Just slightly more than a year ago I decided to go to Toronto, Canada to pursue a Graduate Certificate in Technical Communication, as a back-up plan to secure my family’s future. Despite the sacrifices I would have to make, and the uncertainties that would follow, I still wanted to go so that I would not look back one day and wonder “what if”. Well, ironically, now that I’ve returned to Grand Cayman and am job searching, I’m left wondering — what if I never went to Canada and studied Technical Communication? What if my Technical Communication qualification has now set me back with career in advancement in Cayman?
While living in Toronto, I found that employers in the financial services sector were interested in me. Even when interviewing for a technical writer role I was told that my client serving background would give me an advantage. In the end it didn’t, but the bottom line is that my client serving experience was being acknowledged in the context of a technical writer role. I was amazed. If only the reverse could be true in Cayman.
As I prepared to move back to Cayman I wondered if the financial services sector there would find my technical communication background to be of any relevance. I didn’t think so. I contacted a couple recruiters who pretty much made me feel that a technical communication career in Cayman was next to impossible for me; because I didn’t have a computer science degree and I didn’t have the required years of technical writing experience. I tried to express that I wasn’t seeking anything particularly technical that would require me having a computer science degree. Instead, I just wanted a role that would allow me to utilize my ‘documentation’ skill set. I don’t think I was able to get that across to recruiters. Or somehow they just didn’t see me getting any such role. So I wondered, what have I done? Surely I can’t just discard one whole year of technical communication experience from my resume, but if employers don’t care for it in Cayman, then what? Either way, I couldn’t help but wonder what if I had stayed in Cayman? By now I would completed at least one qualifying course toward my ICSA designation in Offshore Finance and Administration.
One day I picked up the newspaper and to my surprise there was a job ad titled “Document Specialist”. I thought no way. Are you kidding me? As I read through the description I saw a need for basic experience with “InDesign” and knowledge of “Styles”. Again, I thought no way this is crazy, I just learnt those in Toronto. As I got down to the salary though I saw where it was way too low for me. Nonetheless, my thoughts were now modified wondering what if my technical communication training and experience are what would now shape my destiny to have a documentation role within the financial services sector? What if the opportunity in fact existed for me to have a role that combined client relations and technical communication? Naw, I didn’t want to get my hopes up at first. But then a few days later I saw a job advertised in the newspaper for a Document Controller/Investment Clerk. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wondered what if there’s hope for me after all. Time will tell. I guess no matter what, I will always be left wondering “what if…”
whatifsometimeslifehappen 