The Career Move that Backfired on Me

Did I ever tell you about the career move that totally backfired on me?

After a lot of deliberation, I’ve decided to talk about it more openly in case it can help someone else not make the same mistake.

It goes like this.

I was really bored at work, looking for a new professional challenge, and found an opportunity unlike anything I’d done before. It came through a sort-of-mentor of mine, someone senior in their career who I’d connected with a few years back. The idea of this job felt like a new window had opened and let in a gust of fresh air.

The job description was a little vague, but I made it through multiple interviews and finally had to put together an interview project presentation.

And that’s when things changed.

I’m sure you know that interview projects aren’t meant to be a piece of cake, but if you’re passionate about the work and the role is a good fit, the end result should at least be rewarding. 

It should at least energize you the tiniest bit, get your mind buzzing with ideas and opportunities for this prospective new role. Get you thinking, “what if…”

This project experience was the opposite. 

I drudged through the finish line, asking myself multiple times along the way, “Do I really want to be doing this?” I felt burnt out already, and I didn’t even have the job.

After finally presenting the project to the interview panel virtually, I hung up the Zoom call, lay on my apartment floor, and thought “I don’t want to do that again.”

Now, I want to pause here and point out that the employees I connected with and who interviewed me were top-notch. So kind, warm, and impossibly bright. I wanted to work with them, to learn from them, and yet…

I knew the opportunity wasn’t right for me.

I knew I wouldn’t like it.

But I said yes anyway.

See, when the hiring manager called with the offer, I gently declined, explaining that I wasn’t 100% about the role.

The disappointment on the other end of the phone was palpable. “Would you take the weekend to think about it more?” he asked.

I was a little caught off guard by the request, but thought, “Okay, I guess I owe them that.”

So I took the weekend and started convincing myself that I needed to take the job now:

“They think I’m a good fit...”

“The work seems really interesting, and it’s what I said I wanted to do…”

“Maybe it’ll feel better once I get used to it…”

And when the hiring manager and I reconnected on Monday, I said yes–  a very half-hearted, unconvincing yes– when, deep down, I knew I still meant no.

Long story short, I didn’t last long at the company.

I hit my breaking point less than a year in. Despite all the support I received from my teammates, the extra guidance from my supervisor, the really strong effort to make it work from all parties– none of it could make up for a wrong fit. 

And while I certainly don’t regret the experience, I learned the hard way to just listen to my gut.

People-pleasing has no place in your career journey. Only you know what’s really right- and wrong- for you.

Simple as that.

KGYGT (keep going, you got this),

Janel