Color Your Parachute: A Metaphor for Career Innovation

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Nakita Savant, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

A career is like an airplane, it can take you to amazing places, uncover and develop new skills, teach you about people and processes and award you with financial benefits. It can also malfunction, slow down, change routes and threaten to crash. That’s when you have to decide, what color is your parachute?

Several years ago, I was released from a 9-year position in corporate America, due to a simple misunderstanding. In my naivete, I was shocked to learn that something doesn’t have to be a conflict of interest, it merely has to look like one to crash a coasting career. With a doctorate degree in Higher Education Leadership, I never anticipated working in the corporate world in the first place. There was no opportunity for advancement because I was overqualified for little steps up the ladder and underqualified for the bigger steps. I was stuck and so when the termination call came, I was relieved.

Having been in the corporate education world for almost 10 years (and higher education for 24 years), meant that I had unknowingly branded myself as a “corporate worker”. Even though in today’s world people change jobs every 5 or so years, the pre-1970’s mindset of being at one job for a lifetime is still prevalent. Upon my release, the anxiety set in. I needed re-employment immediately to support my family. I was out of practice for job searching and interviewing. I read “What Color is your Parachute” by Richard Bolles and learned about the last 45 years of best practices in career transition and acquisition. More importantly, I completed all of the assignments in the book, which helped me remember who I am and what my values are. That led me toward two, parallel paths to “color my parachute”. I joined a Therapeutic Coaching © certification program to revive my passion for transformation and I used my Master’s degree in English and writing skills to reconstruct my resume, cover letters, and my brand statement. I created an All-Star LinkedIn account and began networking.

Now, I am a Therapeutic Coach, helping people like you discover how to be the pilot and/or a safe passenger on your career airplane. In today’s economy, both pilot and passenger need a parachute to jump to a new plane or land safely in your chosen territory. Whether it is emotional, spiritual or practical changes you need, Therapeutic Coaching © will help you heal, release and transform the part of you that prevents your success, so you can create the career you deserve. The coaching process is grounded in NLP and is client-centered with eclectic strategies like guided imagery, hypnotherapy, and a holistic, whole life approach.

Schedule a session with Dr. Savant now.