A client came to me very distressed with her current situation at work. She had been a Chef for 20 years and had never done any other job. She had suffered extreme stress, being on her feet for 14 hours a day, over long periods of time and the final straw came when she had a nasty accident in the kitchen at work, which resulted in her being off work for several months.
She realised over this time that she couldn’t go back to this job, or do this career any longer, but she was completely lost and had no idea what else she could do. When she came to me she was completely broken.
How we worked together
First Session
We explored the issues and decided on a plan of action over the duration of our sessions
Second Session
After our first session, we started to create a vision of how she wanted her vision to look and soon established that she loved working with people, she had great people skills. She had been the Head Chef for several years, so she clearly had leadership skills.
Sessions 3-5
In our following sessions we started to create a project plan to make the changes in her life and reach the goals that she wanted. It wasn’t long after this that a large department store opened close to where she lived and a management role was advertised. She considered this, but didn’t think she had the skill set.
Sessions 6-9
We therefore started with her CV and re-wrote it, looking at what the job advert wanted. They wanted people with leadership and management skills. My client had an abundance of this from her role as a Head Chef. They wanted someone with good communication skills. My client had these, because she was good at communicating to other people in the restaurant what to do and always got the orders out on time.
Session 10-11
My client made the application and got an invite to the interview. In the meantime we practiced some mindfulness, which she continues to practice regularly to help her deal with her anxiety, work on her assertiveness and re-build her self-esteem.
She went to the interview and was offered the job immediately. She is now thriving and loving her new role. This is proof that you can change and you can adapt your skills to another role. Sometimes you may just need a little help to get you there.
