Madame Executive, you are the Switch!
My client had a wonderful senior management position at a large, prestigious corporation. Great work, great compensation, great colleagues, great relationship with the boss. When the boss retired, however, her world changed. New CEO, new ideas, new staff wanted.
Suddenly, her dream job was gone. What to do?
After working through the normal grieving process (yes, it is like losing a loved one) she began to regain her focus on creating her next career opportunity. She began to believe that she could actually make this happen.
First, she identified what she did not want. Then, she wrote out what was most important to her: meaningful work, an entrepreneurial culture, great colleagues, great compensation package, flexible schedule, short commute.
Wow! Could she really get all of that in this economy?
We worked on her resume, honed her interviewing techniques, and she began to make the rounds.
Nothing was happening. Depression set in.
How many resumes did she have to submit? How many interviews did she have to “suffer through?” Why wasn’t anyone seeing her brilliance? Where were her former colleagues who were now happily re-employed elsewhere? Why weren’t they helping her more? How about her former CEO who had given her all of those glowing performance evaluations? Why wasn’t he doing more?
When would she see the light at the end of this very long, dark tunnel?
Then it hit her.
She was waiting for someone else “to turn on the switch” so she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
She realized that she had to take control of her job search. No one else was going to do it for her. With renewed energy and a single minded focus on creating her ideal work situation, opportunities began to appear.
“Linda, you know that this job search has been a crazy journey of ups and downs, mood swings, and hopes and doubts. What I want to share with others is that they are not alone. There really is a light at the end of the tunnel, you just have to turn on the switch, and you are the switch!”
And so, my client who now has had two terrific job offers and is deciding her next steps, has a lesson for all of us……
We are the switch and it’s up to us to turn on the switch!
– Linda Cassell
