Dream Job Blog

Senior Technical Program Manager

Ten years ago, Carrie was in a group online chat hosted by the Vice President of a Fortune 50 tech company. The VP asked her 200+ colleagues, “If you could do anything you want, what would it be?” While most of her colleagues focused on a new process or program within the department, Carrie wrote that “I would work in the gaming division and create educational games that help accelerate learning for children with special needs.” The VP immediately engaged with Carrie and encouraged her to follow her dreams.

The problem was she was pretty far from her dream job. She was a Technical Program Manager in an IT infrastructure group. While Carrie was valued for her contributions, she didn’t feel challenged or fulfilled. And worst of all, she had put her career in autopilot mode. When looking back at her past few roles, she realized that they had been presented to her by former managers and colleagues. Carrie went with the flow and one led to another.

The uphill journey

Fast forward five years. Carrie had moved on from the tech company and was uninspired by her current job. She was ready for a change and started to apply on job boards. But month after month, she wasn’t finding interesting roles and wasn’t gaining traction on the ones she applied to. Carrie started to wonder if she was ever going to get a job she was excited about. It was a frustrating and disheartening experience.

Gaining momentum

Then she heard about Dream Job Catcher and joined the program. Because of her growth mindset, Carrie was open to trying new ways. She worked with her coach Julie to define what criteria was most important in a role and company as well as her goals for her career move. Carrie says this step help opened her mind to the types of roles she could pursue.

She also found the program instrumental in helping her:

• Revamp her resume to showcase her areas of expertise, leadership and impact
• Craft an authentic and meaningful elevator pitch and story
• Hone her interview skills to tell concise and compelling stories

Carrie appreciated the step-by-step approach and ability to immediately apply key learnings and tools into her job search.

The summit (aka her results)

By owning her success, Carrie exceeded her goals with phenomenal results. She got not one, but two amazing offers!

The highlights:

• Role: interesting role with wide scope of work that directly impacted business — 2 levels higher (highest level of her career)
• Company: inclusive culture with an abundance of growth opportunities
• Compensation: an increase of 18% in compensation
• Journey length: 3 months from start to offer
• Fulfillment: went from a level 5 to 10 (out of 10)

Carrie sailed through her interviews. Interviewers at one company actually competed to get her on their teams. The hiring manager at the other company said it was the easiest decision — Carrie stood out as the most talented and confident candidate.

How Dream Job Catcher helped her achieve success

“Dream Job Catcher helped me realize my value and boosted my courage and mindset to pursue opportunities that I would have otherwise overlooked. I gained the know-how and techniques to gain traction and get the job I’ve dreamed about.”

I checked in with her 8 months into the job and she is thriving in her new role. Carrie is recognized and appreciated for her contributions. She’s a valued member and recently went to Europe to help streamline operations and communications for the organization. She loves her job, team and the overall mission. Carrie continues to practice some of the key learnings from the program including networking (something she used to dread).

Are YOU ready to UPLEVEL your career and get a job where you’ll feel fulfilled, realize your potential and get the salary you deserve?

If so, then watch our video and book a session with one of our job strategists. We’re excited to learn about your career goals!