>When you think back to your younger self and your career dreams, what did you have in mind?

Some of you got that diploma and set off on the career path prescribed to that specific degree. Some of you were like me and never really did anything with your undergraduate degree (any other Music Education majors who never had a teaching job floating around out there?) 

Others may identify with Holly’s* story. 

*Holly's name and image have been changed for anonymity. 

After college, most of her friends moved to the big city and started their corporate career journeys. Holly chose to stay in her college town, however, offering her Marketing degree and all of her skills to a smaller organization. She invested in her community and decided that staying there for a little longer was the way to go. 

While her first job out of college taught her a lot and gave her the opportunity to learn and develop a lot of new skills, it wasn’t long before Holly realized that part of what had led to her decision was fear. 

She wanted to follow the corporate marketing route, but was afraid to dive in. And by the time she realized this, she felt like she had deviated so far from that path that she was somehow behind everyone else her age- professionally and personally. Would she ever be able to get back on track?

Her mental health began to take a dive around this time and she noticed that while her partner was super supportive and tried his best to help, didn’t always know how to help. She found herself saying 

“I’m in such a rut, nobody can help me.” 

Holly started to feel so anxious and depressed that she was losing sleep and found herself distracted while on the job, which majorly affected the quality of her work. 

She began listening to an empowering podcast and decided that something needed to change, even though she wasn’t totally sure yet about what that change needed to be. So she gave herself a few weeks to rest over the holiday season and made a plan to start her job search on January 1. 

There was a meltdown on New Year’s Day, however.

A week later Holly called her mom and confessed that one week into the new year she hadn’t made any progress and couldn’t imagine how she ever would.

Call it coincidence, fate, or serendipity…but I had learned about Holly’s situation just before the new year and asked her for a marketing research interview. We had a great call, but during these calls I don’t really pitch my services. She had already started reaching out to some people for informational interviews and I didn’t yet know the full extent of her job-related misery.

A couple of weeks after the call with her mom, Holly let me know she was ready to hire me as her Career Transformation Coach.

“I was so exhausted from crying all of the time and everyday being Groundhog Day. I finally hit a wall and realized I didn’t want to feel this way tomorrow. So I reached out to you and knowing we were going to talk assured me that I had set myself up for a better future. It got easier after that.” 

Holly came to me already in pursuit of informational interviews and was actively sending in job applications. My coaching clients come to me with different goals, from needing to make a decision about whether they’ll stay at their current job or go, to learning how to have difficult conversations and set boundaries, to polishing up their resume and everything else that goes along with getting a new job. 

When I asked Holly why she chose me, she said she felt very welcomed and not judged.

“I didn’t know what I was feeling and you helped me realize what I wanted to do by asking the right questions.” 

A lot of us have spent significant amounts of time in our life complaining to our friends, our partner, and/or our family about our job. Isn’t that what brunch and bottomless mimosas are for? 

Of course sharing with our people is helpful. But there comes a time when you need a professional who can help you take some action. 

Holly said (and I agree!) that “a lot of times people just like to jump in and give their opinion, or aren’t really listening to you, or tend to follow a script. I felt like we were having a genuine conversation and you were listening to me.” 

These results aren’t typical, but within a month of us working together Holly had accepted a new job that felt more aligned with her career and salary goals, offered her the travel and job description she was missing from the corporate track she dreamed of, and is proving to be a much healthier workplace culture. She came to me already in process of finding something new but swears that working with me sped up her process significantly because we developed such a good relationship from the start. 

My one on one coaching offers between-call support and with that I was able to check in on her often. She asked questions whenever she wanted help prepping for interviews or negotiation emails. Together we overcame the overthinking tendencies that can often wreak havoc on a person’s self-confidence during their job search. 

Most important, in my opinion, we made sure that Holly was her authentic self throughout the entire job search, interview, and hiring process. That enabled her to find a job and team that she fit into from the start. Her confidence has bounced back and she’s communicating healthy boundaries as she learns her job and gets to know her supervisor and co-workers.

And guess what? They love her for it.

So let’s give a big CHEERS to Holly for finding the courage to create a new situation for herself, hire me as a Career Transformation Coach, and then change her life in about three months. 

Wow.

When I asked Holly why she’d recommend someone work with me, she said

“You’re down to earth. You listen and you get it. You felt like a friend that I didn’t have to impress or live up to any sort of expectation. And you know your shit, too.” 

Are you ready to have your own career transformation? 

I’m here to help.

You have a lot of options for how to reach out to me. Read through these and see which one

1) feels less scary and 2) matches your style. 

I can't wait to hear from you!