The beginning

How did it al start ? Once upon a time....It sounds like the start of a fairytale and in a way it was.  Having obtained a bachelor degree in tourism (what's in a name ?), I found a temporary secretarial job in a Casino in December 1977.  A couple of months later in March 1978, the company I had worked for the previous summer as a trainee, contacted me and offered me a job. I didn' have to think about it.   It was a 'young' company.  The Belgian branch was founded 5 years earlier and all my colleagues were in their early twenties like myself.  My boss was only 31. At the time, it being my 2nd job only, I didn't really think about it, but I couldn't have found a better working environment for myself.  The sprit of the 60ties, 1968 being a very special year, definitely determined the atmosphere of my workplace.  I was not aware of it back then as I was only 11 years in 1968 and just a child.  Business was booming, everybody worked with a lot of enthusiasm, and the management was always looking for ways to improve things.  All the years that I worked there, the company kept expanding. The international contacts with customers all over Europe and our colleagues in the Netherlands and UK, that became friends over the years, made it a bit exotic to  work there.  It was only after the takeover 20 years later that I fully realised that the corporate culture is not only a determinating factor for the atmosphere in the work environment but also for the type of people working there. A company that allows its employees to use and further develop their talents and allows them to participate can only benefit from this.  When asked about the things that are important for me in a job, I always reply that obviously the job content is important but also the company culture. I have to feel that my working there has an impact.  I always get a lot of nods with this remark. But for me it is difficult to get a feeling of the company culture in a job interview. Noboby would say that the company they work for has poor communication internally aswell as externally, or isn't open to new ideas, doesn"t value input from its coworkers or doesn"t see flexibility of the organization as an asset . I know from experience that I could not thrive in a strict "stick to the rules and do as you're told and don't think about things that do not concern you" type of  organization.  It is also very important to have the right person in the right spot. But most reorganizations don"t take this obvouis statement into account. It was this type of major reorganization that forced me to find a new job after 25 years. To be honest, after the takeover in 1997 it was a different company anyway and already I felt out of place. So in 2003 I had to start a new career, a new "challenge", as people usually call it when they want to put it nicely.  And I admit, it sounds good.  Or doesn't it ?