Resignifying the Unexpected: Career Shocks and its Impacts on the Trajectories of Executive Women

Visentini, Anna Paula; Müller, Camila Vieira; Scheffer, Angela Beatriz

doi:10.15728/bbr.2021.1149.en

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Article • BBR, Braz. Bus. Rev. 20 (5) • Sep-Oct 2023 • https://doi.org/10.15728/bbr.2021.1149.en copy

Resignifying the Unexpected: Career Shocks and its Impacts on the Trajectories of Executive Women

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Career shocks are extraordinary, unforeseen events that lead to individual reflections on personal and professional directions. The article aims to identify career shocks as drawn from narratives of 20 women, in corporate careers, who carried out transitions in their trajectories, and to understand how these shocks impact on the sustainability of careers in time. Focusing on female careers beyond motherhood, the interviewees had no children when they made the transition. The analysis revealed four shocks: Awareness on the finitude of life and resignification of trajectories, Focus on the balance between Work-Life after Harm to Physical and Mental Health, Transformative Experiences and Search for Sense, and the Covid-19 Pandemic’s impact on the working modes. These shocks boosted movements toward more sustainable trajectories, demonstrating that the subjective character of careers allows the positive valuation of experiences commonly considered negative. Career shocks, in addition to revealing opportunities, signaled restrictions in women’s career contexts.

Keywords:
Career Shocks; Career Ecosystem; Career Transitions; Sustainable Career; Female Careers

Interviewee	Age	Education	Position in Transition	Work until the transition	In professional terms, how is it currently presented?
I1	39	Psychology Post-Graduate	HR Manager ^a	15 years	Psychologist, Human Development Consultant
I2	38	Social Sciences Post-Graduate	Administrative Assistant	15 years	Botanical Perfumer, Craftswoman, Natural Cosmetics Maker
I3	35	Psychology Post-Graduate	HR Manager ^a	11 years	Human Resources Consultant
I4	42	Computer Science Graduate	Senior Projects Manager	17 years	Entrepreneur, Project Facilitator, Multiple Person
I5	42	Managerial Processes Post-Graduate	HR Manager ^a	23 years	Someone who is reinventing himself or herself
I6	35	Accounting Post-Graduate	Senior Specialist	13 years	Yoga Teacher, Accountant
I7	35	International Relations Post-graduate	HR Specialist	10 years	Consultant, entrepreneur in the area of Human and Organizational Development
I8	33	Psychology Post-Graduate	DHO Supervisor	13 years	Psychologist
I9	42	Administration Post-Graduate	HR Consultant ^a Course Coordinator	22 years	Teacher, Entrepreneur, Mentor
I10	31	Journalism	Marketing Coordinator	15 years	Marketing Consultant
I11	41	Administration Post-Graduate	Projects Manager	15 years	Teacher
I12	36	Advertising and Propaganda Post-Graduate	Course Coordinator	15 years	Consultant in Management and Marketing
I13	44	Law Post-Graduate	Legal Manager	12 years	Specialist in Human Development
I14	40	Pedagogy Post-Graduate	Pedagogical Supervisor	10 years	School Director
I15	40	Administration Post-Graduate	Senior HR Analyst ^a	22 years	Creative Entrepreneur
I16	39	Administration	Administrative Assistant	20 years	Yoga Instructor
I17	31	Advertising and Propaganda Post-Graduate	Marketing Analyst	10 years	Organizational Culture Management Facilitator
I18	31	Psychology Post-Graduate	HR coordinator and Administrative Area	10 years	Consulting Partner
I19	42	Law	Lawyer	12 years	Photographer
I20	32	Advertising and Propaganda	Director of Service	11 years	Writer

Shocks	Illustrative Statements	Gender Constructions and their Crossings
Awareness of the Finitude of Life	With the death of my father-in-law, the way it was, every moment he was, of great happiness and of much fulfillment[sic], made us question who we were in our life and whether our choices really made sense. [I15] My father died and I remember it was a very significant moment, because it was one thing that took me off the ground, it was one thing that was not expected, and I fulfilled those three little days by law [...] and then my mentor picked up and told me “look at the message you are passing, what you are saying is: even if you are not able to work, keep working, you have to continue, you can’t stop working.” And then I understood [...] My relationship with work, it got to that level, I didn't have the slightest condition to work and I was forcing and I continued [I8]	I13 could not be so extroverted in the field of law [...] I tried to get stuck at work, so I couldn't be too cheerful, too outgoing, bubbly, because people found me crazy. [I13] I’ve already taken my first management into a big and challenging team, because I was super young, and had older people and I often heard “oh, what you think you’re talking about, and you’re a girl”, and “and do not deny it, because I know about that issue very well.” [I3] Thinking I was not able. That thing... the damn impostor syndrome, you never think you are able to do things. [I2] He [director] asked to take out the Facebook photo of the company, to no one else see, that I was in a corporate photo embraced with several people because the company won an award, and his wife was jealous. [I10] I always wrote a lot what I was going to say so as not to lose myself, because talking to man, in the organization, and sexist, has to... oh, you have to go well-prepared [I1]
Physical and Mental Health Impairment	I was not taking care of myself, I was not taking care of my life, I had a burnout [...] I went into a crisis of falling hair, of becoming depressed, looking for psychiatrist, I started taking medicine... [I9] The last straw was my hair falling [...] from 29 to 43 I wore wig. My problem was the cause, and the cause was my job, my job was that cause of stress [I13] I had a collapse, I thought I was going to die [...] I had no more health to continue that way [...] I felt like this: "that way it won't work, I won't last, I won't get in the 30 like that" [I20]
Transformative Experiences	I took a sabbatical year and it was very revealing. I started reading, started studying, started seeing other things [...] I already had other wishes, I was thinking what I could do more for society, using what I already had as experience... I had a huge desire to do a master’s degree and had never had time [I11] With yoga it began to awaken me the desire to believe in something greater than me. And then it went on. “I want to study more about it.” So I took a graduate degree ... during the course, I freaked out [...] Then I said: “I will need to make decisions in my life, need to change my life” [I16]
Covid-19 Pandemic	It is quite laborious to go digital, it was one thing that the pandemic pushed me, because I really had to have done this, but I was very used to doing the physical tools and I think now, with them digitalized, I will be able to climb much more in my career. [I7] My new learning is that I need to have other options within my [I4] umbrella as an entrepreneur, I can't have only one source of... an idea, a project, a source of income, because if there are any troubles in this I do not have where to run to. [I4]

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[1] annavisentini@gmail.com