Today at work I start in a new position on a team I had previously worked with a few years back. So my new boss is actually someone I had worked under once before.
I’ve had this happen a few times in my career. In fact the manager of the team I just left had briefly been my manager on another project about 10 years ago.
Have you ever wound up working for someone you had worked for before, and how did it work out for you?
Twice. Once in a good way and once in a VERY bad way.
Was in a regional division, became the finance lead for that division, reported to the divisional VP for a couple of years. This was the highest Finance position in “the field” so eventually I relocated and took a lateral to an HQ position. Couple of years and a promotion (for me) later, my old Division boss was promoted to SVP of some function in corporate and needed to build a Finance team. I took a lateral into his new organization because it involved Vendor Management something that was more interesting to me than budgeting and reporting. This turned out to be great for my career.
Another situation:
New boss was a complete A-hole. An HR and Legal nightmare. Tried to bonk several women in the office, including unfortunately my secretary, who even more unfortunately, was all in favor of advancing her career vertically by assuming a horizontal position. To put it mildly, this made my managerial position extremely awkward both with regard to her and my other direct reports. Finally was able to get the boss fired for defrauding the company and customers. He goes to work for a competitor and six months later we are acquired by that competitor and this A-hole is my boss again! “Awkward” doesn’t begin to cover this situation. Fortunately or unfortunately the acquiring company turned out to be a gigantic fraud itself and collapsed within a few months, leaving almost all of us unemployed.
I am definitely looking forward to working for my old boss again. Luckily I’ve had more good bosses than bad, and my new/old boss is one of the best.