I Had A Steady Job And I Regret It.
Summary
TLDRIn this reflective video script, Brian recounts his career setback due to complacency and lack of proactive career management. He emphasizes the importance of being the CEO of one's career, taking ownership, and not waiting for opportunities to arise. Brian's story illustrates the consequences of inaction and the necessity to continuously learn and adapt in order to stay ahead in one's professional journey.
Takeaways
- 📚 Brian emphasizes the importance of taking ownership of one's career, acting like the CEO, and not waiting passively for opportunities to arise.
- 🚀 He shares a personal story of his career at a small company in the railroad services industry, where he was initially promised a promotion that never came.
- 🔗 Brian's role evolved from staffing and development to a human resources manager, where he gained valuable experience but faced stagnation due to the reluctance of senior leadership to retire.
- 👴 The company's leadership was supposed to retire within 18 months to 3 years, but many stayed on, creating a bottleneck that hindered Brian and his peers from advancing.
- 💡 Brian highlights the need to be proactive and analytical in one's career, rather than becoming apathetic and comfortable, which can lead to missed opportunities and career stagnation.
- 🚑 He regrets not pushing for growth and development opportunities within the company and becoming too comfortable with the status quo.
- 🚀 Brian eventually transitioned to a different role within the same company, thanks to a senior leader recognizing his talents outside of HR, which reignited his passion for work.
- 📉 He acknowledges that his lack of initiative and planning set him back in his career, compared to his peers who took control and moved on to senior roles in other companies.
- 🎯 The story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of complacency and the necessity of having a clear career plan and strategy.
- 🛑 Brian advises viewers to regularly assess their career trajectory, to not wait for recognition from within, but to actively seek out opportunities and make strategic moves.
- 📈 He offers resources such as a free newsletter, training courses, and LinkedIn presence to help others level up their careers and become the CEOs of their professional lives.
Q & A
What is the main message Brian wants to convey in his story?
-Brian emphasizes the importance of taking ownership of one's career and acting like the CEO of one's career to avoid stagnation and missed opportunities.
What was Brian's initial role in the small company he joined?
-Brian started as a Staffing and Development Manager, a role that essentially turned into a human resources manager position.
Why did Brian accept the job at the small company?
-Brian accepted the job with the expectation that he would learn from the VP of Human Resources, who was supposed to retire in 18 months, after which Brian would be promoted to his role.
How did Brian describe the work environment at the company?
-Brian described the work environment as family-oriented, laid back, and supportive, with a high degree of empathy for employees from the leadership.
What happened to Brian's expected promotion after 18 months?
-Brian's expected promotion did not materialize as his boss, the VP, showed no intention of retiring and continued to work beyond the initial 18-month timeline.
What was the common issue faced by the leadership development group members?
-The common issue was that the senior leaders were not retiring as expected, and they did not feel anyone was ready to take over their roles, which led to stagnation for the leadership development group members.
How did Brian's peers in the leadership development group respond to the situation?
-Brian's peers started leaving the organization one by one to pursue opportunities elsewhere, as they felt they were ready for advancement and were not waiting for recognition within the company.
What was the turning point for Brian in his career at the company?
-The turning point was when another senior leader recognized Brian's talents in marketing and creative areas and offered him a role in a different part of the organization.
How did Brian's career progression compare to his peers after leaving the company?
-Brian found himself significantly behind his peers in terms of career progression, as they had moved into senior director roles at other companies while he had to take a step downward in responsibility to gain the right recruiting experience.
What did Brian learn from his experience about career management?
-Brian learned the hard way about the importance of having a plan, being proactive, and not waiting for opportunities to come to him, which he now teaches to others as part of his channel's mission.
What advice does Brian offer to those who feel stuck in their careers?
-Brian advises taking ownership of one's career, acting like the CEO, and not waiting for recognition or opportunities to come. He also recommends continuous learning and staying updated with industry trends.
Outlines
🚀 Career Growth Stifled by Leadership Inertia
Brian shares a personal career story emphasizing the importance of taking ownership of one's professional growth. He began his career in a staff and development role, which evolved into a human resources manager position. Initially, he was promised a promotion to VP of HR within 18 months, but this never materialized due to the VP's reluctance to retire. Despite being part of a leadership development group, Brian and his peers faced stagnation as the senior leadership clung to their positions. This led to a loss of passion and initiative among the group, with many eventually leaving the company for better opportunities elsewhere.
🔄 Overcoming Apathy to Reclaim Career Control
Brian reflects on his own complacency in a comfortable yet stagnant role, where he waited for opportunities that never came. He discusses the dangers of becoming too comfortable and losing the drive to push for career advancement. His story highlights the importance of not waiting for others to recognize your potential but instead taking proactive steps to advance. After nine years, when a senior leader recognized Brian's talents in marketing and creative fields, he transitioned to a new role within the company. However, the delay in career progression cost him significantly in terms of income and professional standing compared to his peers.
📉 Falling Behind and the Struggle to Catch Up
Brian admits to falling behind in his industry knowledge and skills due to a lack of initiative to keep up with trends and technology. This resulted in a challenging job market experience when he eventually left the company, as he had to accept a step down in responsibility to gain relevant experience in recruiting. He contrasts his experience with that of his peers who had moved into senior director roles, illustrating the impact of not having a strategic career plan. Brian's narrative serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of complacency and the importance of continuous learning and adaptation.
🛠️ Tools for Career Advancement and Market Testing
In the conclusion of his story, Brian offers practical advice and resources for career development. He discusses the importance of consistently testing the job market and leveraging networks like LinkedIn to attract recruiters. Brian mentions his course, the Ultimate Jobseeker Boot Camp, designed to guide job seekers from search to offer negotiation. He also promotes his newsletter for career tips and encourages following him on LinkedIn for further insights. The overarching message is to act as the CEO of one's career, taking control and initiative in professional development.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Career Ownership
💡Leadership Development
💡Emotional Intelligence
💡Career Stagnation
💡Promotion
💡Job Apathy
💡Career Planning
💡Compensation
💡Networking
💡Job Search Strategy
💡Passive Job Market
Highlights
Brian shares a personal story to inspire career ownership and analytical thinking.
He emphasizes the importance of acting like the CEO of one's career.
Brian's early career involved staffing and development in the railroad services industry.
He was expected to learn from the VP of HR with a planned promotion after 18 months.
The company had a family-oriented atmosphere with a high degree of employee empathy.
Brian experienced a delay in promised promotions due to leadership holding onto their positions.
His peers in the leadership development group started leaving the company.
Brian became apathetic, waiting for opportunities rather than creating them.
He warns against the dangers of becoming too comfortable in a role.
Brian's career advancement was significantly delayed due to inaction.
He had to rebrand himself and gain experience at a lower level to catch up.
Brian regrets not having a clear career plan and not pushing for development opportunities.
He encourages viewers to take ownership and not wait for recognition from others.
Brian is creating a training course on career advancement strategies.
He advises on the importance of continuous learning and staying updated with industry trends.
Brian discusses the value of networking and leveraging LinkedIn for career growth.
He offers resources like the Ultimate Jobseeker Boot Camp for effective job search strategies.
Brian stresses the need for a proactive approach to career management rather than a passive one.
Transcripts
Brian from a life after layoff today I
want to tell you a little story about my
own career and an experience that I had
that shaped a lot of what I talk about
on this channel and as you know I teach
people how to take ownership back in
their lives and in particular to act
like the CEO of their career and I
practice what I preach and let's face it
just about every one of us has our own
story to tell about maybe where we took
a wrong turn in our career and it set us
back so hopefully by recounting my own
story it'll get you to start looking at
your career a little bit more
analytically and make the changes so
that you can act like the CEO of your
career but before we get too far into it
if you're interested in learning how to
be the CEO of your career I actually put
together a free newsletter to teach you
just that and in it I share actionable
tips each week that will get you to
start thinking more like the owner and
taking control and I also share
subscriber only offers and news so make
sure that you sign up for it and keep in
mind it's completely free so early into
my career I ended up getting recruited
into a relatively small company it was
about six or seven hundred employees at
the time and and it was in the railroad
Services industry so I had an
opportunity to go in and my title
officially was Staffing and development
manager which was kind of a weird title
but it was basically focused on
recruiting and then employee relations
it really kind of turned into uh human
resources manager role so the actual
work that I was doing was really meaty
and it was really good and it was great
experience and I got to really impact
the business got to see people get hired
I got to see people grow as managers and
it was really good but the premise for
the role and the reason why I accepted
it was I was supposed to to learn the
ropes from the VP the Vice President in
the department the vice president of
human resources and he was supposed to
retire in 18 months and so I took that
job was supposed to learn ropes 18
months later I was supposed to get
promoted into his role and then I would
run human resources for this entire this
entire company my boss was the vice
president was very particular I guess
we'll say on how he liked to run things
and he had kind of a an old school way
about going about human resources one
thing that I'll say about him that was
really great and I learned a lot about
it was he had a high degree of empathy
for the employee and so if there was
Employee issues it wasn't like a
traditional HR department where they
were always out to get you in fact he
was usually looking out for a person and
if only if you were truly a troublemaker
would you get on any kind of list but in
general it was a I hate to use the term
because this is so worn out but there
was a very family oriented atmosphere
the owners of the company were great in
fact to this day I still have a good
relationship with them but it truly was
a a family oriented and work environment
and it wasn't a difficult place to work
it was relatively laid back I would had
a fairly High degree of freedom to do
what I wanted to do I could kind of pick
and choose my schedule and go where I
wanted to go and just needed to manage
my desk as best I could
but what happened was this tier of
leadership that was in this organization
was all retiring or supposed to retire
about the same time and it was within
that two to three year window and my
boss
kept on working and working and working
and at 18 months it became very obvious
or very evident that he had no true
intention of hanging up the cleats
because he kind of had a little kingdom
that he ran and he had a lot of
influence with the president and all
this stuff
and so
I just continued to bide my time
thinking well eventually I'm going to
get it and I was being groomed as part
of a leadership development group so
there was some of us who were in a
special setting that we would go off and
do these special projects and all this
stuff at the vice president level the
the senior leadership team of each one
of these functional divisions about
obviously being in Human Resources was
very attached to their work and I mean
they paid got paid really nice bonuses I
mean really nice bonuses every year and
it was probably hard for them to let go
of that but it became obvious that a lot
of them also felt the same way they
didn't want to release their their
Stranglehold on the organization they
wanted to keep doing what they were
doing and people who in the leadership
development group my peers one by one
started leaving the organization in fact
one of them went off to become a
president of a competitor company and
eventually another one of my friends who
got passed up for promotion a few times
also left the organization and I think
out of that succession group that I was
a part of only maybe one out of eight or
ten people actually made it to the level
that they were supposed to in that
organization because these leaders just
didn't feel that anybody could take over
or they were staying on too long and
they just kind of convinced themselves
that nobody was capable of it and my
boss was saying things to me like you're
not ready yet there's still things that
you need to learn we still need to
develop you here develop you there but
in reality he wasn't really providing me
any kind of development opportunities it
was kind of I was kind of on my own in
that regard and I was talking to my peer
group and they were also dealing with
the same types of things they weren't
being properly supported by their bosses
and everybody would say the right things
to your face but in behind closed doors
they would have conversations about how
nobody on this group was ready to go and
one by one all the people who took
ownership in their career would leave
well not me because I had a steady job I
was well regarded in the organization I
had a boss that again was very family
oriented and very supportive in that
regard not as supportive in other ways
but I didn't necessarily have this High
degree of pressure and I figured
eventually he was going to retire and
year after year passed and what was
supposed to be 18 months ended up
turning into I think I was there for
nine years total basically after seven
years or so I gave up on my dream of
being the head HR person when another
senior leader came and tapped me on the
shoulder and he recognized he says you
you know you don't really seem that
enthusiastic about your situation and I
kind of I understand why but he said you
have a lot of talent in some other areas
and it was marketing and some
photography and some some creative stuff
that I was doing and he says I really
think that you could help us in some
other part of the organization so I
actually ended up leaving that role in
HR for the last two years of my career
at that particular place and went off
somewhere else and uh
all the while my boss who was still in
role he supported it and I left and then
he waited another two years before he
finally hired a replacement for him and
then he ended up kind of hovering over
top of that guy for a long period of
time and ended up leaving the
organization so in other words it took
him nine years to leave the organization
and retire when he promised me it was 18
months in fact that's what I was told in
my interview process and I look back at
my time at that organization and while I
don't necessarily regret working for
them
I do regret how I handled my career
because I was became very apathetic I
became very comfortable in my role I
became very comfortable just collecting
a steady paycheck
and I didn't push the way I should have
had I had a clear direction of where I
wanted to go and I know I talk a lot on
my Channel about being the CEO of your
career and I certainly was not and in
fact a lot of the advice I give you is
my own personal experiences where I made
these mistakes myself and I didn't do
these things that I teach you about in
this Channel and on my socials and on my
blog and on my LinkedIn but by staying
in this role for too long I essentially
became Joe if you've watched my video on
why steady jobs bad for your career and
I'll leave a link up here somewhere and
you can check it out but I became the
Joe of that organization I stayed too
long and and the danger in that was that
my peer group and and the I would I'll
say this the astute people in that peer
group that I was growing up with in the
succession planning the succession
planning leadership group The astute
ones who took off after two or three
years they said I'm not waiting around
for somebody else to recognize me if
they don't think that I'm ready and I
know that I am and this other company is
willing to do it they end up bleeding
and we all kind of sat and said oh like
did you hear and so and so is going and
I should have gotten some sort of little
light bulb going off that hey maybe I
should be doing the same thing but again
I felt I became apathetic and I let the
work come to me I waited for the
opportunity I told myself they promised
me and all I got to do is just bide my
time and obviously that didn't happen
and as a result of that I fell back
further in my career than I should have
compared to my peer group because then
when I look around at the people who may
be outside of my organization but people
I went to school with were all moving
into these different levels of of role
you know director Etc at a time when I
was just kind of middling away at a
manager's level and as a result of being
told you're not ready and you're hearing
that over and over and over again over
the course of five six seven years you
start to kind of believe it maybe I'm
not ready and all the while it was just
the insecurities from the people who
were in these roles these various
managers would tell their people you're
not ready you're not ready and it was
clear that many of them actually were
ready because they left the organization
they got these jobs at other companies
and they're still there thriving to this
day I also lost my passion and desire to
be the human resources manager than to
be the man there so to speak I just I
just stopped caring about it and when
you stop caring about something and you
literally just go into autopilot I mean
I would do my work it wasn't like I was
like slacking off or anything like that
but I would do my work but I didn't care
about going above and beyond anymore I
didn't care about volunteering for that
next project I didn't care about being
considered for promotion I kind of went
into like autopilot and I was very
fortunate that the one manager came in
in a way I was very fortunate he came
and tapped me on the shoulder and pulled
me I was like almost like yanking me out
of this bad situation where I just was I
just felt it just felt negative but when
you become too comfortable
that's when you start making decisions
and actually maybe it may be better say
that's when you stop making decisions
that are in the best interest of your
long-term career because you have a
steady paycheck and you stop worrying
about the types of things that you
should be if you're playing chess with
your career versus check I was like I
was literally I was playing checkers
with my career not chess I didn't have
any plan I didn't have any strategy or
any of that kind of stuff
and so as a result of that I stopped
trying to learn I I wasn't keeping up on
the industry and what the trends were
what the latest technology was what the
latest buzzwords I mean sure we'd go to
these conferences and we'd hear all the
stuff that was going on we were very
traditional we didn't have a lot of
budget for this they didn't really value
some of the stuff that that was coming
out at the time and so I fell behind and
when I eventually entered into the open
market again for work I discovered that
I was behind the rest of my peer group
as far as what skills knowledge and
abilities I had because I never pushed
for it when I was working I didn't care
about it I didn't feel the need to be so
current and it ended up coming back and
biting me it was difficult to find
another job after that and I realized
after the leaving that organization that
I actually had to take a step downward
in responsibility to get the right
recruiting experience because I really
just wanted to focus on the recruiting
component because that was my favorite
component of my job when I was there
and so I had to basically Rebrand myself
and get experience recruiting at much
bigger companies and so that's what I
did I kind of went back down to a a
recruiter level to get the deeper
experience and I spent the next several
years doing that this was at a time when
all of my peer group was moving into
senior director roles at other companies
and so it was a major mistake that I
made in my career and it set me back it
probably set me back a decade and and
all in all honesty but it all was
because I didn't have a plan I didn't
know what I was supposed to be doing and
when I was supposed to be doing it I
didn't have any guidance on how you
should be managing your career like a
chess player I was literally just
playing checkers because that's all I
knew and I wish on the hindsight I had
the benefit of myself and this version
coming and pulling me aside and saying
and slapping me upside the head and
saying get your stuff together and get a
plan and don't wait around for this guy
to retire you're wasting your time
you're wasting your career because we
all have a runway in our career that
shortens very quickly and if you get
into mid-career you you know exactly
what I'm talking about what suddenly
seems like a super long career when
you're in your 20s when you're at your
30s you hit your 40s you certainly in
the 50s your career shortens very
quickly and you realize all these plans
that you had these grandiose plans that
you had you're suddenly running out of
runway for that and so if you're just
being apathetic you're letting the work
come to you you're letting the
opportunities come to you you're just
kind of waiting around for things to
happen you're wasting your time and
you're not acting like the CEO of your
career and so I learned that the hard
way it cost me thousands and thousands
of dollars in Lost income I found out
when I when I left that organization how
truly far behind the rest of the market
I was with compensation because I hadn't
done the exercise of what's what's the
compensation supposed to be where should
I be not not to mention I'm also behind
at least on two levels behind where I
should have been had I been playing
chess the whole time so there was a lot
of implications that that's that had
impacted me for years after that so the
moral of this whole story is it's really
important and critical that if you take
your career seriously and you want to
achieve something in your career
start learning how to play chess start
to be the CEO of your career and take
ownership in things and not let the work
come to you now if you're somebody that
just says I just want a steady paycheck
I don't really care about any of that
stuff then this video really isn't for
you this is for somebody that's looking
to move ahead in their career they're
stuck they're not satisfied with where
they are they're frustrated I'm speaking
to you and actually I'm in the process
of creating a training course on how to
play chess with your careers in other
words how to be the CEO of your career
what steps you need to take things you
need to look for and all that stuff if
you're interested in updates on that
when it comes out you want the first
Peak I'm going to be offering some
special discounts so I'd encourage you
to sign up for my newsletter if you want
more details on when that's going to
come out so anyways I encourage you to
start acting like the CEO of your career
start looking at are you spending too
much time in an organization are you
waiting around for somebody to recognize
your efforts or if you're somebody
that's too good at your job and the
company can't lose you in that role and
they're keeping you stuck there then you
need to start acting like the CEO of
your career so that's what I'm here for
make sure you check out my website if
you want more information on how to
start leveling up your career resumes
are certainly going to be a big part of
that so check out resonate rocket feel
if you really want to know how to build
the right resume to get you noticed by
those recruiters for companies that will
actually value you the way that you
should like some of my friends in the
peer group that I went grew up with and
then once you get into the interview
process you need to be able to Market
yourself effectively especially if
you're looking to go from one level to
the next you have to convince them
because hiring managers are really risk
adverse they don't like to take chances
on people they basically just want
somebody that's going to move exactly
laterally they want like a perfect match
to the job description and I have all
these arguments with my hiring manager
saying
do you think that a high potential is
really going to want your job when it's
literally the exact same job they're
doing there's no reason why they would
take your job in a little a little light
bulb will sometimes come off in the
Morris dude hiring managers but I I
don't count on it but anyway learn how
to get through that process with
authority and I created a course called
the ultimate jobseeker boot camp
basically it's Cradle to gray for job
search starting at job search all the
way to offer negotiation and I make sure
that you don't leave a single penny on
the table so it's a really good course
especially if you're in an active job
search we think an offer is coming
make sure you're not leaving a penny on
the table and usually I can get you way
more money than the cost of a course so
it's I'm I know I'm biased but I think
it's absolutely worth it and if you want
opportunities that come into your inbox
and you absolutely should want those
because you should be testing the open
market consistently and entertaining
other opportunities because a true free
agent a true CEO of their career will
always entertain what's out there and
keep themselves as available as possible
for the best possible opportunities
that's where unlocking LinkedIn comes in
that's going to teach you how to
leverage your networks they get
recruiters to start contacting you
instead of you always putting in
applications instead and trust me it's a
lot easier to get hired when a recruiter
is coming and hitting you up than the
other way around so check that course
out if you need some more guidance there
anyway hopefully I resonated with at
least one person with this long ramble
but I appreciate you watching make sure
you follow me on LinkedIn if you want
even more I'm actually spending a lot of
time on LinkedIn these days and I'm
really trying to provide a lot of value
there so if you're on LinkedIn you want
to career tips make sure you follow me
there I'd leave all this all the
information's down the the video
description so you can check it out
there but as always I really appreciate
every one of you and we'll see you on
the next one
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