Ingrid (40) from Krommenie had been working in marketing since she was 21. She worked at many different retail companies, but had a lot of bad luck in her career in recent years. It was time to change course. Career coach Frida de Koning of ZW Werkt Door helped her discover what she is really looking for in a job.
From one job to another
Ingrid explains, “It happened a few times that I worked at an advertising agency, but my contract was not renewed due to a reorganization, for example. As a result, almost every year I had to start looking for something new. I became despondent about it. Every time my contract was not renewed, I immediately started looking for new work in the same field. You want to get back to work quickly, after all.”
The turning point came when Ingrid’s contract with her previous employer was once again not renewed. This fell on her raw, partly because the farewell was not pleasant.
Ingrid: “Then I started thinking about how to proceed. I knew I had to take the time to find out what I really liked. People around me also saw it in me: I think that unconsciously you radiate that you are not completely happy in your career.”
“There was more to it than I thought.”
Through an ad on Instagram, ZW Werkt Door came her way. She filled out the contact form and was paired with career coach Frida de Koning.
“I actually clicked with Frida right away. Our first appointment was in her practice room, which I also liked. I must say: there was more to career coaching than I expected. It goes really deep, and I found that exciting. You run into yourself quite a bit.”
Together with Frida, she created a life history, both personal and work: a professional resume and a personal resume. “This made me really see the connection between the two at certain points, because what happens to you in your life also radiates to your work. I felt very quickly familiar with Frida, so I dared to be open and tell everything.”
A new step
“I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want that hard retail world anymore, I just wasn’t happy there. I ended up talking to Frida about the event industry. Now I’m at a company that works in the hospitality industry. My job is a combination of marketing and organizing events, such as restaurant openings.”
Because career coaching helped Ingrid better understand herself and her needs, she managed to find work that really fit. “That piece of marketing is still present in my work, but in this industry it’s much less harsh. I can use my experience from retail marketing, but it’s really a different world. You want to attract people to a restaurant in a positive way: that suits me much better than making hard sales.”
Breaking old patterns
To anyone struggling with their career, Ingrid offers this advice: “Don’t want to rush. Take time to really consider what you like. When you lose your job, you quickly think: I have to work again, I have to make money again. You soon find yourself spiraling out of control, with nothing changing. My career coach really helped me. She gave me the tools I needed to break that pattern.”
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