Starting Over, Again.
2024 has been a whirlwind.
It started off with a layoff in January, launching me headfirst into a rabbit hole of Google searches and YouTube videos with titles like “How to Crush an Interview in 5 Easy steps” (spoiler: there are no easy steps).
Up until that point, it had been nearly 7 years since my last interview. After law school, I worked at a healthcare organization for a year doing legal and compliance work, and then shifted over to do similar work at a small tech company where I dug my heals in for 7 years.
The writing was on the wall when our company was acquired in 2023, and lay-offs became the new quarterly tradition. When my turn came, I allowed myself a generous 10 minutes to complete my grieving period -as efficiently as possible- and then I dove head first into the job hunt.
Fast forward to November 2024: I’m 6 months into my new job at one of the largest retail companies in the world. These last 6 months have been spent adapting to big corporate life, learning the ins and outs of a completely new industry, and working on a two person team to build out an entirely new program that translates law into process - and I’m enjoying every second of it.
Change is terrifying - no question. But here’s the thing: every rock bottom has a sneaky silver lining. Sometimes it’s obvious, like landing a new job that you love, and other times it’s more subtle - it can look like a shift in perspective, a new skill that’s gained, or the simple pleasure in just knowing you survived a hard thing.
More to come on how this change has affected me - but for now - some thoughts on what has helped me adapt to such a drastic life and career change, and some lessons I’ve learned.
Learn the business.
When you start a new job, especially one in a highly regulated industry, prepare to drown in a very large bowl of alphabet soup. Stepping into your new role will feel like stepping onto a new planet where your colleagues will sound like they speak entirely in acronyms, and your notebook will look like a conspiracy theorist’s scratchpad.
This is all very normal.
While no one expects you to walk in as an industry expert, taking the initiative to learn the business on your own time can be a game-changer.
We live in a knowledge economy where the answer to any question is just a click away. The saturated podcast universe is teeming with nerdy podcasts featuring career professionals geeking out about their industries - which have been incredibly helpful to me. There are also blogs, audiobooks, and YouTube deep dives galore at your disposal.
With a little time and effort, the acronyms will stop sounding like gibberish, and you’ll start to feel less under soup-y water.
Re-invent some parts of yourself- if you want to.
One of my biggest weaknesses is that I sometimes have trouble asking questions and speaking up at work. This is ironic because as a kid, apparently I could not shut up. Somewhere along the line, I became the person who sits quietly in a meeting while her brain runs a marathon of unspoken thoughts. I think this may be partly due to the fact that I grew up in a household where asking questions was a sign of disrespect and a shortcut to getting scolded - but that is a therapy session for another day.
When I started this new job, I took it upon myself to change this. I changed the narrative in my head that everything I said had to be perfectly formulated and rehearsed before they came out of my mouth. Instead, I told myself that it is okay to fumble, stammer, and to be a walking work-in progress.
I’ll admit, I’m still stumbling my way through it- as the nerves don’t just disappear, but it’s getting easier every day, and I’m feeling more and more like the chatty and carefree kid I once was.
Insist on maintaining your values where it matters.
Aside from learning a new industry, one of the more challenging aspects of this transition, is learning how to avoid office politics and to always treat people as humans first and as means to an end goal, never.
I think it can be incredibly easy to fall into the trap of forgetting that when you hit send on an email - you are communicating to a person on the other side. Treating people with dignity and respect, and approaching people with curiosity and openness has been imperative to me in any workplace.
I haven’t been perfect in this area, but I always operate with this mentality as my north star. What I’ve learned in my professional life- and in my personal life- is that being kind and building real connections with others makes work way less painful. In my experience, the more you invest in understanding how others work and communicate - the smoother things will go - eventually.
That’s all I got.
Cheers,
Dani
