How can I be better?
I watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi. After almost ten years since the last time I watched this movie, I still found it to be a deeply moving piece.
Jiro, now the 95-year-old owner and sushi chef of one of the finest sushi restaurants in the world, is endlessly devoted to his craft. The fish his restaurant uses, the rice they prepare, the vendors he selects, the tools and techniques he utilizes - these are always on his mind. It’s also what he attributes as the secret of success in his life - mastery of his chosen occupation.
I grinned a few times while watching this. I don’t have the number of years that Jiro has toward mastery of my own skill, but I recognize some of his habits and traits in me.
I think about my work all the time. I think about my clients, their goals, and the companies and industries they strive to be a part of. I constantly journal thoughts, ideas, and new job search methods worth exploring. I ask myself, how can I be better? How can I tip the scales in my clients’ favor? Where else could I be digging for answers?
—
I have a feeling that one of the punchlines to Origins of the Modern Career is that careers both emerge and evolve alongside social and cultural change.
Increased education/specialization of the laborer, combined with the formal establishment of key professions in the 19th century (nursing, engineering, pharmacy, social work, etc.), allowed some of the first formal career structures to exist.
It created protection for the worker, protection for the actual profession, and, ultimately, protection for society.
In addition, being in a profession and following a career path gave the worker his own status, power, and prestige. The increased access to education and technology created a positive feedback loop - the easier it became to join a profession, the more that people wanted to be part of professions. Over time, certain patterns and expected experiences within the profession became “known” career structures.
What’s fun is that our understanding of careers during the 1800s and our understanding of careers today can either be wildly different or exactly the same depending on whom you’re talking to. But I’ll save this topic for another email. ;)
My notes on Origins are public, updated in real-time, and they can be found here. Check the left-hand bar for the book title.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Working in public
I consider this Day #1 in what promises to be an enjoyable and fruitful use of my time. Origins of the Modern Career finally arrived in the mail! ;)
Origins is an introduction to the study of careers and their history. It’s broken into three parts: constructing the modern career, the influence of gender, and the influence of industrialization.
I’m going to share what I learn as I go.
—
I think I’m finally ready to put up the new web pages. Right now, you’re only able to see these posts/emails if you visit my website. But soon, I’ll have new offerings listed out. Wherever you’re at in your career journey, you’ll be welcome to plug into the service that feels right for you energetically.
I believe that everybody should be able to have full ownership and control of the direction their career is heading. Everybody should be able to have control over their own destiny.
It’s from this lens that I’ve been writing, building, and creating, getting everything ready you guys. And I’m so excited to share all of it with you.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
I’m laughing
I wasn’t ready to put aside the question, “Do you believe that career change is hard?” So, I put out a poll on LinkedIn and asked you guys for your thoughts and insights.
I’m laughing because, in just two days, almost 4,000 people have stared at the post long enough for LinkedIn to register it as a view. I also have over 50 votes with a handful of comments captured below the poll.
By now, I’m sure that you guys know how much I enjoy the deeper, complex questions of life. I love to chew on them, journal on them, and think about why everything comes together the way that it does.
Yet, somehow, “career change is hard” is the topic that’s getting the engagement at this time. ;)
One reason why I’m fascinated by this is my personal belief that the word “hard” exists like a curse. We hear the word hard, and it’s like a barrier is immediately erected, preventing us from going anywhere near the topic it’s describing.
I like describing things like career change as challenging, difficult, intriguing, fascinating, and worth pursuing if we’re called to make it happen. It also helps me form better thoughts around the topic since I’m instructing my brain to start thinking about solutions.
I wonder, who are the people who think that career change is hard? What is their story, history, background, and belief system? Have they ever thought about making a career change, or possibly attempted a career change in the past? Did they form this belief through their upbringing, maybe hearing from their parents or caregivers that they should stay in their lane, pick something and stick with it, the grass is always greener?
There’s also a part of me that has zero interest in even touching this topic beyond asking this question. ;) That’s because I’m personally not in the business of convincing people that they need to change the way they think, especially if they aren’t internally motivated to take that step.
Maybe this was just a fun question or a fun moment in time that I got to explore. :) But maybe I’ll come back to this topic someday, we’ll see.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
When a career change isn’t the answer
I was working with a client who was interested in a career change. She was the wife of a former classmate of mine, and through his very kind introduction, we got together on a Zoom call.
She didn’t have a strong idea of the specifics behind what she wanted to do next in her career. But the idea of leaving her current job had persisted for so long that she felt she could no longer ignore it.
Initially, we talked about the changes taking place in the travel industry, particularly during COVID-19. She enjoyed her work and the impact that she was making, but two issues kept coming up. She didn’t know how long her job was going to be there. She also wasn’t making the paycheck that she was hoping to make.
We talked for a long time. I try to keep my calls under an hour, but there was something about our conversation that made me hesitate to end it. Everything she was telling me sounded perfectly logical. But I felt there was another aspect to her situation that we weren’t covering.
Finally, I started to see where the real problem might be. I said, “This next question might come across as a bit left-field. But do you feel like you’re making the same financial contribution as your husband? Do you feel like an equal contributor to your partner in your household’s finances?”
She shook her head, “No, I don’t.”
”Is it important for you to feel like you’re pulling your weight financially in the relationship?”
”Yes. I think about it all the time. My husband works so hard for us. I feel like I’m not doing enough.”
Our conversation traveled down a different path from this point. We briefly touched on credit card debt. We talked about what it might look like if she stayed in her profession and who she could go to for mentorship within the travel industry.
For this person, a career change might still be something she’ll want to pursue. She could start the process years from now. She could start as soon as today.
But when she does decide to take that step, she’ll now have a greater insight into where she is and who she ultimately wants to be.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Announcement: Office Hours
For the month of April, I will be holding office hours from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT on the following dates:
07-April
14-April
21-April
28-April
The rules are easy: send me your questions ahead of time using LinkedIn Messaging. Then join me in Google Meet (meet.google.com/apd-vssr-jsk) where we’ll cover as many questions as we can.
You can ask me anything within reason, but this would be a great opportunity to discuss your: resume, cover letter, LinkedIn page, job search plans, promotion opportunity, salary negotiation, getting in front of recruiters, etc.
If there are questions we can’t get to, I’ll cover them in an email to my list.
Two quick things to consider before joining me for office hours:
1. I can’t ensure anonymity during office hours.
2. If discretion is important to you, it may be better to schedule a private career coaching session with me. (More details on these sessions coming soon.)
Let me know if you have any questions.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
At the core of it all
I’ve been reflecting on some of the reasons why I’m doing the work that I’m doing. At the core of it all, I want every working professional to know, in their heart, that if they ever want to make a change in their career, they can do it. And not only can they do it, but that if they choose to make the leap, they’re going to be just fine.
Career changes can feel risky, and they can feel scary, and it can often feel like we’re our only advocate as we search for jobs and build our networks and fill out application after application.
But we can do it. It’s difficult to do, and it will take time to see the results we want, but we can make it happen.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Boundaries
You’ve seen me write about various topics worth reflecting on before beginning a job search:
- Risk (what I also like to affectionately refer to as Recklessness)
- Service
- Sacrifice
- Dignity
- and the latest, Boundaries
It’s amazing what moving to a new place can do for the mind. I sat down to dig into some of my notes from past client work. I’ve looked through these hundreds of times, but one theme leaped off the pages in a way that I’d never noticed before.
Boundaries being violated. Boundaries being nonexistent. With some clients, there were personal boundaries that had been in place before joining a new company or taking on a new assignment or promotion. But a new supervisor, or a new team, or a new set of circumstances tested those boundaries in such a way that they ultimately fell apart.
What are your boundaries? Are your boundaries respected by your supervisor, colleagues, and clients? Do you respect your own boundaries?
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Heading down to Florida
Tomorrow morning, I’m leaving North Carolina and heading down to Florida. I don’t know if I’m excited about this move, or if I’m just excited about taking the Halstead exit and ordering a caramel frappuccino for breakfast. ;-D
I’m taking this trip slow - staying for a bit in Savannah - and then moving into the new place. Once I get there, I have so many things in the works - career coaching sessions, office hours, LinkedIn Lives. I’m even working on a new workshop for job seekers. It’s turning into something truly special, and I can’t wait to launch it into the world.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Our worthy cause
Service and sacrifice. These are two other big words we can think about when considering a job search.
I was asked by a person who I deeply admire what the final straw was for me leaving the pharmaceutical industry. My answer? I didn’t want to solve the problems that I was being hired to solve anymore.
With me, I no longer wanted to be in service to the organization. I no longer wanted to sacrifice in order to achieve my company’s overarching “mission statement.”
I find that many job seekers and career changers that I speak to share those same feelings.
And here’s the frustrating thing: it isn’t that we don’t believe in service or sacrifice. It’s the opposite: we believe in service and sacrifice so much that we can’t ignore it when we know that we aren’t experiencing it.
Being in service to something bigger than ourselves and sacrificing for our worthy cause is integral to finding fulfillment in our careers. It isn’t enough to just “be in service,” and it isn’t enough to sacrifice for just any cause, no matter how worthy it might seem to others.
Today, I’d happily talk to you about my resume writing and career coaching work. I’d also bring up every difficulty, every frustration, and every moment that makes me want to pull out all my hair.
But each morning, I wake up with tremendous gratitude. I start on my to-do list, chat with clients, plan out resumes, and tackle all of it in the fullness of spirit.
I believe with every fiber of my being that I am living a life of service, and I am glad (glad!) to sacrifice for the work I’m doing. You couldn’t take me away from my desk or my laptop for all the money in the world.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Recklessness
Recklessness. It’s a pretty big word to use when talking about a job search. But when I’m working with a job seeker, it’s a topic that we almost always dance around.
"If I tell my supervisor that I want a raise, they’re going to know that I’m looking for a new job. Because if they don’t give me the raise, then obviously I’m going to leave the company."
Me, sipping tea: "How would you feel if your supervisor knew that you were looking for a new situation?"
"Terrible. They’d fire me right away. They wouldn’t let me put in my two weeks notice. My badge would stop working and I wouldn’t be allowed in the door."
The flow for the “reckless behavior” usually looks like the following:
"I can’t do X. If I attempt to do X, then Y is going to happen. If Y happens, it would be absolutely awful for me."
The most interesting results I’ve seen from job seekers came when they were leaning into the daring, questionable, I-don’t-see-how-that’s-going-to-end-well approaches with their job search.
These were the job seekers who messaged CEOs or created entirely new networks for themselves.
These were the job seekers who identified companies that they wanted to work for and then created posts, articles, and even videos around the problem areas that the companies existed to solve.
These job seekers made effective “bidding wars” between hiring managers, who often wanted the unique skill or niche expertise that the job seeker possessed.
I’ve even seen job seekers outright tell their managers that they were thinking about leaving their organization - and achieved astounding results.
I was in that particular “reckless” category - I woke up one morning, drove to work, and told my boss that I was deeply unhappy with my job. I told him that I needed an increase in my salary and that I was seriously thinking about going to a larger organization that could accommodate this need.
I remember everything about his reaction: his body posture, the way he turned to look at me plainly in the face, his contemplating facial expression.
"I can’t make it happen this month, but I can get the paperwork ready for the first week of June. Is that okay with you?"
"Absolutely," I told him, and then I thanked him and walked out of the office.
My coworkers, who overheard the entire conversation, were staring at me with wide eyes and shocked faces as I sat down at my cubicle.
"He actually said yes?" one coworker asked me in a fierce whisper. "Damn, girl! Can I go in there and do that next?"
The following month, my annual salary went up an extra $2,500. But I have to be completely transparent with you: when I walked into my boss’s office, I had absolutely nothing to lose. I didn’t care if he said yes or no. I wasn’t worried about him firing me on the spot. Whatever the consequences of my actions, I was ready to embrace them all. Because I needed that salary increase, I was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen. And I was fully and completely prepared to dive into a job search if I couldn’t get it from my boss.
This, I believe, is the root behind what people might think of as recklessness in a job search. Having nothing to lose. Embracing whatever happens next. And being ready with the lifeboat if you just need to jump ship.
What are your thoughts on this? I’m curious to know.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
“I will make this happen”
Occasionally, I’ll be talking to a job seeker over Zoom, and I’ll come to a fierce realization: that the person I’m speaking to has the same wild, fearless, break-every-single-rule mentality that is the absolute cornerstone of my being.
When I find people like that, everything changes. I become bolder in my coaching. We push boundaries in our session. And by the end of the call, the job seeker has a roadmap created with an aggressive timeline. They tell me, “Gabby, I will make this happen,” and then off they go.
A handful of weeks go by, and I get an email. It’s the job seeker - only now they’re an employee at the company of their dreams.
I personally don’t believe that anyone needs a specific personality in order to succeed in their career goals. But there’s something about leaning into a bit of recklessness - a bit of daring in one’s approach to the job search - that leads to the most astounding results.
I want to spend time exploring this more in the next email.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
One of the lucky few
I quit my 9-to-5 job and dove into entrepreneurship because I wanted a chance to do something difficult, grueling, and deeply, deeply fulfilling.
I remember reading a blog post by an online business owner. His goal for his readers was to talk them out of pursuing entrepreneurship, listing reasons why this path was the biggest mistake a person could make for their career. By the end of the post, I had a fire lit under my rear like never before. I resolved to be one of the “lucky few” who succeeded in being their own boss.
There wasn’t a person on this earth who could stop me.
It’s happened a few times where a job seeker or career changer grabs a spot on my calendar, telling me that they’re looking to pursue a certain career path. But once we get on the call, the only thing they want to talk about is how to start a business of their own.
I do the same thing that the blog post did for me. I talk about all the exhausting and challenging aspects of my day-to-day. I unabashedly share my shortcomings and outright failures.
It doesn’t matter. I can’t do a thing to remove the glow from their eyes or dampen the fire entrenched in their soul. There’s no fear. There’s only a deep-seated desire to pursue the dream.
I fully understand it. It’s the best feeling in the world.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Going live on LinkedIn?
I have permission from LinkedIn to use their LinkedIn Live feature, covering whatever topics I’d like to cover (as long as I’m being respectful to the community and platform).
My intention had been to use this opportunity to either start a live stream show or start a video podcast. But the ultimate goal is to use this as a way to have honest and heartfelt conversations with the community on career-related topics.
For today’s email, I want to ask you this question:
Are there career topics on your mind that you wish people would talk about more often? If so, what are they?
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
The Power of Myth
I’m looking for ties between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers’ The Power of Myth and the emergence of the “follow your passion” approach to choosing careers.
During its time, The Power of Myth was “one of the most popular TV series in the history of public television.” It was released in 1988, not too long after the passing of Joseph Campbell.
I’m reading a blog post by Ron Eisenman, who talks about how The Power of Myth and the idea of following your bliss allowed him to transition from being a lawyer to becoming a teacher within the humanities.
From the Joseph Campbell Foundation:
BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?
JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.
The “follow your bliss” ideology was a popular topic among the people who enjoyed the show. Within the discourse of its time, it must have somehow been understood that following your bliss meant transitioning into a career where you could do work that you loved. I’d love to find proof of this.
As a side note… I’m so tempted to watch this show, just for my own curiosity. ;) It reminds me a bit of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. A few years ago, my sister sent me the link on YouTube where all the episodes of the original Cosmos could be watched. I remember it taking me only a few days to consume the entire thing. Carl Sagan was a beautiful person who created a beautiful series.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Before long, orders were pouring in
Learning about Richard Bolles and reading his interviews has been a truly enjoyable time. I can't help but feel a bit sad in knowing that he's passed away. There are so many questions that I'd have loved to ask him if I ever had the opportunity.
Today, I just want to highlight a portion of text from an interview with Fast Company.
But as it turned out, Bolles himself was one of the bailers. As an ordained Episcopal priest, he was canon pastor of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. But he lost his job in a budget crunch. He then landed an administrative position with the Episcopal Church, meeting with campus ministers at colleges across the country. He discovered that many of these ministers shared his predicament: Their jobs were in peril, and they had no idea what to do.
So Bolles did some research and wrote a 168-page guide to help the campus ministers he was supervising find jobs and change careers. Stuck for a title, he remembered his wacky question from two years earlier. He self-published the book in 1970. The first pressrun was 100 copies, which Bolles toted to a meeting in Philadelphia and distributed free of charge. Then something extraordinary began to happen. He started to get orders — first for 1 or 2 copies, then for 40 or 50. Before long, orders were pouring in — not from other ministers, but from such institutions as General Electric, the Pentagon, and UCLA.
What an amazing person.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Work you love
I’d love to get my hands on the very first commercial version of What Color is Your Parachute, published in 1972.
I was given the 2021 version, and I was honestly excited to read this particular edition of the book deemed “essential” to anyone contemplating a career change today. My reason? The pandemic. I wanted to know if the 2021 edition had anything to say taking COVID-19 and our new #WFH culture into consideration.
So, why do I want the 1972 version? The 1972 version was considered “radical” to readers of the time. (I’d love to find copies of the actual reviews which allude to the radical nature of Richard Bolles’ ideas.)
It was this book, coupled with the work of Joseph Campbell in the ’80s, that led to the development of a novel and intriguing idea in the career space: that the key to career happiness was to follow your passion.
—
Within my role as a career coach, I’ve had many sessions begin with the question, “Gabby, how do I find my passion?” We can have an incredibly productive session from this starting point. I believe there’s nothing wrong with contemplating questions like this.
Roughly seven years ago, I discovered Scott Dinsmore’s impactful TEDx Talk, “How to find work you love,” through an email sent to me by a coworker. His talk, combined with his Live Your Legend philosophy, propelled me down the path that brought me here today.
Had I not allowed myself to fall into the romanticism of “following one’s passion is key to doing work that you love,” I’m certain that I never would’ve left the pharmaceutical industry. Within continuous disappointment, disbelief, resignation, and then deep depression, I clung to the last scrap of hope that I could find: that I hadn’t made a terrible mistake and that I wasn’t trapped in this profession. I just hadn’t found my passion. Once I knew what my passion was, I could figure out what work I needed to be doing in order to be happy. Then I could get a plan together and begin the process of starting over with a brand new career.
You’re seeing me write about a few unquestioned assumptions in the career space. One of those assumptions is that a career change is hard. Another way to think about it: we rarely hear that a career change is “easy.”
I’m writing about this, because I believe it’s very healthy, and very important, to consider these assumptions as plainly as possible. A study into the origins of modern careers feels like the right starting point for this topic. Understanding the history of the “career” and its foundation, systems, and pathways will, I believe, be instrumental in us shaping our careers to be what we need them to be.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Your responses: “Making a career change is hard”
In my quest to answer the question, “Why do we never hear that a career change is easy?” I’ve found a resource that I’m so wicked excited about. There’s a textbook (collection of essays?) titled Origins of the Modern Career that I want to access. The book was created as a sort of response(?) to a conference on “Employment Security and Career Mobility in Historical Perspective” back in 2001. We can read the first chapter online through ResearchGate, but if we want the rest, we have to get the book. ;)
Going back to our original question, I’ve received a number of wonderful comments that I want to highlight here:
”Career change is ‘hard’ to some because people end up outside their comfort zone. Whether it's a R&D scientist switching to PM to career coach to earning a MBA, it's not easy to get out of the comfort zone. However, when you are uncomfortable, you learn the most and unlock your true potential.”
”I believe there is an expression anything that’s hard is always worth the effort because you know nothing really comes easy!”
”I remember when a math teacher told me to stop saying Math was hard. It wasn't hard it was unfamiliar and different and I'd actually have to put in work to learn it. We often associate things that are hard with things that have a learning curve, and things we have to actively learn.”
”Changing your career means a completely new skillset, an entirely new network, and an unfamiliar ecosystem, with no certainty that it will actually work out.”
Is there anything that you’d like to add to the conversation? I always welcome your insights and feedback.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Origins of the modern career
Before you read this email, I’d love for you to spend a few minutes with Cal Newport in his blog post, “Ancient Complications to Modern Career Advice.”
It goes beautifully with the question we’d like to answer: why do we believe that career change is hard, and why do we almost never hear the opposite, that career change is easy?
Cal Newport’s post had me asking questions about careers in general, and it led me to a chapter of a textbook on the origins of the modern career. (I might be buying this textbook - wow, I forgot how expensive they can be!)
While I’m trying not to make any judgments right out the gate, I do have a few ideas floating around as to why the assumption exists that career change is hard.
1. Career change is expensive - both to the employer and to the employee.
2. Career change is taxing - mentally, emotionally, and energetically.
If you have any ideas floating around yourself, please hit reply and share them with me.
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn
Making a career change is hard
I received a few replies to my last email. They were raw and very, very honest. I deeply appreciate you guys for sharing your truths.
I have so many things planned for the next couple of months. Plans for daily email writing. Plans for revamping the website. I still wonder if I’m biting off more than I can chew, working on these things while getting ready for a move to Florida.
Roughly half of the house is packed away. This coming Monday, the rest of it will be gone. The following Monday, I will be packing a few boxes of pots and pans, a suitcase of summer clothes, and my cat’s things into the car.
And then off I go to start a new life.
We believe that making a career change is hard. We hear the word “hard” and it’s as if a curse has been released. A barrier is immediately created, and it stops us from making any kind of forward movement.
I want to spend a bit of time exploring this subject. Why do we believe that a career change is hard? And why, specifically, do we almost never hear that making a career change is “easy”?
I have a few articles saved in one of my bookmark folders that might be fun to dig into as a starting point. Stay tuned. :)
—
Follow #GabbyTurmelle on LinkedIn