Happen To Your Career - Meaningful Work, Career Change, Career Design, & Job Search

If you've taken time away from your career and you're wondering how to come back without explaining the gap or apologizing for your time off, this episode is for you.
Caroline spent 17 years at one of the Big Four firms before hitting full-on burnout. After years of being passed over for promotions and navigating a system that forced competition over collaboration, she woke up one day and thought, "I can't do this anymore."
She resigned. Took two years away. Moved countries. Completely reset her life. Then she had to figure out how to come back. This wasn't a standard return-to-work story.
Caroline used a strengths assessment to identify her transferable value, named exactly what she wanted instead of apologizing for the gap, turned down the first offer that didn't fit, and ended up with a role at a mid-size entrepreneurial company working three days a week, 24 hours split across her schedule.
This episode unpacks how to return to work after burnout and a career break, why your transferable skills matter more than your job titles, and how Caroline negotiated her way into flexible part-time work that fit both her home life and her work life.
What you'll learn:
How to translate years of corporate experience into a compelling value proposition after a career break
Why year 8, 13, or 18 at the same company often becomes a breaking point (and how to spot it before you hit it)
How to use a strengths assessment to rebuild confidence and articulate your transferable skills
Why stating exactly what you want works better than apologizing for your time away
How to negotiate flexible part-time work even when the first offer doesn't fit
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Discover Your Strengths to Find Your Ideal Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

If your career looks successful on paper but feels off inside, you're not alone. Many mid-career professionals reach a point where the work that used to fit no longer does. Breanne Gjurich-Wozniak's story is one path forward: a portfolio career that combined her biotech expertise with her animal welfare interests.
Breanne had a career that looked solid from the outside. Biotech R&D, then regulatory work submitting new technologies to the FDA. Director-level. Real success.
Inside, the fit was changing. The work was drifting.She started looking at R&D and regulatory roles she was qualified for. Nothing gave her any excitement. That's when she found HTYC's free 8-day mini course and joined the Career Change Bootcamp.
She built one 5-year career plan with her manager and a separate one with her career coach. The two plans were so different. The energy in each was so different. She knew it was time to leave.
What followed wasn't a traditional job search. It was 20 conversations with strangers, a series of career experiments, and surprising feedback from people who'd only met her for an hour. Her coach introduced the idea of a portfolio career: multiple types of work, multiple interests, all under one umbrella. Breanne built a consulting business that combined her biotech expertise with the animal welfare work she'd always wanted to do.
What you'll learn:
The 5-year career plan exercise that reveals when your current path no longer fits
How to use Social Goldilocks conversations to get strangers to see what you can't about yourself
What a portfolio career actually looks like (and why one full-time job isn't always the right structure)
How to translate decades of industry experience into consulting work
Why "successful on paper" is the hardest career trap to leave
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
Related Episodes
Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

If your job search isn't working and you're sending more applications hoping something sticks, you're not alone. Mass applying is the most common job search mistake, and the mindset shift and targeted strategy that fix it took Stephanie Drumright from silence to two offers in 8 days.
Stephanie had sent 145 applications in 6 months. Five got her into interviews. None turned into an offer. She had a visa clock ticking, and her instinct was to apply to more jobs, broader roles, anything that might stick. So she changed her approach completely.
She narrowed her criteria to Head of Operations or similar roles, companies under 250 people, a hybrid setup, and a specific values fit. Instead of applying like someone trying to earn her way in, she searched like someone with standards. 8 days later, she had 2 offers.
This episode unpacks the job search psychology behind why mass applying fails, the cognitive load that drains your interview performance, and how the shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset turns a targeted job search into real interviews and offers.
What you'll learn:
Why sending more applications when you're scared often makes your job search harder, not easier
The cognitive load cost that's draining your interview performance behind the scenes
How to shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset in your job search
Stephanie's exact criteria framework that took her from 145 applications to 2 offers in 8 days
The identity shift from applicant trying to earn a yes to candidate with standards
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
 
Mentioned Episode:
Episode 612 - Stephanie Drumright (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

You started this course with a question that's been hard to answer for years: what kind of work actually fits me? By the end of today, you've done what most high performers spend years circling without ever doing. You've looked at your past honestly, named what you want, and held real opportunities up against real criteria.
In Day 8, the final day of the What Fits You 8-Day Mini Course, Scott walks you through what comes after the clarity. Whether you've made a decision or you're still working it out, this is the conversation about what happens next.
Clarity is the start, not the finish line.
What you'll learn:
Why getting clear is the beginning of the work, not the end of it
The two situations almost everyone lands in after finishing this course, and what to do in each
Why most people don't make their next move immediately after completing the course, and why that's normal
The free resources we share with clients in your position
How to know if having a team walk this with you would speed up your next step
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Executive Burnout: Making A Midlife Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
 
Mentioned Episode:
What Fits You - Introduction (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 1 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 2 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 3 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 4 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 5 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 6 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
What Fits You - Day 7 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)