There was this situation when I found myself standing at crossroads where both roads can take you to you where you want to go.

Earlier this week I visited a prospective client for the very first time. We (my colleagues and I) spent a lot of time learning about the company culture and about what they do. I must say, I was very impressed with their history and their current position in the market. The family owned business is one of the largest employers in the region and go back almost two centuries. Pretty impressive!

Yet they are currently facing a big challenge. Their rich culture and high ideals are not resonating with the younger generation and they are finding it extremely difficult to acquire the talent for tomorrow. That was the reason why I was sitting across the table of the HR Director.

Although they have a pretty great team in place, my client lacks diversity. This is what they are trying to change after 190 years of having employees almost solely from the region. They have taken the necessary measures, have introduced procedures to improve acceptance and inclusion and they regularly organise team coaching sessions for the same purpose.

This could be the story of almost any organisation. The difference here is, the measures that are being taken are not working quite as expected. They agree, as do we, that they still have a long way to go and it will be a few years, to say the least, before any change is visible. Till then anybody from the outer circle is going to have a hard time working there.

We need to find the talents of tomorrow for certain key positions, preferably young people with fresh ideas and innovative approaches.

I feel a moral responsibility towards my candidates. Now I cannot possibly tell them the complete truth. Neither do I want to keep this important piece of information from them. This will surely affect their decision about the offer. I don’t want to be responsible for putting anyone in a position where they may end up feeling frustrated after a little while and be unable to perform. This can have devastating effects on ones self esteem. This is someone’s career, someone’s life that we are talking about. I am in the business of building trust, not breaking it.

Then again, I also feel for my client. If they do not get what they are looking for, the company will soon run into trouble. The vision of a company that is fit for the future, a workplace that is diverse and inclusive will remain just a dream. It is a known fact that they are trying, they are taking the right steps. I don’t want them turn my back on them as well.

I don’t want to rush into any decision. I need time to think.

Can anyone relate? How do think this will turn out?

“Range” – back in the day, it seems like an era now, this was the name I had chosen for the line of fashion garments that I would launch at some point in my life.

A young fashion designing student at the time, I had a clear business plan chalked out in my head- how to start, what to create, how to grow and even a fall back plan. The colourful logo was ready and I had already started working on my portfolio. There was a lot of planning going on in my head as I desperately tried to juggle my vocational training alongside my full time university degree. The 19 hour days somehow did not bother my nineteen year old self at that time because I was quite sure that things would work out pretty much the way I wanted them to, if I was determined and willing to work hard.

The reason I am writing this, is because life rarely turns out as we expect or want it to be. At times, irrespective of how diligent we are, we find ourselves confronted with situations that leave us with no other choice than to give up on our dreams, to change directions and forces us to start all over again. Most of us who have been in or have faced similar situations, had to learn some lessons the hard way. Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining. In fact quite the opposite. How we deal with disappointments speak a lot about us. Just imagine facing disappointment for the first time only much later in life, when the stakes are a lot higher. What a disaster would that be…

Surely enough, my plan did not materialise. Realisation dawned on me after two years and I finally swallowed down my super sized ego and decided to let go of a plan that at the very best could be called vain. The entire incident and those years were not lost on me. They enriched me as a person and I learnt a few very important life lessons – hard work alone neither guarantees you success nor satisfaction. It keeps you occupied at best and in the end just makes you tired.

So how did I finally get there? I got help, I explicitly asked for help. It’s collaborating with the right people, being at the right place at the right time, making informed decisions and knowing when to give up, that helped me change my life the way I wanted it to. It was only after I started working hard ‘intelligently’ did I manage to move ahead. The leaps and bounds don’t get you too far, the baby steps do.

Here I am today, doing something entirely different, a profession that I was not even aware of existed at that time. Long story short – I studied Psychology, am a mother to two amazing kids and work as a recruiter in Europe. (Why recruiter??? That’s for another time) Little incidents, like the one I mentioned earlier, in our private or professional lives, shape our future selves. It tells a story and shows a path at the same time. It’s not just about what you have done in the past but about how that has prepared you for the future, it’s about where you can be.

No advice, no career tips, no foolproof way to land your dream job (because there is none). I want to share my experiences with you here and hope that you can relate to them in your own way. Some of them may be enlightening, some inspiring, some sad and some just outright hilarious… but all of them great experiences.

See you soon. Ciao.