Losing your job to downsizing can feel devastating. For Frank C., this happened two times before he ultimately found the career path he was meant to be on.
“I actually have downsizing experiences separated by 5 years,” says Frank. “I had decided that at my age, 56 to 60 at that time, a physical move was unlikely and was not a good idea for me.”
In the time between the two employers, he had some success as a consultant in the pharma industry. After being downsized a second time, he decided to embrace the opportunity to consult full-time. He had colleagues who had become consultants, and he used their success as a model to find his own.
“After a few more years of consulting in the R&D area, opportunities arose for work as an expert witness and innovator,” Frank says. “I am retired now and continue PT as an expert witness and consultant.”
His experience is the perfect example of how to take an obstacle, like being a victim of downsizing, and turn it into an opportunity.
“In my early years as a pharmaceutical scientist, I had always dreamed my boss and I would start our own consulting firm,” he explains. “Well, the dream came true in a slightly different manner, in that it wasn’t we, it was all me.
“Being alone and working in the industry that I loved, I realized how much I had learned and how I could utilize it in a new career area, an area that I always believed I’d be in some day. I lived and am still living that dream.”
