Sample survey comments:
“I have moved up very quickly in comparison to some of my peers, but I feel the pace for me personally has been about right. I’ve never been in a position where I have felt overwhelmed by the job. If anything I feel frustrated if I’m not given a new goal. I’m ready for it!”
“I received promotions and lateral job opportunities earlier than my colleagues with similar work experience. Compared to my colleagues, I have been very successful, but I still feel like I have been ready for even more aggressive promotions/opportunities than I have received.”
“At the time, it seemed slow. In hindsight, however, I enjoyed many promotions in a relatively short period of time.”
“I have had a strong career progression, but in my mind, even now, not near full potential. Even at the VP level, success has come fairly easily.”
Job jumping is okay. These days, if a person has the experience and knowledge, she can always get another job. So if the job no longer provides new and exciting challenges, mental stimulation, and a boss that allows you to work and flourish on your own, it is okay to move on to the next opportunity.
Sample interview responses:
(AS) “My tendency is to keep my eye out for greener pastures. So far, I don’t see the downside…I can always get work. I’m not worried about it. I could quit today and have a job tomorrow, and probably making the same amount of money…There are lots of opportunities for me with my experience and education.”
(JE) “Until I found my current work, I would work for a while at something new until it got old. Then, before moving on to something new, I’d feel stifled, even like I was suffocating.”
(BS) “…it becomes figuring out how to pull yourself up by your boot straps and get out of there before your psyche gets damaged…When people stay too long, they begin to believe they aren’t worthy enough to find something else.”
(NM) “I was always the top sales person. But then when I was done with sales, I knew I was done, I needed something different.”
(DK) “I’m always on to my next goal or adventure…Some people quit their job or they quit their boss; I think for me I always outgrew my experience…when I start, I have good intentions of staying in a company, but after 2, 3 at the most 4 years…you know, it really doesn’t affect you getting another job. There’s always another job if you want one.”
(EM) When asked about what effect having a baby will have on her career path, she said there was no possibility of that changing the pattern her career has taken. “I need to have challenges. So just absolutely no, I wouldn’t stay home. I think I’ll be a better mother, probably be a better person…in a position where my office is out of the house and always offering new challenges.”
(AW) “We were in Washington a year and a half. Interesting, it took me 8 weeks to get a job once we got there, and I was just devastated because I’d never gone on a job interview where I didn’t get the job.”
(KP) “After 3 ½ years…I was ready to move up but my boss wasn’t going anywhere, so if I stayed I would have been bored to death… I took a risk and went to a high tech telecommunications startup…Yeah, I get bored easily. That’s an ongoing problem.”
