[Job Change Experience] From a Work Style Seeking Evaluation to One of Contribution: A Career Reboot

Hello.
I am Takahashi, a multi-hyphenate worker challenging my own potential.

In an era where we live to be 100, I aim to enjoy both work and private life as an active participant for a long time.
With a vision of eventually sparking inspiration in many people and creating a 'village' with many companions,
I am expanding my 'parallel work' through roles such as a recruitment agent, inside sales, and participating in internships

to develop my own potential and latent abilities and to contribute to many people
.
Currently, I have entered the'Creative Awards 2026', which you can also apply to from note, and I am challenging myself to win a prize!

My latest self-introduction article is here.※I rewrote it recently on 5/23!

This may be sudden, but
what kind of impression do you have when you hear the word 'promotion'?

Being expected to do well.
Having your abilities recognized.
Being entrusted with the next role.

For many people, does it feel like a positive and happy word?

However, for me, 'promotion' was a word I couldn't honestly be happy about for a long time.

Rather, it wasa word that brought back fear.

Because when I was 22,
I once transferred after being told it was a 'promotion,' and I have the experience of being fired from the company about a week later
.

And now that I am 36,
the other day,at the inside sales workplace of an organizational development consultancy where I work as a temporary employee,
my transfer to a team composed only of full-time employees was decided.

What my supervisor told me was,
'Actually, I recommended you.'

I was very happy that my abilities were recognized and that they wanted me to be a strength to the company.

But I was even more bewildered than that.

Is it really okay for it to be me?
Can I live up to the expectations?
Won't the same thing happen as before?

Before I could feel happy,
a memory from the past flashed back for a moment.

Even so, this time,
I feel like I have overcome the fear of 'promotion' that I have carried for 14 years,
at least a little.

Today, as arealistic 'job change experience',
I will write about what I felt as a temporary employee until I was transferred to the full-time employee team, and the 'trust' and 'evaluation' I rethought from that experience
.

The day I was told, 'Actually, I recommended you'

I am currently working as a temporary employee in an inside sales role.

One day, my supervisor suddenly spoke to me about a team transfer.

The destination was a team composed only of full-time employees.
Thinking back to when I joined in March,
it was something I had never imagined as someone who had worked as a temporary employee until now.

When I asked for the reason while being surprised,
my supervisor said,
'Actually, I recommended you.'

At that moment, I felt a warmth deep in my chest.

My daily work had been seen.
The things I had built up were acknowledged.
I was considered necessary as a high-performing talent.

I felt such joy.

This February,
I began working at a workplace that had initially turned me down
after they reached out to me again later.

It is an event I call a "comeback career change" in my own mind.
*My post from that time summarizing the episode is here.

About five months have passed since then.

I have faced the work in front of me,
not only producing results,
but also working on ways to make it easier for those around me to get their work done.
*I have also summarized that episode in a past article.

I never expected that
it would lead to a transfer to the employee team.

Considering the time since last summer when I experienced
physical health issues and adjustment disorder,
and the period when I couldn't move as I wanted,
this is a change I can hardly believe myself.

However, as I said earlier,
even after hearing my boss's words, I couldn't fully rejoice right away.

That is because I heard another voice in my heart.

The true nature of that anxiety lay in an experience I had when I was 22.

The bitter "dismissal experience" disguised as a promotion that I had as a 22-year-old new graduate.

At the sales company I joined as a new graduate,
I was not producing the results I had hoped for.

While those around me were achieving results, I was the only one who couldn't hit my numbers.

Getting warned by my boss.
Feeling impatient compared to my peers.
I was the only new graduate, and the rest were mid-career hires, making me feel inferior due to the gap in ability.

At that time, under such circumstances,
my efforts didn't lead to results, and I gradually lost my confidence.

Even before the transfer,
I think I was in a state on the verge of being considered dead weight.

At that time, I was transferred to another department.

Those around me
called it a "promotion."

I am expected to do well in this new place.
Perhaps I have been given a chance for a fresh start, a comeback.

On the surface, that is how it sounded, and
that is how I interpreted it.

However, the place I was actually transferred to
was an extremely harsh environment for me.

Without any time to get used to the new job,
the demands placed on me only increased.

With an atmosphere of "You've done sales before, so you should know, right?"
I didn't even know what I should be asking.

Rather than feeling expected to succeed,
I felt like I was being tested one last time.

And about a week after I transferred,
I was made to write a resignation letter by the sales manager
(Since I was 'made' to write it, it was a dismissal disguised as a voluntary resignation)

At the time, I
"ran away"
"I really am incapable of doing this job"
"I am a person who cannot meet expectations"

I blamed myself like this.

The transfer, which was called a "promotion,"
was actually the final event that led me to quit the company.

From that experience,
the word 'promotion' became linked in my mind
not with joy, but with fear.

Even after 14 years had passed,
that memory had not completely faded.

People
create ways of thinking to protect themselves
from past bitter experiences.
(In psychology, this is apparently called cognitive dissonance)

Avoiding places where you once failed.
Doubting words that once hurt you.
Imagining the worst outcome first when in a similar situation.

I think that in itself
is a natural reaction to protect oneself.

However, past experiences
do not determine what will happen from here on out.

When I thought about this transfer calmly,
there was one decisive difference from when I was 22.

This time,
I wasn't just being expected to succeed without having done anything.

I have accumulated work results,
and have built relationships with those around me little by little.
And my supervisor, who had been watching my work closely,
had recommended me for the new team.

It was not a transfer before being evaluated, but rather
a transfer as a result of being trusted.

From a work style seeking validation to a "work style of contribution"

Moving to a new team is,
naturally, not all smooth sailing.

It has been a few days since I transferred this week,

I feel the comparison with full-time employees,
and the performance metrics required of me have become higher.
I am now in a position to be taught by a supervisor younger than myself,
and I need to learn new rules.
There are times when I need to adapt to perceptions and rules
that were taken for granted in my previous team but do not apply here.

Even though I am in the position of a temporary employee,
because I am joining a team of only full-time staff,
at first, I found it difficult to ask questions.

“If I ask something like this, will they think I’m incompetent?”
“I don’t want them to think I’m a disappointment after they recommended me.”

Such feelings do arise.

However, compared to my former self,
my reason for approaching work has changed.

When I was 22,
I only thought about being evaluated.

I wanted to produce results and be recognized.
I wanted to prove that I was capable.
I wanted to prove others wrong.
I didn’t want to be thought of as a failure.

I think a large part of why I worked
was to protect myself and to survive.

But now,
I have started to think, “What can I offer this team?”
and I clearly feel a change in my values.

Understanding the environment not to be evaluated,
but to contribute.
This change in mindset was significant for me.

Evaluation is not something you keep chasing to prove your worth,
but perhaps something that follows as a result of facing the work and people right in front of you.

Of course, results are necessary in work.
If you cannot produce results, the work entrusted to you will not increase.

However,
I believe it is difficult to be trusted for long
with a selfishness that only chases numbers.

Daily responses.
Promised deadlines.
Reporting when a mistake is made.
Reaching out to those in trouble.
Gratitude when taught something.
Preparation and groundwork done out of sight.

The accumulation of such small attitudes
builds trust in one's work.

I am a temporary employee, and ultimately, just one person in an organization.
As a lesson learned from the past,
I believe one must be careful about placing excessive expectations on a single company or team and
entrusting one's entire life to them.I believe this.

We live in a VUCA era.
Environments change, and organizational policies change as well.
This transfer is
no guarantee that everything will go well from here on out.
Even so,
the fact that I faced the work in front of me with sincerity, and the fact that someone recommended me, will remain within me.

Rather than entrusting my value solely to company evaluations,
I carry the experience and trust I gained there as my own personal strength.
I believe that isone form of career building necessary in this day and age.

Trust returns in the form of someone's recommendation.

This time, what made me happiest was
not just being able to join the permanent employee team.

It was that my supervisor
said, "I recommended you."
that meant the most.

Having my name brought up when I am not around.
Having someone say that I am a person who can be trusted with a task.
I felt that this was
an evaluation that cannot be obtained through numbers alone.

Trust is not something built in a day.
However, I never imagined that I could gain
such an evaluation in just four months.
The only thing I can say is that
my small daily actions
gradually accumulated within others and sublimated into the form of "trust."
And,
that trust sometimes returns in the form of a "recommendation."

Until now, I thought that
if I produced results, I would be recognized.
Conversely, I thought that
if I could not produce results, my value as a professional would not be maximized.
Value only exists through monetization.
I also thought that things leading to monetization were intangible assets.

However, this time,
I think there were factors other than numbers
behind the recommendation I received.

How I approached my work.
How I interacted with those around me.
My contribution to the team (acting as a bridge between permanent and temporary staff).

・A stance of not just finishing what I was told, but
　thinking of better ways to do things and making suggestions.
・A stance of trying to give back to team members.
・A stance of trying to improve while acknowledging failures and shortcomings.

Character
is not something expressed through grand words or special actions.
It is one's everyday behavior, including when no one is watching.

This transfer taught me that.

However, just because I was recommended,
I do not think I have become a person of exceptionally superior character.
When I join a new team, I notice new areas for growth.
Naturally, there will be times when I fail.
I think there will also be times when I cannot immediately meet the expectations of those around me.

That is precisely why
I want to remain humble, avoid making assumptions, and keep learning.

I believe the way to repay the person who recommended me is to
engage sincerely with the work in front of me,
and return value to those around me as much as I can.

In the past, I could not believe in the word "promotion,"
but now, I have come to look not at the word itself,
but at the accumulation of efforts that led to that word.

Even for the same "promotion,"
it was a source of fear when I was 22,
but at 36, it has become proof that someone was watching my accumulation of efforts.

People can reboot at any time.

I have had various experiences, including
being fired, company bankruptcy, taking on the challenge of starting a business,
debt, changing jobs, physical illness, and adjustment disorder.

Even now, when things fall apart,
the thought that "I can never go back to how things were"
sometimes crosses my mind.

I took time off work.
I couldn't produce results.
I quit in a short period.
I failed at interviews.
I couldn't meet expectations.
I fell behind those around me.

Using those events as reasons,
I am struck by flashbacks,
and at my worst, I even predetermine my own future.

Ever since I was fired at 22, I have thought:
"Am I a misfit who cannot succeed in an organization?"
"A failure."
"If I don't produce results, I'll be fired. Failure is not allowed."

Looking back, I feel that for a long time since I was young,
I lived side-by-side with fear,
using negative energy as my driving force.

However, at 36, I have been given
the opportunity to move to another team
through a recommendation.

The past cannot be changed.
The fact that I resigned at 22 will not disappear.
The humiliation and fear I felt back then cannot be erased either.
I will likely have those flashbacks in the future as well.
The habit of ranking and comparing myself to others may also surface.
However,
I can choose how to accept those experiences and connect them to my current actions.

The past can be a chain that binds the current me,
or it can be material to avoid the same mistakes and move forward.

What is important is not
"the past doesn't matter"
and trying to forcibly disconnect it,
nor is it giving up by saying
"I can't change because of my past."
Isn't it about acknowledging that I am influenced by the past,
while choosing again as the person I am now?

People can start over at any time.
People can reboot as many times as they need.

The catalyst for that
might be a job change,
or it might be a new job.
It might be meeting someone.
Sometimes it might be taking a break.
It might be a small step and a small successful experience.

For me, this time, it was
a single word from my supervisor saying, "Actually, I was the one who recommended you,"
and a message from a temporary staff member who was sad to see me go.

By experiencing this,
I felt that even the me from 14 years ago was slightly saved,
as if it had been overwritten.

Back then, I couldn't exert my strength.
However,
that experience was not the conclusion of my life.
Even if it takes a long time, sooner or later,
I can change how I approach work and rebuild trust.

I didn't want to keep this experience only to myself,
so I decided to put it into words on note and write it down.

As a career agent,
I want to convey not just the stories of those who succeeded,
but the process of failing, stopping, and starting to walk again.

I want to leave behind not the finished version of myself, but the version that is in the middle of recovering.

That might become
a small hope for those who have lost confidence
due to past experiences.

I am also just starting my challenge in this new team.
I have anxieties about comparing myself to full-time employees and about the new work.
The fear of whether I can meet expectations
has not completely disappeared either.

Even so, this time,
I will take a step forward without running away, positively.
Not to be evaluated, but to contribute.
Not to prove my own worth,
but to give back strength to those who entrusted me with this role.

I want to make the word "promotion"
a positive term through my own steps and efforts this time. I believe.

To those who have lost confidence due to past failures.

That event
does not define your entire life.
Just because you couldn't do something then doesn't mean you can't do it now.
Trust in yourself and trust from others, once lost, can be rebuilt
through daily actions.

It is okay if you don't change significantly right away.

There may be someone
watching those small steps.

And someday, in an unexpected way,
perhaps in the form of someone saying "I recommended you,"
it might come back to you in some form.

What are the words or events
that you feel afraid of right now?
Even while carrying that past,
there must be a step you can choose to take starting today.

I will continue to
put my own recovery process into words,
and convey that people can start over and reboot at any time.
I believe.

[Introduction to Various Magazines]

I will also post the links to thevarious magazinesI have compiled
up to reaching 10,000 followers at the end.
Career, job hunting, and book reviews.
These are also my own records written daily,from my own personal experiences and practical knowledge,
so please take a look.

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