#1 Who am I, if I leave my job?
Have you heard about the imposture syndrome? This weeks interview will tell you all about it and how to overcome it with personal insights and valuable resources.
Bonjour fellow transitioners and welcome to our first episode of our ChangePath newsletter 🧡💜
First off, you are not alone in this - more than 58% of people are thinking about making a career change and another 25% have already tried or successfully changed recently.
While it might be comforting to know that the majority of people are going through similar changes, we want to help you make up your mind about your transition as quickly as possible - by inspiring you with tangible stories and useful resources. We are all about breaking the vicious cycle of procrastination and taking the first steps 😈.
Before we begin:
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Our first interview today is with Ann-Sophie, Co-Founder of ChangePath and Co-Editor of this newsletter, and a master-procrastinator herself. So why not learn from the best. C’est parti! 🎈
3 Questions & Answers about Change with Ann-Sophie
What was the biggest challenge in your transition?
Definitely my imposture syndrome. But let me guide you through my transition.
I worked for an agency consulting different brands such as P&G, Mastercard, Nivea and many more on their communications. I loved the shiny campaigns for fancy brands at first, but I quickly had a weird gut feeling about helping clients sell more stuff while Fridays for Future was protesting for the future of our planet every week.
Since I already focused my studies on the topic of sustainability, I proposed building a sustainability consulting department at the agency and the management approved. I thought, this is it - now I can combine two passions of mine, sustainability and communications and I will do that in a high position with a great title: Head of Sustainability Consulting. Take that imposter-me.
It turns out, consulting brands on sustainability can be a frustrating journey. Imagine creating honest sustainability campaigns with one department while the other department sends out free samples wrapped in plastic to millions of households. This is just one example that made me realise, not having a real positive impact with my job that either contributes to planet or society will make me unhappy.
Deep down I knew that I need to quit, but it took me months to actually realise that I need to change careers. My biggest fear: who am I without my job? I had the biggest imposture syndrome - what are my skills, will I ever be able to get a great job again, when I change my career I will start at the bottom again and all my hard work will be for nothing?
What got me out of procrastination was an unexpected turn of events: my employer forced me to move back to Germany for financial reasons and this was just the nudge I needed, I quit.
Due to my sense of security, my natural first step was applying to as many impact companies and start-ups as possible. Thankfully, a friend of mine really pushed me to do take time for an introspection and it showed me becoming an entrepreneur will actually fulfil my values and needs the most. So, I stopped my messy and frustrating job research and focused my full attention to become an entrepreneur. Although I am still in transition I can say: Because I learn so much every day about myself and about building a business, I feel way more confident even without my big title, high profile job.
What helped you to find your path and overcome the imposture syndrome?
The quicker you come up with an action plan, the smaller your imposture syndrome becomes.
I can only recommend searching for podcasts of topics that interest you to just get a feeling for potential new careers - you can hear them while doing laundry, going for a run or cleaning 🙃
I also primed my Social Media feeds on Instagram and Tiktok on the topic of entrepreneurship by searching and following famous entrepreneurs, investors and business coaches to see if this topic is really interesting for me.
Another thing that really helped me was listing the things that are really important to me and then looking at the different career paths and see with which options I could fulfil the most needs.
There is so many resources and possibilities out there and you can get lost easily and this is what we are working on with ChangePath, so stay tuned - the master tool for career change is still being built 🙌🏽.
(Excuse my extensive use of The Office GIFs, but watching it made work life and transitioning so much easier 🤪)
Can you describe your career transition in three words?
Eye-opening, painful, educational
Follow Ann-Sophie transition on LinkedIn here.
Quote of the week:
"In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” - Warren Buffet
Podcast episode of the week:
“Career Change Identity Crisis: Who Am I If I Leave This Job?”
Change your now and start your tomorrow with ChangePath. 🧡💜
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Amazing to read your story Ann-Sophie, very inspiring 💜🧡
Hey Ann-Sophie, Inspiring! I wish you well and hope seeing you soon.