Mr. Kortte seemed a little nervous. He had called a few days ago and asked for an appointment. He was an athletic man in his mid-forties, slim with a well-toned body, striking features and light blue eyes. He had sent me his resume in advance, so I knew he was married with three children. And, it was also clear from his resume, he had spent his entire professional life to date in one industry. I was eager to hear what he would tell me. "Thank you for taking the time to talk to me so quickly," Mr. Kortte said, "I'm sure you've already looked at my resume." "Yes, I have, but why don't you tell me how the current situation came about and then we can talk about how I could support you. Is that ok with you." He nodded and began to tell the story. He had learned to be a shipping clerk. That had come about rather by chance, but the international nature of shipping had fascinated him since he was a little boy, so it had also seemed like a stroke of providence when he had been able to do his abbreviated training with a small shipping company. Afterwards he had got his first interesting job, and the shipping company had encouraged him to do his business administration at the same time. He had quickly learned that shipping was a tough business, but he was good. However, it had also soon become clear to him that the opportunities for promotion in the small business were limited. Through a friend, he had been put in touch with a larger company. After only two conversations he had come to an agreement with the new company. He was given his first management responsibilities. The next years were quite successful, also privately. They had just bought a house when the company went bankrupt a few months later. It had not been easy to find a new job, and he also had to make cutbacks in the job market at that time.

There are many pieces of gold hidden in our lives. You just have to wash them out again.

After two years, he received an attractive offer through a recruitment consultancy. He decided to join the new company, and after the probationary period became an authorized signatory with the prospect of later succeeding one of the managing directors. But this company also went bankrupt a few years later. He didn't have a lot of resources, in the meantime the third child had arrived, the house wasn't paid off, so he had to find a job again quickly. Despite his negative experiences with the industry, he quickly decided to accept the offer of a competitor. Even though the conditions were worse, he had quickly found employment again. He liked his work, he liked this cosmopolitan shipping, this internationality, negotiating and dealing in different languages. Over the years he had improved his language skills considerably. Now that this company had to downsize, he was one of the first to be affected by the separation, because he had not been with the company for long. "Here I am," he finished his story, "and I hope that together with you I can find a way to reorient myself. And I'll tell you one thing, even though it's hard for me, I want out of this industry. My goal is to finally have something secure where I don't have to worry that everything will fall apart again after a few years. And I want it to be fun and enjoyable again." I looked at him. "I can well understand that. Is another line of work really an option?" "Do you think that's possible?" he replied, "I've been in this industry for 25 years now. I like it, and all we need is a safe company." "That's exactly the problem. But let's work on your profile first, so we can both see what makes you tick and what opportunities are there, agreed?" "Good, we can do it that way". Over the next few conversations, we went through his entire resume, so that a complex picture of his personality emerged: what made him tick, what he could accomplish, what he had to offer in terms of experience. Many things he had taken for granted had become clear to him through this intensive process. It had not always been easy to convince him. But in a steady process of rapprochement, we had reached a high degree of agreement between self-perception and the perception of others. "I didn't think I had all that in me. So what are we going to do with it?" Questioningly he looked at me. "Now we have the freedom to look for transfer possibilities," I replied. "Transfer opportunities?" "That's right. From this point, we can now look at what industries your profile is transferable to, where you might have an opportunity. That was your goal, after all." He nodded in agreement. It was done. Now he was open to change. We sharpened his profile and went to the market a little later. In the preparation for the interviews, every now and then a "relapse" into old ways of thinking showed up, but this became less and less. He found a good job in a neighbouring industry in a company that was considered to be very secure, combined with the opportunity for further professional development. We stayed in touch during the probationary period. And even today we talk on the phone from time to time when he needs advice.