I don’t like Halloween.

I don’t like feeling scared.

I don’t watch horror movies.

However, I do like the candy: full-size Hershey bars or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

But this year, it seems, perhaps more than ever, that mid-career has been filled with more tricks than treats.

For example, let’s talk about “being ghosted.”

 It’s not necessarily scary, but it is rude.

You’ve talked to a recruiter. You’re excited about interviewing for the position. You actually interview. And then you hear nothing.

Crickets.

Why does this happen?

There are many reasons why ghosting happens.

In some cases, recruiters and HR professionals are overwhelmed and people, unfortunately, slip through the cracks.

It doesn’t make it right.

In other cases, they found someone else for the position or the position has been eliminated.

Again, it doesn’t make it right that you weren’t informed about the position’s status.

In one case, the hiring manager died unexpectedly. 

And in addition to ghosting, mid-career professionals have experienced restructuring and reorganizations, layoffs, lack of feedback, performance reviews that are nothing more than “check-the-box” activities, more work, less recognition, and bad leadership.

For some, it’s no wonder they shut their computer at the end of the day and run away screaming.

As a leadership and career coach, I’m often asked how someone can combat these things.

I don’t have a canned response.

What I do say is, “How we SHOW UP matters.”

And then, I get very curious about what that means to them.

It’s no trick, but it is the best strategy in your toolkit to handle any career or leadership situation.

With coaching, we explore what it means to SHOW UP for you through six strategies you can apply, individually or together, to any situation.

My career and leadership development began to change when I started SHOWing UP differently, and that’s why I care so deeply about helping mid-career professionals make dynamic and impactful changes in their leadership and career journeys.

Every week, I write to my email subscribers, and it’s a free newsletter you can join by clicking here. 

This is the one place where you are guaranteed to get helpful insights and information about your mid-career leadership and career journey as you build Your Mid-Career GPS for whatever is next for you and your career.

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Remember, how you SHOW UP matters.