Ronda Colavito

I had a plan for my ideal next career move sitting on a shelf. Before the pandemic, my coach, Christine, helped me create it: I wanted my own coaching and consulting business. But it felt too scary, a bit of a pipe dream. It was a someday plan. The reason it stayed on the shelf was money. I’m financially conservative. For years, I balanced my need for meaningful work with financial security by working for someone else. I had a steady paycheck, a 401(k), stock options, great benefits, and a...

October is an anniversary of sorts for me. I got my layoff notice at the end of September three years ago and spent the month of October wrapping things up and offboarding. If you looked back at my LinkedIn posts from those days, you would never have known I was going through that. So many people post immediately and ask for help. And I so admire that. But I tend to process things internally before I process them externally. I was processing a complex mix of embarrassment, anger, rejection,...

I was well into my second career before I started negotiating job offers. Honestly, I was just excited that my career was moving forward so rapidly that it never occurred to me to ask for more. I remember how nervous I was the first time I made a counteroffer. Making more money and building equity was more important to me than just trading one job for another. And you know what? It worked. I knew they really wanted me to join the team, and it dawned on me that my job search wasn’t over just...