I was 22-years-old when I first took a job for a government institution. My job description was Information Officer (IO) of a Local Government Unit (LGU). In the real world, however, your job description or title does not include the boundaries of your responsibilities. Thus, aside from being an IO, I was also an executive assistant to the chief executive officer, special projects coordinator, in-charge of my boss’ personal correspondence, speech maker, and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

I didn’t mind a multi-tasked job however because I was working with a brilliant boss. He ran a government agency using a management style employed by private institutions. He was fast and efficient and demands the same level of work performance from his staff. Everyday was a learning experience.

After a year and three months of working for him some personal differences got in the way. I called it quits but before my resignation took effect we talked – we discussed about my issues and his issues. It was a very honest dialogue between a boss and a subordinate, it didn’t change my decision of quitting though but it resolved a lot of issues that made me quit. It also patched my professional relationship with him.

He told me that I was good at what I was doing but I needed to grow and learn to work within an organization. He also left me the lesson to “never burn any bridge.” Meaning that if you have to take an exit in any company or institution try as you can to make a graceful one because you’ll never know when you will need to go back and ask for help from any person you’ve worked with. He said that the world of professionals is not that big, sooner or later you will cross paths with people (superiors or subordinates) that you’ve worked previously with. Lastly, he said that the ability to practice the lesson is a sign of professional maturity.

I have worked with a lot of companies/institutions hence and experienced the benefits of never burning a bridge. It gave me a way to go back and mingle with my previous employers and fellow employees, it also put a proper and graceful closure in all the exits I made, and gave me a light heart to move on to the next venture (I have been to six and counting!).

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