Imagine you have worked in the same place for a long time. You master your tasks, know everyone, have built and strengthened relationships, and the day-to-day simply flows. You know what needs to be done and how to do it and, although conflicts exist, you know exactly how to handle each of them. You know your manager and when you can talk to her or when it is better to put off the conversation. You know the team you belong to and understand how to protect yourself until calm returns.

In this scenario, you feel you belong and are recognized, but you realize your potential is not being fully used, or you start to tire of the same conflicts and the situations that never seem to change. So you decide to look for new challenges in the job market.

The hiring process makes you anxious, full of unanswered questions. Each process has several stages: filling out forms, taking online tests and, when no one gets back to you to schedule interviews, the anxiety grows and you begin to doubt your own ability. In some processes, you move forward and have several interviews but, once again, hear nothing back.

You begin to feel restless and, after deciding to leave your previous job, nothing seems to fit. What used to be tolerable now becomes unbearable. Then the big day arrives: you get the long-awaited “yes.” Nervous, afraid of your current manager’s reaction, you resign, take care of the paperwork to leave and start the new job.

This new story does not end here. There are many possibilities for reflection and dialogue, and I will keep exploring them in the coming weeks. Starting in a new place is always a challenge, both for the person arriving and for those already there.

We arrive with all our baggage and life experience, expectations, fears and fantasies about what it means to join a group and belong to it, which shapes how we adapt and how long it takes. But we must not forget how much it matters how the group receives us.

The group that welcomes new people also has to reorganize. Each member brings expectations, fears and fantasies about the new member and about the integration process.

The first reflection I would like to propose concerns the hiring process. In it, it is not only the company that has the right to choose; we, too, can and should ask questions in order to make decisions consistent with our career outlook and our values.

If you are going through a hiring process, ask questions, notice how you are treated and how people relate to one another, and analyze whether the job’s expectations match what you are looking for. This information helps identify the factors for success in a career change and the difficulties that may arise, and also points the way to mapping out development actions.

If you were not selected in a hiring process, try to identify which aspects may affect your success so you can develop them. Look at the skills listed in job postings to guide your development. Not being selected does not mean we are incompetent or unable to do the job. Examining our path can help us draw up development plans.

Until next time!