Before you hang up…
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
This Career Story is the final story in the Career Insight #1 series, I Feel Stuck in My Career. Where Do I Even Start?, exploring how small actions and unexpected moments can sometimes create career direction. Image: sulliwx / Pexels.
A client once shared a story that has stayed with me.
He had recently returned home after living overseas and was trying to rebuild his teaching career.
Casual teaching work was scarce. He was doing the things you might expect, making himself available, letting people know he was looking and hoping the phone might ring.
But not much was happening.
Eventually, he decided to stop waiting for the phone to ring.
He started making a few calls himself.
The wrong call
One morning, he contacted a primary school where he thought he might be remembered.
The conversation was already underway when something began to feel wrong.
Then he realised.
He had called the wrong school.
Not the school he intended to contact. Not the people who might remember him. Just the wrong number on his list.
Embarrassed, he apologised.
It would have been very easy to end the call there.
In fact, that was exactly what he was about to do.
Then he paused.
“Actually... before I go... would it be worth sending you my resume?”
The Deputy Principal said yes.
So he sent it.
Then the phone rang
The following week, a teacher at that school called in sick.
Someone needed to cover the class.
His resume was there.
He got the call.
One day of casual teaching became another opportunity, and then more opportunities followed.
Months later, when he told me the story, he laughed about it.
Not because he'd called the wrong school.
Because he had almost hung up.
“Most conversations end. The one you almost didn’t have can change your direction.”
Not every opportunity arrives according to plan
We often imagine career progress as something orderly.
Choose a direction.
Make a plan.
Take the right steps.
Get the result.
Sometimes it works like that.
But careers are also full of chance encounters, unexpected conversations, changed circumstances and, occasionally, mistakes.
The challenge is that we cannot predict which of those moments will matter.
What we can influence is what we do when they appear.
This client could not have planned to phone the wrong school.
What he could do was recognise that the conversation did not necessarily have to end just because it had not gone according to plan.
The mistake wasn't the opportunity. What he did next created the opportunity.
Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable
There is another part of this story that matters.
He had to make the calls in the first place.
For many people, that is uncomfortable.
Calling someone you don't know particularly well.
Asking whether there might be work.
Sending the email.
Following up.
Telling someone you're considering a career change.
Reconnecting with someone after years without contact.
Asking a question when the answer might be no.
None of these guarantees an opportunity.
But avoiding the discomfort can guarantee something else.
The conversation never happens.
Sometimes career progress requires us to become just a little more comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Not reckless.
Not pushy.
Just willing to put ourselves into situations where something might happen.
When you're feeling stuck
This is one of the ideas behind Career Insight #1, I Feel Stuck in My Career. Where Do I Even Start?
Feeling stuck can create the impression that we need to solve everything before we can move.
We don't.
Sometimes we need to research.
Sometimes we need to reflect.
Sometimes we need to understand ourselves better.
And sometimes we simply need to create another possibility.
One email.
One application.
One introduction.
One phone call.
One question before hanging up.
None of those actions has to determine the rest of your career.
It only has to create some new information, another connection or a possibility that wasn't there yesterday.
And sometimes, unexpectedly, the phone rings.
A final reflection
What conversation have you been putting off?
You don't need to know where it will lead. Perhaps the more useful question is simply whether it's worth starting the conversation at all.