The divorce process is often painful and difficult for everyone involved. What rarely gets talked about, however, is the impact that a divorce can have on a person’s career.
If you asked people in Tennessee the question that headlines today’s blog post, most would probably tell you they’d expect a divorce to have a negative effect. In some cases, they’d be right — the stress of going through a divorce often leaves people unable to focus on their work and impairs on-the-job performance. The divorce itself may also result in employers being subpoenaed for information, which they may view as a major inconvenience.
Unfortunately, employers and business partners are not always as patient, understanding or compassionate as family and friends. In some cases, they may even fire employees whose job performances suffers too much during a divorce or pass otherwise qualified candidates over for promotions. Employees too, sometimes have to let new job opportunities pass them by for reasons related to the terms of their divorce settlements.
On the positive side, the divorce process is serving as a catalyst for people to take their careers to new heights (think of all the energy that suddenly isn’t being focused on trying to save a failing marriage or navigating the divorce process) in more and more cases — and to step out onto completely new career paths inspired by their passions as well.
It may not be easy at times (given how little control any of us have over so many aspects of life), but the keys to making a divorce work for you and your career are to keep a positive attitude, to strive for personal growth and to remain open to new possibilities.
Source: Orlando Sun Sentinel, “Painful divorces can help or hurt careers,” Marcia Heroux Pounds, July 15, 2012
