During my time in tender management, I discovered that working with people is what I am passionate about. The projects in this department had different teams working together intensively for about two to three weeks at a time. Meaning that it was very challenging to form any sort of bond with each other and develop together, which I think is a shame.

However, through my work I already encountered colleagues from project management quite frequently. I knew that the projects they work on are much lengthier and thus allow more of an opportunity to get to know team members and grow together. I discussed this with my supervisor and HR. Coincidentally, they already thought that I would fit well within the project management department. At the time, they had no idea I had the desire to switch jobs. Somehow, we both had the same idea without knowing it from each other.

The transition from tender management to project management was done in liaison with me. Usually when a switch to another department takes place, there is a transitional period where you are expected to work in both functions. Meaning that I would have done part tender management and part project management. This seemed a bit chaotic to me so I suggested that we set up a hard date for the switch to take place. Meaning that one day I work my last full day in tender management and the next day I would be part of the project management team and not have any tasks left from my previous job. This went by very smoothly and I am glad I did not have to struggle with combining two jobs.