This article draws on the combined experience of Harmonics coaches Liam McDonnell, Executive Coach and former Search Consultant with more than twenty years advising senior leaders, and Órla Murphy, Positive Health Coach with an MSc in Positive Health Coaching from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Between them, they have supported hundreds of executives through complex career transitions. From different professional lenses, career and job market strategy and the psychology human performance, they have reached the same conclusion: successful transitions demand attention to both.
The Moment Everything Changes
Imagine this scenario: You have spent twenty years building a successful career, then one morning, it all ends suddenly and with it, your job title and the structure to your weekdays. Such a situation can be an unfortunate reality of corporate life, often as result of a global restructure, a new CEO or an acquisition.
Liam McDonnell has seen this moment repeatedly across two decades in executive search and transition coaching. “What surprises many senior leaders,” he reflects, “is not so much the practical challenge of finding another role, it’s the psychological impact of no longer being ‘the person in the seat’.” This blow to an executive’s professional identity tends to represent the biggest struggle.
Exits vary enormously, some are amicable and even timely while others feel abrupt and deeply personal, particularly when performance has been consistently strong.
The initial instinct for many high performers is often immediate action. They tend to pour over job sites to scan open positions, update their LinkedIn profile, reach out to Executive Search firms and circulate their CV. The instinct is to “get moving” and create that sense for yourself that something is being done. Yet Liam’s experience is clear: “When executives rush to market quickly, they are often still processing the event. The company’s decision still feels uncomfortable and the narrative hasn’t settled. Confidence can be more shaken than people realise, raising real questions as to whether they will present the best version of themselves when navigating a job search.”
However, before “reacting” and focusing on the external market, it is worth understanding what is happening internally.
Why Your Body Knows Before Your Mind
Executives often describe themselves as “between roles.” Such a statement may sound reasonable and can represent a personal safety statement that hides what is really going on for them. Physiologically, however, the body interprets uncertainty differently.
Órla Murphy’s work in positive health coaching has shown her how closely identity, status and nervous system regulation are linked. “The loss of role is processed as loss of safety,” she explains. “The nervous system shifts into threat mode. Sleep becomes lighter, thinking narrows and the future feels more urgent than it did a month earlier.”
The stress response does not differentiate between organisational change and physical danger. Cortisol rises either way, the outcome is disrupted sleep and a decline in cognitive capability. Many senior leaders have operated at sustained intensity for years. Long hours, travel and constant availability were all supported by structure and purpose. When the structure of the job disappears, underlying fatigue often surfaces.
“Your health is the platform for strategic thinking,” Órla emphasises. “If that platform is unstable, every decision feels heavier.” This s not a weakness, it is biology and it matters.
The Legitimate Temptation to Move Quickly
The pressure to act comes from multiple directions be it financial responsibilities, perception as to what others might think, or personal expectation. For leaders accustomed to dealing with a heavy daily workload and solving complex problems quickly, a deliberate pause can feel counterintuitive.
Liam often explains to clients: “A senior transition is not about reacting and immediate responses. It requires work in terms of self-awareness, clarity, a more measured approach, and patience.” Launching into interviews while still processing frustration will affect how we present. There is also the impulse to accept the first credible offer which may relieve short-term discomfort but can lead to longer-term dissatisfaction.
Liam continues, “The initial weeks should be less about external positioning and more about gaining clarity in terms of key skills, where you would like to make a difference, the type of role you really want, and the type of organisation you want to work with. Importantly, it’s also a moment to picture your future self, and where you want to be in five or ten years’ time ensuring that today’s choices move you in that direction.”
Building the Scaffold
It’s important to remember that before strategy comes structure. Órla’s starting point is to restore a daily rhythm. This can be a consistent wake-up time, morning light exposure, daily movement regular meals and reducing alcohol which disrupts REM sleep and emotional processing.
These are not just lifestyle recommendations; they are emotional regulation tools grounded in physiology. When the nervous system steadies, cognitive clarity returns and this strengthens judgement and decision making.
For those intrusive thoughts at 3am, Órla encourages deliberate journaling before bedtime. “If it’s on the page, it’s not looping in your head,” she says. Writing down concerns before bed reduces cognitive load and restores a sense of containment.
In parallel, Liam focuses on capability awareness. After years at senior level, many leaders have stopped consciously noticing what differentiates them. There is a tendency to always be in execution mode, such that key strengths are often taken for granted. “I ask clients to identify three or four standout career achievements where they created the most impact, or that they are most proud of,” he explains. “These reference points are ground in reality and serve to remind executives of their true value.” This process rebuilds confidence not through reassurance, but through evidence and facts.
Owning your Story
Before engaging with the job market, getting clear on our own presenting story and how we articulate that story is important. Liam’s executive search experience gives him a clear vantage point on how senior leaders are assessed. “Your presenting story needs to be clear, cohesive, and grounded in your own unique strengths. It’s about focusing on the relevant combination of experience, achievements and personal qualities for the specific role.”
This exit story requires reframing, it has happened and this can’t be changed. But you can choose how to position it, both to others and to yourself. Liam says, “At Harmonics, we often talk about moving from rejection to redirection.” The exit, whatever its circumstances, has created an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise exist; the time to reflect, to reset and to be intentional about what comes next. It can serve to give us space to process disappointment but also to lay the foundations for a more effective, focused and rewarding job search.
Consider the difference between these two framings:
Old framing: “I was let go in a restructure and it wasn’t a great experience.”
New framing: “After almost twenty years with company X, an opportunity to take a package presented itself. This has afforded me the time to reflect and think about what I want in the next chapter of my career, something I wouldn’t have taken the time to do without this happening.”
Both are true. But one positions you as a victim of circumstance; the other positions you as someone making a deliberate choice on next steps. The gap in your CV isn’t something to apologise for. It’s increasingly understood as a legitimate and even a wise response to transition. The modern executive who presents as self-assured and has taken the time to reset is demonstrating exactly the kind of judgment that boards want to see.
“One of the most important aspects of your job search strategy is simply telling your story in a clear and cohesive way that emphasises your real strengths and how they can add value.”
The clearer you are about what you are and what you are looking for, the more useful you become to your network. Vague requests (“Let me know if you hear of anything“) are difficult to act on. Specific clarity (“I’m an experienced Commercial Leader. I’m looking for a senior role in the enterprise software space with an ambitious organisation with clear plans for growth“) gives people something concrete to respond to.
“If your network doesn’t know what you’re aiming for,” Liam notes, “they cannot meaningfully connect you to it.” Clarity around your message helps to create new opportunities, whereas vague or general statements lack impact.
Senior Level job search takes longer than expected.
At senior levels, career transition typically takes longer than anticipated. Often eight to twelve months. This isn’t failure, it’s the reality Liam adds. The air is thinner at the top and there are fewer roles at senior levels when you factor in market forces, location, industry and package preference the pool narrows further.
Think of your job search as a significant project. You’ve led projects of similar duration and complexity throughout your career. Between scoping, planning, executing and making adaptations, a major initiative comfortably takes six to ten months. Your next career move deserves the same rigour. As Liam says, “Patience and timing can be your friend. A measured and discerning approach is far better than a rushed or scattered one.”
He goes on to say, “For all the value of established and well-connected Executive Search firms, they are not necessarily the answer to your job search.” The business model of these search firms involves exclusively working on senior, executive and board level assignments on a retained basis. They are not in the business of finding opportunities for candidates. Yes, getting on the radar and building relationships with relevant Executive Search Consultants is encouraged, but don’t outsource your job search to them. Let the executive search firm be just one channel among several.
Many roles at senior level are never advertised. Companies sometimes have a need they haven’t yet articulated, or a potential opportunity that isn’t fully apparent until someone helps them see it. This is where the hidden job market and networking become crucial, albeit not networking as most people think of it.
The most effective approach is consistent but subtle, targeted but not transactional. You’re not asking for a job, rather being curious and more intentional about having conversations. Reconnecting with former colleagues, joining discussions at professional bodies, attending events in your preferred sector are all important. The magic happens when a conversation about market trends or typical strategic challenges naturally leads to: “That’s interesting. We’ve been giving some thought to that issue. Perhaps we should talk further.”
Executive job search requires “trusting the process” and resisting the urge to blast your CV to everyone you know. Time and again, we see that proactive, relationship-based networking uncovers opportunities that would never have appeared on a jobs board.
Liam offers one final thought on networking: “You should always be growing your network, even when employed.” The executives who navigate transitions most smoothly tend to be those who have quietly and consistently cultivated their networks over years.
Arriving Ready
Ultimately, the goal is not simply to secure employment. It is to arrive ready to perform. If exhaustion, depleted health or unresolved frustration are carried forward, they travel into the new role. The environment may change but internal patterns remain.
Both Liam and Órla see a distinct difference in leaders who use transition as recalibration. They show up clearer, refreshed, more intentional and ready. Decisions are less reactive and more measured. Handled well, transition becomes less about loss and more about opportunity and alignment. The job title may disappear but the capability that earned it does not.
The work you do during transition on your health, self-awareness and clarity around your presenting story isn’t a delay to the real business of job searching. It’s the platform that makes everything else possible. Many executives tell us afterwards that the enforced pause was an unexpected gift. It provided them time to reflect in ways they never would have chosen voluntarily. Some discover that their next role is their most rewarding role, not despite the transition but because of what they learned during it.
“Job loss removes structure and, often, confidence. But health, and the work you do on yourself, can restore it. This isn’t just about finding any job. It’s about finding the right one for you and showing up ready to embrace new challenges.”
Liam Mc Donnell
Executive Coach & Market Intelligence Specialist
Orla Murphy
Positive Health Coach & Facilitator
Harmonics has supported Executive Career Transitions for nearly twenty years. If you’re navigating a transition and would like confidential, experienced support, our executive outplacement programmes are designed specifically for senior leaders.
Contact us or send an email to Niamh Cornally, Business Support Specialist [niamh@harmonics.ie] – for any questions you may have about our programmes.
