#052 - Today we talk to Madelyn Mackie, The Career Activator.  Madelyn is a Certified Career Management Coach and Trainer.  She shares her inside knowledge to help clients set themselves apart and highlight their strengths, abilities and special talents in today’s competitive job environment.

It took Madelyn 40 years and 3 prior careers to finally find her calling.  She started her career as a biochemist and became a published researcher.  She decided she did not want any more of that and transformed her passion for performance into a second career in theater and started working at professional theaters all across the country, including four Tony Award-winning theaters.  After 15 years she wanted her evenings and weekends back so she embarked on a 3rd career when she went from volunteer to staffer at the American Red Cross.

“I'd go out into our community, the Bay Area, and provide food, shelter, clothing, and mental health support for families impacted by disasters. I love the work. I love the mission of the organization. I love the culture, I love the people. And I was like, hey, I wonder if the Red Cross would hire me.”

Working in theater forces you to look for a new job every eight weeks - the show opens and closes, you're done / the show opens and closes, you're done.  Madelyn needed a system to handle this so she tapped into her scientific training.

“So I was like, if I gotta keep looking for a job every eight weeks, I want a system because one of my superpowers is I'm a linear thinker. It's why I was good in chemistry. It's because I see processes, I see procedures. I like to put things in a straight line. So I said I'm gonna come up with a checklist and scripts and, and to-do list and all these things that I need so that when it comes time for me to search for a job, I don't think about it.  I just do what my calendar says and what my to-do list says, and use my scripts and my templates, and it worked.”

Madelyn shared her system with friends and then one day she got a call from someone wanting to hire her as a career coach.  Someone told this person Madelyn helps people find jobs.  Madelyn did a career assessment for them and her business was born.

Be sure to listen until the end to hear how Madelyn changed a woman’s life by helping find a job walking distance from her home and her child’s school.