FROM SQUARE PEG TO SOLUTION.

So I think before we met, I had a couple of issues that I was grappling with. One, I have a very diverse work history across a number of industries, about 20 years. And sometimes that diverse history can be problematic as you're looking to pivot or look for new roles. You're trying to figure out where you stand in the market, who you are, what you want, that sort of thing.

We're often told that if you are one of these people, you don't fit in anywhere, or it's hard for employers to see where you fit and know that they want you.

I went to a recruiter once a long time ago and I just like dumped my resume. And I was like, I have a little bit help me. What do I do with all of this?

I know when you have all this broad experience, it's overwhelming when you don't know where you fit in the market. So what were some of the biggest shifts that you made to be able to break through that?

I think the biggest shift was that I was asking the wrong questions. It was like, I was in the wrong meeting, right? I was looking for roles saying, where do I fit square peg and round hole? Like who wants me? And those were the wrong questions to be asking.

The huge shift came as I was having more conversations with folks and saying, my diverse history means I have a diverse array of perspectives across a number of industries. How can I help you? What do you need? That's keeping you up at night that I can help you solve. And that shifted and changed the dynamic in all of my conversations, in all of my interviews... you could see folks shift their thinking of like, let me ask this person these questions and get to know them too. Like, oh, wow, you could actually help me. Let's really chat now.

This role wouldn't have, you wouldn't have gotten it if you went through a conventional job search, needing to know what the title was. The role was creative for you, right?

That's correct. I was having conversations about a totally different role. And by changing the dynamic of those conversations and asking more questions about what their needs were and how I could possibly help, that escalated quickly to a role that was created for me.

I started asking myself, not where I wanted to work and what job I wanted to have, but what problems I wanted to solve. Who were the people I wanted to work with? Who are the people I wanted to help?

I think I'm celebrating finally the validation that all of those years weren't job hopping. They were preparing me for a role where I could pull from so many different experiences. I finally feel that I can just be myself. It feels like I can just show up as me.

There was a lot of work in the backend of self-reflection of what my value was, exploration of the problems that I wanted to solve. I wasn't going to ask myself those questions. It took you on the outside to challenge me to ask those questions. So I think the biggest advice is to look for folks like you and start building that little village of support for yourself, the people that are going to boost you, lift you, challenge you to reach for that next role.