Overcoming Challenges Or Pivotal Moments In Your Career

Everyone has them. Those moments when you are faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges in your career. From job changes to suffering from imposter syndrome, it’s often hard to find your way through the quagmire confronting you.

Often, it’s comforting to realise you are not alone. Others too, face the same issues and it’s helpful to understand how people overcame challenges they faced or how they dealt with pivotal moments in their career. Women Love Tech asked three women from MYOB to describe the critical times in their career. And it’s clear that those moments made them stronger. Here’s what they had to say:

Mallory Martel, Acquisition Marketing Manager

A critical moment of my career came at the very beginning. The founder of a small energy start-up hired me with little experience and a degree from an overseas university. He instilled in me the importance of hiring for attitude and training for skill, which I absolutely live by in my career today. The company was also the first in their category to be completely ‘online’, which provided me with digital capabilities a lot of my peers were not equipped with at the time. That role, and the manager who hired me, is absolutely the reason I am where I am today.

Shannon Tresider, Development Manager

The jump from being a manager to managing managers of technical teams was a pivotal point in my career journey. It was the first time in my career that I needed to truly reflect on my experience, capabilities and belief that this was something I could be highly successful at. Overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’ will always be a challenge for me, especially in new environments and domains. I found that surrounding myself with supporters in my career both professionally and personally enabled me to transition, succeed and flourish in the environment.

Sianead Kenneally, People Business Partner

I was craving a ‘career sea change’ from my people role in commercial law; one where I could be creative, closer to the action and in a business-oriented role where the customer was at the forefront of the company’s purpose. I was drawn to tech but thought my lack of experience would hold me back. Despite that I took a leap of faith leaving my permanent position to accept a six-month contract role at MYOB after it was highly recommended to me as a workplace by a former employee. The contract led to a permanent opportunity as Business Partner advising the Product and Technology teams. Never have I learned so much in one role, and full credit goes to my peers, particularly my manager for hiring me from a different career background. Three years on I absolutely love my job, along with the exciting challenges that come with it!