Megan Salamone, your new friend
*Circa 2010? I’ll be taking a new picture.
In February 2026, I was displaced after 10 years in my role as a communications consultant with a global, Fortune 50 financial services leader. “Displaced” is a softer word for “terminated.”
I could look at this two ways: be angry, or think about the big picture.
Big picture: I’d been unhappy for about six years. I was holding on to the company that I remembered - that I fell in love with - but not the current environment.
Displacement was the nudge that I needed.
As I was preparing for displacement, I started to look at LinkedIn again and I was really surprised how much negativity was out there. I knew the job market was rough and that many former coworkers had been out of work for sometimes more than one year. These were accomplished, valuable, tenured professionals who couldn’t even get to an in-person interview.
I haven’t looked for a job outside of my employer for 10 years. I hadn’t updated my resume in more than 5 years. When you have 25 years of experience in a field, how do you demonstrate your value in a few bullet points? To use communications as an example, the entry-level college graduate with one employer can also say something like “Increased site traffic by X% year-over-year through the use of social media.”
I put together a resume that I knew was non-traditional. My title was “communications consultant” but I was leveraged as a strategic advisor, which spanned planning and programming, media use, messaging, design, operational efficiencies. I was brought into challenges to create solutions and ensure they were executed. I produced an email newsletter like any other communications consultant, but my responsibilities expanded far beyond that.
I sent out resumes for 5 days. I was immediately rejected by all, including 2 companies that sent me the exact same message - word for word. HR software platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) are great, but I assume a company can at least customize their boilerplate. I laughed out loud. A compatible resume for an applicant tracking system (ATS) powered by AI is simply headers and bullet points for companies, job titles, and skill keywords.
Every other job I’ve ever gotten came from networking, so I searched for local networking events. I couldn’t find any.
Maybe I’m in this situation because I need to help. Leverage my natural skills, marketing and communications experience, and business network to help job seekers network, learn to network, and most importantly: build the community so we all remember that we aren’t alone. We get through all challenges together.
Maybe this is just an opportunity to rethink how we spend our time and possibly pivot our “career.”
Cheers,
Megan