The unexpected career break

As I was laid off earlier this year, my brain overload spoke louder than the speech I was given. I was thinking about a million different things: the bills, my career, and the holidays I had just booked, to name some.

Taking the risk of sounding like Carry Bradshaw (which feels legit), changing jobs feels like a breakup. The first interview I had right after was at a company whose mission I admire, but I wasn’t ready for it. Our first meeting was like a terrible first date when you can’t stop thinking about your ex, and the person in front of you gives you a condescending look.

Bad timing. Bad market timing.?

Millennials aren’t lucky.

I will never progress in my career.

*Insert worry here*

Time is the only thing you get and need in this situation. Either crying while having ice cream or becoming the next Marie Kondo around the house. And time was indeed a gift.

I was lucky enough to afford to take a break.?I started some postponed plans: studying French, traveling, and dedicating more time to volunteering activities and to the people around me.?Oh, but it was far from idyllic.?All of the above while actively looking for a job, which is time and energy-consuming.

I started by looking for my dream job but, after months, you widen your range of options. Maybe we don’t have to share the same values, or perhaps I can deal with having different schedules, incompatible views…

Carry didn’t settle while looking for “ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other-love” and neither do I.

Although being without a job delays your plans and shifts your priorities, I decided to accept the time it takes to find a meaningful job, and I ended up coping with the career gap.

I won’t list the positive points of a career break I didn’t want.?Making the best out of bad situations isn’t easy, and it’s not the same for everyone.?But I will share some of the reflections I made during this time:

1. Who are you when you are not working? When meeting new people, you often say what you do for a living within the first minutes. How do I introduce myself without saying I am a marketeer? Defining yourself with work out of the equation is a great exercise.
2. Is there anything new you want to do? I wanted to travel somewhere new, and I wasn’t quite feeling my usual social self after the pandemic. I traveled with a group of unknown people to Jordan with?WeRoad?and it was a fantastic experience! I challenged myself, I had fun, I made friends.
3. What do you want to dedicate your time to? Volunteering. Family. Friends. Writing and reading. After the daily morning routine dedicated to the job hunt, I still had time to do what I love. Being present was something I could give while having less.
4. How can I improve myself?I was able to consolidate a yoga and meditation routine. I took online courses that improved my professional profile and saw every interview as an opportunity to learn and understand what the market is looking for.

I didn’t want this career break to happen now. And even if I tried to make the best of it, I won’t say I’m grateful for it.

I am, nevertheless, happy to have reconnected with who I am beyond work, and that is the person I’m sticking to.

Even though things are about to change for me (yey!), I know many people are in the same situation, so I felt like sharing. Owning a career gap is not easy, but we can make it into a story we want to share.

Let me know the challenges and joys you are discovering during this time. Or - fingers crossed - have discovered from your past break.