Change of Life
 
I was 30 years old, 8 of which were of professional life, I was a Manager in a big 4, in the fiscal area...
 
And there was a song by Humanos/António Variações called "Muda de Vida" that kept in my head...
 
“Change your life
If you do not live satisfied
Change your life
There is always time to change
Change your life
You shouldn't live against your will
Change your life if
There is life throbbing in you
Seeing you smile, I never did
And hearing you sing, I never have
Is it from you or do you think you have
To be like this?”
 
I liked the company where I worked and, essentially, I liked the people I worked with.  People who helped me grow as a professional and for whom I will always feel an enormous gratitude for the great contribution they made to my development*. But to be totally honest, I always knew that, compared to me, these same people had a huge competitive advantage, they were excited about what they did. And I was missing that essential part, which was loving my work. 
 
Here we had a problem, to be happy, my personal and professional life have to coexist and make me feel fully realized. And I didn't love what I was doing, I couldn't see myself being a tax specialist until I retired...
 
So what did I do? I talked to friends, asked them what they saw me doing differently, which is a hard question for us, let alone others....
 
I asked them what they understood to be my greatest qualities and also my defects, and at the same time I tried to think what part of my job made me happiest…   
 
I realized that what I liked most was the possibility to interact with other people, whether they were clients or colleagues, and that I felt a real adrenaline rush when I realized how to reach out to others, creating bridges and discovering affinities. Then I realized that I am very focused on action, "making it happen", that I like achievable goals, that I am a generalist (and never a specialist, as I favor knowing a little of a lot, to the detriment of knowing a lot of little), that I am motivated by the quick achievement of results and abhor a lack of diversity. Combining all of this, I realized that a role in a commercial area, or people-related consulting, might make sense.
 
The next step? To find out from people who performed these types of functions, what their day-to-day life was like, what they actually did, what their roles and responsibilities were. These consultations within my network of contacts had a twofold effect: first, it allowed people to help me effectively "imagine" what it would be like to work in those areas, and second, no less important, it alerted them to the fact that I was available to embrace a new challenge. And, in my specific situation, there was an important friend in this story, a friend* who sent my resume to Jason Associates and at that moment my life changed!
 
I should add that in this exercise of self-knowledge, which for me continues to be the secret to good choices, it is also essential that we seek the fit between our characteristics and the culture/state of the organization, because there are companies for all profiles: there are those with an international matrix and/or a collaborative or more competitive culture, and/or that are in a phase of growth, restructuring or cruising speed, etc... And ask, ask for advice and get references about the companies in question, ideally from people who work there (and who can contribute to our move to the organization in question).
 
Finally, we need to do a due diligence on our essence and make sure we know: what we do well, where we add value, and what we like to do. It is in the intersection between these variables that we can find what truly fulfills us.
 
And after this due diligence, what should we do? A resume, with our main responsibilities and objectives met, which we should put online (because linkedin is, nowadays, a real database), in which we should highlight the keywords that we think are important to be detected in searches made by all those who are dedicated to recruitment.
 
And yes, it is true, this whole exercise depends in the first instance on ourselves, in that leaving something as important as our lives in the hands of others doesn't seem very smart to me.
What about you? Do you want to change your life? Then get to work and don't forget: looking for a job is a job (and it takes work). And by the way, don't get stuck in traditional job models, think about all the alternatives (freelancing, Interim Management roles, service provider, entrepreneur, etc.).
 
My thanks to Maria da Luz Barros, Rui Guedes Henriques, Duarte Galhardas, Nuno Pinto, Ricardo Reis, Sofia Almeida Santos, Joana Gonçalves, Margarida Ramos Pereira, Ana Oliveira, Victor Guégués, António Pedro Pereira, Júlio Almeida, Alexandre Fernandes, José Pedro Nunes , Ana Paula Basílio, Rui Camacho Palma, Afonso Arnaldo, Pedro Vasconcellos Silva, Luís Leon, Tiago Marreiros Moreira, Conceição Gamito and João Ferro Rodrigues.