Eight months ago I relocated from Minneapolis to Portland. Two months ago, I completed the CareerMakers program and two days ago, I began a new, better, fantastic job thanks to Peter, Anne and Pam.

What lead to my success? - Simply taking total responsibility for myself, investing completing in the CareerMakers program and trusting the process. I struggled a bit week one because I tend to overvalue my analytical thinking processes at the expense of my more creative abilities. Nevertheless, I had made a commitment to suspend judgment and make the best of the whole program. I dove in, leveraged my right brain abilities as best I could, and completed every exercise with commitment and diligence. The results were surprising and unexpected. I learned that although my chosen career path did not change much, the type of environment or culture within which I worked made a significant difference to my happiness and satisfaction on the job. With this gained clarity I was able to develop interview questions relevant to culture and environment so that I could get the information necessary to make an informed choice about who I was willing to work for and who I was not.

The structure and pragmatism of the second week fit perfectly with my customary left brain thought process and, therefore, week two felt like a breeze! I'm not a born salesperson particularly when it comes to talking about myself. However, the CareerMakers program taught me how to articulate my skills and abilities in a manner that made it clear to others exactly what I was capable of doing. With practice, I was able to rattle off a list of competencies to interviewers without much thought at all. I did this all within the safety, security, and support of the group of individuals who completed the program alongside me.

I felt extremely empowered and energized on the last day of class. Not only had I gained knowledge about what I wanted to do and in which environments I thrived, but I left with a specific and concrete plan to execute my job search process. The weeks following graduation, I scheduled eight informational interviews. Each time I spoke with someone I asked for the name of two more individuals with whom I might speak in order to continue my process of gathering information. Each person I met with during informational interviews was gracious, generous and thoughtful.

Peter was a significant resource in helping me identify potential employers based on my compass, abilities and environmental needs. Every single time I emailed him for a suggestion, he returned my email with the same day, most times with a couple of hours! Three weeks post graduation I had three "real" interviews scheduled and four weeks later I was heading into last round interviews with two of those organizations. Yesterday, i started my new my new job with complete confidence that I made a great choice. Needless to say, I had a huge smile on my face as well.

I am extremely thankful as well as grateful for this program and the individuals who invest their time and energy week after week to support people like me and, perhaps like you, who feel a little lost for a moment in time....  

 

Sheryl Radcliff