26 Aug 2024 4 min read

Carrying last-job baggage

Career transitions aren't as simple as stepping to the next rung

I remember so clearly leaving the office building at my marketing job for the last time.

As I prepared to walk out the door, I pictured all the worries and cares associated with the job as rocks filling an imaginary backpack I was carrying. At the moment I opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight, I imagined the bag crashing to the ground behind me, the weight lifted from my shoulders.

If only.

When I started my new job, I found that many of the assumptions and approaches I carried in my previous role were still with me. As I had left a legacy publishing company to join a startup, this left me very out of sync with my new company. It took me a while, for instance, to understand that I no longer needed approval to post updates about our work on social media. It took me even longer to stop feeling nervous about it.

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Instead of imagining all my learned habits would magically fall away the moment I left the building, I could have accepted that they’d be riding along with me for a while yet.

When we start a new role, either at our existing employer or a new company, it’s tempting to picture ourselves as immediately and seamlessly moving to a new rung on the career ladder. But in reality, we’re still carrying the experiences from our previous job with us. And we may not feel comfortable yet with the job we’re starting.

It’s more accurate to see each role as a marker along our career river map. Whatever we’ve been experiencing from our previous job is going to flow forward into our next job. That could mean dealing with the emotional fallout from a toxic workplace; it could also mean grieving for a wonderful job that’s now gone.

It’s unfair to expect that, just because our title or company has changed, whatever we’ve carried from our last role will immediately vanish. And it’s also unfair to assume that we’ll immediately feel comfortable in our new position. Let’s extend ourselves the grace and space to move forward in our own time.

‘I hate transitions’

When I told my first boss I hated transitions, what I really meant was I was uncomfortable with the uncertainty that came with them. This was especially true whenever I moved into a new role and I’d feel a disconnect between my shiny new title and whether I was really up to the job. It’s like I expected to immediately be the A-plus version of whatever role I had just started.

Today, when people ask how my new role is going as a boomerang employee, I say it’s great not to be pressuring myself to prove I’m worthy. I am more comfortable admitting when I don’t know something or asking for help without worrying about how that might reflect on my perceived capability. That can only come with time.

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New roles are meant to be grown into, not immediately worn like a tailored suit. Sometimes we may need to Mary Manhattan our way through, combating imposter syndrome by acting the part. Even CEOs are encouraged to use their first six to 12 months, not just 100 days, to successfully transition to their new role.

Flow toward the future

I would like to personally thank the person who designed the hospital gown I wore when I was about to have my daughter.

I was sitting in the operating room before an emergency C-section, and noticed the pink gown was printed all over with small phrases: “birthdays,” “movie nights,” “bedtime stories.” All the things we could look forward to enjoying together, once we got past the challenge of the immediate future. It calmed me immensely.

Appropriately, years later my baby girl would tell me I should put my feelings “in the future,” inspiring the Career River approach.

We experience life as a slow unfolding, not a series of clearly defined steps. We can look forward to what’s to come while honoring the work it will take to get there. A new job, a new company or a new career are all markers along the way. Confidence, comfort and credibility — same as birthdays, movie nights and bedtime stories — will come with time.

Happy navigating,
Bridget

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