Changing Jobs And Keeping In Touch

As I have recently switched employers in my career, I have wrote about the negative aspects of working at my old company as it pertains to my life and at the current stage of my career. Switching employers is currently looking like a good move for me, but that is not to say that I miss certain things about my old company. I want to talk about the biggest challenge that I am going to face about leaving my old company.

Despite everything that I have said about my old company in my other post, working at my old company was a significant part of my life. I have worked at my old company for over five years, and I have gotten to know some amazing people over that time. Some of these people have even become good friends of mine, and we would go out to lunch or go out in the evening or the weekend to have some fun. The challenge that I am going to have is how I am going to keep in contact with the friends I have made at my old company.

There are two reasons why keeping in contact with my old friends is so important to me right now. Here is the first reason: At my new employer, I am working from home. It is great in the sense that I do not have to waste any time commuting to and from work. However, I would have liked to commute to the office so I could meet my new co-workers and build that important rapport and chemistry with them. With working from home, there are efforts to communicate through a daily department Zoom meeting and a weekly company Zoom meeting, but virtual meetings cannot replace real in-person interaction.

The second reason is obvious. There has been a resurgence in new cases of COVID-19, and I will not be surprised if our provincial and federal governments will announce restrictions that will make it difficult for people to go out with other people and enjoy themselves. It is best for our local communities, though.

The last time where I felt a great pain in leaving somewhere and leaving friends of mine was when I graduated from university. I tried to keep in contact with many of my university friends, but all of our lives went in different directions, and it will be nearly impossible to plan some kind of university reunion. I feel like with my friends at my old company, there is already a solid establishment of our lives, and so I believe it will be easier to keep in contact with those friends.

I feel like isolation and depression are creeping back into my life, and I do not want to go through something like that again. If I keep myself as socially active as possible, then I can have something to fight those feelings. Yes, my new job is a brand new opportunity for myself, but I cannot forget the friends I have made while at my old job.