In this episode of Life, Lemons & LemonDrops, hosts Greer and Whitnie tackle a subject that you may have faced--not getting a job you are more than qualified for, for reasons having nothing to do with your qualifications for the job. Sometimes, it's political, sometimes it's personal, but it's always painful. However it shakes out, you have to decide how you will handle it.
As a career management and transition coach, Whitnie sees all too often how job seekers don't value their worth enough to walk away from an application process when red lights are blaring. Those tell tale signs send all the messages needed to understand the the pitfalls that lie ahead. Most don't feel they can turn away any opportunity, let alone one they want, but in failing to do so, they end up subjecting themselves to something worse than if they'd simply chosen to go in a different direction in the first place. That's the choice Nikole Hannah-Jones made when she walked away from a tenured position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to instead join the faculty at Howard University.
If you've been paying any attention, you'll know that Hannah-Jones is an award-winning investigative journalist, including a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, a MacArthur genius grant and a Peabody Award. She is an alumna of the very institution, UNC, that originally punted on her tenure application, then only after mounting pressure voted 9-4 to grant tenure. Hannah-Jones would be no different than most of us if she relished the idea of turning down the job, but dreaded the hassle of doing so and finding other opportunities. Ultimately, she triumphed with her ability to see that while her eventual path may not have been your preferred one, the one she ultimately travelled will have greater purpose in the long run.
Hannah-Jones' story, while the impetus of this episode, is about so much more. It's about you. It's about your choices and how you can elect to take the scraps someone else throws your way or you can stand up for yourself, defend what you believe is right and create an outcome that serves you beyond your ego and pocketbook.
To read Nikole Hannah-Jones's statement on why she decline the UNC offer, instead opting to take her talents to Howard University, click here.
To read the UNC Chancellor's statement in response to the Board of Trustee's vote to offer tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, click here, and to read about her choice to decline their offer, click here.
If you need assistance with career management or a transition whether to another position or entrepreneurship, book a strategy session with Whitnie today.
