I can’t believe what just happened

People, you’ve been warned: rant mode is ON today!

But all kidding aside: I am seriously in disbelief over what just happened.

I am a part of a FB group where a woman asked for advice on how to get a job in another industry than the one she had been trained in. The vast majority of the responses were along the lines of “just accept that you’re going to have to start at the bottom again, if you’re lucky enough that they’ll take you on”.

As you probably know by now, this is complete and utter nonsense. You have learned a ton of transferable skills that will propel you to success in your new chosen field. Your different background will actually help you do great: you see things from a different perspective, you bring a different angle, you have experience that adds to the depth of your understanding of this new gig.

So I posted an answer to her query along those lines, and got a lot of responses. Some applauded this positive view, most disagreed with me. It was irresponsible of me to make someone think it was possible to drastically change your career without a negative impact, apparently.

And within hours… my comment got taken down!

I laughed at first. To just shut the whole thing down because you don’t agree with it just seems… silly.

But then I got angry.

By taking down this view point that called out the bullshit that keeps women in shitty jobs and unhappy careers that are not aligned with their true calling and the vision they hold for their careers and lives… Seriously, we’re hurting ourselves.

Since when is it better to pat someone on the back and say “Poor you, indeed life’s very hard and you’ll never get out of your stuck ness” instead of showing them something CAN be done? Call me old school, but perpetuating victim-mode has never helped anyone.

Change is difficult, for sure, and telling people change is possible may induce some fears in those people about getting outside their comfort zone. But can we all agree that that’s where the magic is? Or at the very least that it’s much preferable over staying stuck in a career you don’t love? Life’s too short to be doing work you don’t love, peeps!

Okay, rant over.

(And just in case it wasn’t clear yet: when I said changing industries, fields, jobs, countries does NOT have to mean starting at the bottom again, I meant it. I have changed continent, industry and role, going UP the career ladder and increasing my salary by 35% all in ONE AND THE SAME MOVE. And that isn’t iust some freak success: I have taught many women in my WIN program to do exactly the same thing.

You need to make the mindset shifts to understand your worth and the tools to communicate it, and then you’re golden. If you want to discuss if I can help you do the same thing, book your complimentary coaching call here: www.womeninnegotiation.org/apply

This is a rerun of a post I wrote two years ago, but since this week something very similar happened to me (getting criticised for sharing advice that apparently was too ambitious, “setting them up for disappointment” – SIGH) I thought I’d share again.