for the position in January.

After months of interviews, May rolled around and it was decided that being promoted from a tech to the director would upset the apple cart so another candidate was hired. He also had years of experience on me, and I truly thought he was a better candidate anyway. Well, the new director was, um, let’s just say he was a square peg in a round hole and leave it at that.

Fast forward 3 months. The cart has turned over, the wheels rolled off 2 months ago, our apples have worms and the cider we made has turned to vinegar. But this was good for me. I was offered the position this week and the staff took it in stride (relatively speaking), having gone through a rough 3 months already. Had I been put in place immediately after the man who hired me got promoted, I could never have lived up to him in their eyes. Now I just have to be better than a square peg. Don’t get me wrong, I was not offered this position as “second best”, because that would not say much about the judgment of our administration. They are not the type to give a job to “second best” - they want the best. My administration is, in fact, the best group of senior staff with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working. The timing was just not right the first time.

But now it’s my turn. I’m going to show them what this team is actually capable of doing, and it’s going to be fun along the way.

Share This