Expanding my horizons

I have been trying to figure out a way to broach this and get some dialog going on this subject. Over the past few months I have been talking to a variety of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, different skill sets, trying to figure out how I could help them connect to great opportunities. As fate would have it, I ran into a good friend at a networking event last Wednesday evening and the glimpse he gave me of his successful transition makes for a great segue.

I had met this person through volunteering at a Centurion Military Alliance transition event over a year ago. I was surprised when he handed me his business card…It was not the popular Fortune 500 company I thought he received an offer from. Instead, it was a small, 180+ employee, 8a Women-Owned business. The Fortune 500 offer had fallen through and for him, it was the best thing that could have happened. My friend was excited, happy, confident and looking out over the horizon seeing nothing but great things.

As I connect with more and more people, I get the vision of this huge chasm out there keeping extremely talented people with great value to offer from connecting with the organizations that need them. Right now in San Antonio there are over 22,000 open positions with over 5,400 of those being leadership positions, (Source Indeed). I know there is a lot of junk out there. Still, there has never been a better time to find a position.

Over the last 40 years, I have basically worked for four different organizations. None of them were household names or even companies you have ever heard of. Throughout my career my family pretty much could never figure out what I actually did. In every case, leaders took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity to serve the mission, build an organization and ultimately be a difference maker.

So what does a good opportunity look like?

It starts with a leader willing to take a chance on you…The rest is up to you.

With permission from the author, Bernard Beaullieu.
Originally published on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/career-transitionwhat-does-great-opportunity-look-like-beaullieu/