I Thought My Career Was Over

Dear Liz,

I didn’t go to college after high school. My dad worked for the big company in our town, and he helped me get a job there. I started working in 1979 and I had that job for over 30 years.

I did well in the company. I managed about 40 people. It was a great job, but you could tell that the company was slowly dying. My wife used to tell me “Chuck, you need to be ready to make a change” but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

I got laid off. Like I said, I had no college background so it was hard to get another white-collar job. I got a retail job and figured I would keep it for a few months, but I couldn’t get interviews anywhere else.

Even when I got promoted to manage the retail store, I was still nervous. I was learning about half of what I used to get paid in my corporate job. The retail store wasn’t doing so great, either.

I thought my career was over.

The financial hit was very difficult of course, but the hit to my self-esteem was much worse. All of a sudden, everything I had accomplished in 30 years on the job seems like ashes. It seems like nothing. I thought my old company must have made a mistake promoting me and trusting me, because obviously I’m useless. These are the actual thoughts that were running through my head all day.

I didn’t know about you. I didn’t have a LinkedIn profile. My wife and I looked into selling our home and relocating, but to wear? Where could I go and get a good job and still afford the cost of living?

My wife’s sister was also jobhunting, but she wasn’t nearly as panicked about her situation as I was. My wife push me to have coffee with my own sister in law, which seemed really weird until we did it. The minute we sat down in the coffee shop, she said “I was like you, Chuck. I was beside myself. I thought no one would ever want to hire me again.”

She pulled up one of your stories on her phone and showed it to me. I don’t remember which story it was but it seems like you knew my exact situation. She said, “The working world is changing, Chuck.”

My sister-in-law pointed out that because I felt like a dinosaur, left over from a different era, I didn’t have my usual confidence in my job search. That was definitely true!

She talked about happy things I had never thought about before, like the process of reinvention and how hard it is to step out of one identity and into another. I have to say I gained a new respect for my sister-in-law that day. I always knew she was a good mom and a great sister and daughter, but that day I realize she is also a savvy business person who knows how to take care of herself. She knew it better than I did.

I started following Human Workplace and reading your stuff, and it totally changed my outlook.

Now I realize I was experiencing a Mojo Drop. Now I understand it’s normal when you’re going through massive changes like I was. I realized I had some work to do to figure out what I wanted to do next career wise, rather than just wandering around hoping someone would take pity on me and hire me into a great job.

Now I have hope that there’s a second chapter for me and then after that, a3 and a fourth. I know I’m smart. I know I’m a good manager. I also realize that jobhunting will destroy your self-esteem unless you have your own support system and continually work on your mojo supply, which I’m doing. I joined a gym for the first time. I play basketball almost every day.

Now I see a path forward that I didn’t see before. I realize that I was asleep on my career, and I’m not the only person in that boat. It’s easy to fall asleep when things are going well. Now I’m awake. I am excited about the future. I couldn’t say that a year ago!

Thanks for everything you do, Liz. Thanks for giving me my mojo back and reminding me that getting laid off doesn’t mean my career is over. I’m not anywhere close to being done!

Warmly,

Chuck

Dear Chuck,

Thank you so much for writing. It’s wonderful to hear how you’ve turned a corner. I hope you know your muscles are getting bigger every day – even the days you don’t play basketball.

We are all learning to navigate in this new millennium workplace. We are all stepping through fear together. We are all overcoming our early training, the training that taught us to take whatever job we can get and be happy with it. Now we are entrepreneurs! We are realizing that we have more to offer, and making it our goal to find people who need our help and resonate at the same frequency we do.

Hats off to you, Chuck, and huge thanks to your amazing sister in law! Please give her my best and thank her for me. She lit the match and now you are growing your flame!

All the best,

Liz

Thinking about changing careers?

Our brand new virtual course Roadmap To Your New Career is on sale now! During this limited promotion you can get it at 87% off!

Sign up for the sale here -

https://humanworkplace.com/rtync/su/sign-up