The Downside to the Upside of a Career Move

I’m in the business of helping people move in their careers. I even send up cryptic announcements when one of my clients lands a new role on Facebook and Twitter. Cryptic so that I don’t show who is moving or even the specific company or job or that I played a role in the career move. These are such happy moments since I know the work that went into saying yes to the new position that I rarely think of the downside.

Yesterday at the end of our service, my pastor for the past 6 1/2 years announced that he and his family will be moving to Minnesota at the end of December to take a new pastor role there. By the time I walked out, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I know they will bless the new congregation and I know they will be blessed by the new experience. Though I have known many pastors before, Pastor Tim’s gift of preaching had me excited to come to worship. He brought many other good things to the church and I will miss him.

When you leave your job, you leave people behind

When you leave somewhere for a career move, you leave people behind. Everyone is different but I know for me, I have generally made a clean break. I rarely return to places I worked previously. We lived in two other communities earlier in our marriage but I never returned to either city much less the workplaces. I totally lost contact with everyone I ever worked with in property management. I learned on Google that the owner of the company I worked for is dead. He died of cancer in 2008. Maybe I took it to the extreme but many times you do lose touch.

You have more options to stay in touch

With social media, you have more choices today. I am still connected with many people who were a part of Wausau Whitewater on Facebook. I still communicate with a few Kiwanis members in real life and on social media. The intern who was very helpful a few years back stayed connected on Facebook and even though she now lives in North Carolina, I still stay in touch. She only worked with me for six months but thanks to connecting on social media, she is still part of my life.

You will leave holes

There are people who moved on in my life who have left holes. Pastor Tim and his wife, Joanne, and their family will leave holes. You will leave holes when you move on to your next role. What you do to stay connected is always your choice. Networking, however, means keeping the connections that build you no matter where you go in life. Some people think it is best to leave the old connections behind and even feel they should be very vocal about their discontent when they leave. My advice is to never burn a bridge. In today’s world, we are connected globally in milliseconds.

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