Happen To Your Career - Meaningful Work, Career Change, Career Design, & Job Search

Stuck in the wrong career in 2026? Here's what most career advice ignores: the cost of staying in the wrong career isn't just how you feel on Sunday nights. It shows up in your body. It shows up in your bank account. And it quietly shapes your entire professional identity, often before you ever realize it's happening.
Whether you're trying to figure out how to change careers without taking a pay cut, how to find the right career fit, or why staying in a job you hate is costing you more than you think, this episode breaks down the three hidden costs of career misfit and exactly how real people finally got it right.
 
What you'll learn
Why your body may already be signaling a bad career fit — and why the exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix and the stress that weekends don't touch isn't something you just push through
The truth about "golden handcuffs" — how a good salary, flexibility, and supportive colleagues can become a cage that keeps you stuck longer than you ever intended
The most dangerous career mistake most people make twice — leaving reactively, without knowing what you actually want, and ending up in another version of the same wrong fit
How to identify your Ideal Career Profile — why the people who land in the right career start with signature strengths and personal values, not job titles or industries
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Figuring Out Your Perfect Career Match (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
An Overthinker's Guide To Making Better Career Decisions (Spotify /Apple Podcasts)

Just got laid off in 2026? Whether you're trying to figure out what to do after a layoff, how to job search after being laid off, or how to land a better job without taking a pay cut, this episode breaks down exactly what to do in the first 48 hours after receiving the news.
For most who experience a layoff, their first instinct is to fix it fast. Polish the resume. Post "open to work" on LinkedIn. Start applying Monday morning. That instinct is the exact move that turns a 3-month job search into a 9-month one, and the reason most laid-off professionals end up taking a pay cut instead of a pay raise.
The first 48 hours after a layoff decide the next 9 months of your career. Most laid-off professionals make the same mistakes in those first two days, and those mistakes cost them months and thousands of dollars. A small percentage do the opposite, and they often end up earning more in their next role.
In this episode, we unpack the 3 biggest mistakes laid-off professionals make and the 3 actions that actually move you forward. Whether you're navigating a tech layoff, corporate layoff, or any career change after being laid off, this is the layoff recovery guide for 2026.
What you'll learn
What to do in the first 48 hours after a layoff (and what NOT to do)
The 3 layoff mistakes that add 6 months to your job search
How to negotiate severance and avoid signing away leverage
How to job search after a layoff without taking a pay cut
How to turn a layoff into a pay raise and a career upgrade
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
 
Mentioned Episodes:
HTYC642: From Layoff to Leveling Up Your Career (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
HTYC644: Laid Off and Scared? How to Turn Setbacks Into Career Opportunities (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Job searching in 2026 has become harder than ever. Whether you're navigating a career change, looking for a job in a tough job market, or trying to get hired when AI is flooding hiring inboxes, this episode of Happen To Your Career breaks down the secret to effectively job searching in 2026 and how to land a job you love without sending hundreds of applications.
 
What you'll learn
Why specificity (not volume) is what actually gets you hired in 2026
How to stand out when AI is writing everyone else's applications
How to build your Ideal Career Profile to focus your job search
How to use AI in your job search without sounding like a bot
How to get hired through real conversations (not cold applications)
Why applying to fewer jobs leads to more job offers
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
How to Figure Out What You Really Want (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
 
Mentioned Episodes:
HTYC393 - Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
HTYC419 - Leveraging What Makes You Unique: The Key to Your Career Change (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
HTYC510 - How To Turn Rejection Into An Opportunity With Your Ideal Organization (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
HTYC558 - The Secret to Effectively Job Searching in 2024 (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
HTYC692 - The 4 AI-Proof Skills That Pay Really Well (Even With AI Job Displacement) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

Career change after 30 years? Career change at 50+? Mid-career pivot?
If any of those describe where you are right now, this episode is for you.
Monika Herdlick spent 30 years as a flight test engineer and Army Reserve helicopter pilot. By every external measure, she was winning — federal service, world travel, flexibility, a strong paycheck. But the work had quietly stopped fitting, and she didn't know how to leave the good job she'd outgrown.
What Monika did next is the part of every career change story people don't talk about: months of quiet, uncomfortable work — networking conversations, career experiments, sitting in the in-between space without a plan.
The result? She was hired as Director of Programs and Partnerships at a growing defense company for a role she never applied for. Part-time by design. With room to finish her yoga instructor certification and keep bees.
 
In this episode, you'll learn:
How to know it's time to leave a good job after 30 years
How to make a career change at 50+ without starting over
How to get hired without applying through strategic networking
Why clarity comes from action, not the other way around
How to build a mid-career pivot that actually fits your life
If you're considering a career change after 30 years in the same field, this conversation will show you what's possible.
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Designing Career Experiments and Testing New Careers (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Should I Quit My Job? How to Know It's Time (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)

If your job search isn't working, the problem isn't your resume. It's 4 specific job search mistakes most people make without realizing: the wrong mindset, the wrong order, the wrong criteria, and the wrong mode.
In this episode, we break down each mistake — including how one of our clients went from submitting hundreds of applications and 4 months of silence to 2 offers in 8 days, why referrals produce 69% interview rates vs. 8% for cold applications, and how to stop sending applications into a void and start getting hired into work that fits.
What you'll learn
The 4 job search mistakes killing your chances of getting hired
Why "just apply to more jobs" is the worst job search advice
How to flip your job search from outside-in to inside-out
Why relational job searching beats transactional applications by 8x
How to get hired into work that actually fits, not just another job
If your job search isn't working, you're stuck in endless applications, getting ghosted, or tempted to settle for the wrong role — this episode is your playbook for fixing what's wrong with your job search and getting hired into work that actually fits.
 
Our book, Happen To Your Career: An Unconventional Approach To Career Change and Meaningful Work, is now available on audiobook! Visit  happentoyourcareer.com/audible to order it now! Visit happentoyourcareer.com/book for more information or buy the print or ebook here!
Want to chat with our team about your unique situation? Schedule a conversation
 
Free Resources
What career fits you? Join our free 8 Day Mini Course to figure it out!
Career Change Guide - Learn how high-performers discover their ideal career and find meaningful, well-paid work without starting over.
 
Related Episodes
Six Career Experiments To Help You Discover Your Ideal New Role (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
Changing Careers (When You Don't Know Your Next Job Title) (Spotify / Apple Podcasts)
 
Get the audiobook here for free (limited time only!) - https://happentoyourcareer.com/audiobook