Mergers rarely leave personnel untouched. Teams are reorganized, roles are shifted and redundant staff are let go. All tough spots to be in when the changes don’t align with your career goals. Today Taunee Besson, career transitions expert and President and Principal Consultant at Dallas-based Career Dimensions answers the big questions about how to handle organizational change when it hits close to home. — Maurice Gilbert
Q: I’m a victim of a hostile corporate takeover. Until last week, I was the regional sales manager for a Fortune 500 company where I have worked since 2003. On Monday, the new management installed its own man (after saying there would be no personnel changes) and offered me either a job in sales or a severance package.
I’m not sure what to do. The following questions keep rolling around in my mind: should I take the cut in responsibility and be thankful that I still have a job? Should I agree to the severance package, lose my security and look for a new opportunity equal to my current position? How difficult would it be for me to change jobs considering that I’m in my early 40s and earning about $100,000 a year? If I quit to job search full time, will potential employers question my worth?
A: You have a lot of issues to deal with; let’s take them one at a time. The decision to stay or leave the company depends on what you want from your career now and in the future. If you’ve been feeling overworked and out of touch with your customers, moving into a sales slot may rejuvenate you. Or if your personal life has suffered because of your professional responsibilities, returning to sales can give you a chance to achieve a better balance in your life.
Chances are that you consider a move back to sales a move in the wrong direction, however. Trying to lower your expectations will be difficult and may lead to increasing resentment and a lackluster performance. To get your career back on track, you’ll have to take a risk and look for other opportunities.
Not long ago, I was working with Sue, a client who had the misfortune to be laid off twice in one year. As you may imagine, her ego was severely bruised. Yet after several months of introspection, she said, “While this last year has been the worst I can remember, I’ve discovered two important facts: No matter what happens, I can survive. And my greatest security is my own talent and belief in myself.” Out of tremendous adversity came the seeds of some real personal and professional growth.
As Gail Sheehy proposes in Pathfinders, you can use your current dilemma as a springboard to finding a job that will fulfill your career goals. Your concern about your age and marketability is your greatest barrier. I’ve found that 40-year-olds who feel they have a lot to offer easily connect with employers who are enthusiastic about their maturity and experience. On the other hand, job hunters who are defensive about their age generally encounter interviewers who think they are “over the hill.”
People who quit their jobs to conduct full-time job searches rarely are considered inferior to those currently employed. In fact, telling a potential employer that you’ve decided to concentrate your efforts on finding the right job often inspires awe, not ridicule. Usually, the interviewer will perceive you as you see yourself.
If your identity is closely tied to your work or the unemployment rate is very high where you live, you probably shouldn’t quit your job before you’ve found another. But if you can handle a lack of daily structure and banish thoughts of living under a bridge, a full-time job search may be your better alternative.
Taunee Besson, CMF, is president of Career Dimensions, Inc., a consulting firm founded in 1979, which works with individual and corporate clients in career change; job search; executive, small business and life coaching; college major selection and talent management.
“One of the smartest minds in the career field,” according to Tony Lee (VP of CareerCast Operations at Adicio and former publisher of the Wall Street Journal’s Online Vertical Network), Besson began writing for the Dallas Times Herald in the early 80s. Having read several of her columns, Lee asked her to contribute regular articles to the Journal’s National Business Employment Weekly (NBEW) as well. Since then, she has been a triple award-winning columnist for CareerJournal.com and Senior Columnist for CareerCast.com, as well as WorkingWoman.com and Oxygen.com. At Lee’s request, Besson authored five editions of NBEW’s Premier Guide to Resumes and three of its Premier Guide to Cover Letters. She has also written articles and/or been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Business Week, Time, Smart Money and Yahoo among others.
Taunee has worked on community nonprofit boards and committees for over 30 years including Girls Inc., Women’s Center of Dallas, Girl Scouts and Dallas Women’s Foundation, The Volunteers of America and Mortarboard, among others. She was a member of the Leadership Dallas in 1987 and Leadership America in 2003.
In 1994, the Dallas Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development chose her as its “Professional of the Year”. Her NBEW columns were selected for the “Ten Best Article Award” in 1990, 1994 and 1997. In 1999, Alpha Gamma Delta, a 200,000 member fraternal organization, named her as one of three “Distinguished Citizens” at its biannual international convention.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
