Down but not Out. Amazon Cuts Short a Dream Job of The Former Unga Group ICT Manager.
Change is inevitable. Growth is optional, is a common quote attributed to John Maxwell, the author of the book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which seems to be well placed to expound all that surrounds human life. Imagine the excitement that comes with an offer to work abroad with not just any other company, but one of the top tech giants such as amazon? This, like any life changing opportunities, will be marred with changes that are bound to either break or build a life to unimaginable status. When you have a family and other dependents, the case is always different.
The kind of preparation involved in the process of transferring from one country to another for a family man is hectic. It involves and not limited to family document verification, Police clearance, new passports, EU work authorization approvals in Europe, notarization and attestation of documents. With bureaucracy in both countries, it’s a big problem and time consuming for sure. Imagine, after all the months of preparation a few days to your travel along with your family you receive a regret email that the job is no longer available, because the company has decided to cut down jobs worldwide. The pain, frustration and confusion is beyond any heartbreak.
That is exactly what 2021 CIO winner and former UNGA Group ICT manager Tom Mboya Opiyo went through last week. The ICT professional had received an offer to work for Amazon in Luxembourg. He did all he could within his means to resign, hand over his job, and transfer his family abroad where he has secured a plum job offer. Little did he know what the fate had in store for him. Hell is broke loose at unprecedented pace to shatter his dream, efforts and profession within a blink of an eye.
A few hours before departure, after six months of preparations, he learned that this job was no longer available. In his LinkedIn heartbreaking post he cited the e-commerce giant recently decided to cut 18,000 jobs worldwide. The dream of this ICT specialist at Amazon just vanished like that.
But then again the humble and generous man did not shy away but decided to share the following lessons to help those who are taking global appointments to know about the risks so as to take certain mitigations like;
Going ahead and family coming later. Basically, don’t put all your eggs in one basket - something we learnt long time ago. Don’t resign until you get the visa and for the family members - the process has taken us over five months – this meant five months without a constant stream of income. For me, I didn’t expect to be in this kind of situation at this stage in my career but that’s what life is about. “Some have to experience certain situations so as to be an example to others.” He wrote. Down but not out. Certainly it is a bad experience that no one would wish for but we are hoping Tom Opiyo will get something better pretty soon.