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Today I'm analysing the situation of Elena.
Elena reached out about joining my Creative Career Level Up programme. She moved from Spain to the US around ten years ago and has spent the last six years in a senior media role at a large global company.
Her manager has been promising her a promotion for a while now, but it keeps getting pushed out, and no one will give her a clear timeline. Six years in, she's not even sure anymore whether she wants to stay.
So she's started quietly applying elsewhere. But two things keep getting in her way: she isn't fully clear on what she's actually chasing, and after a decade building a career in a country she didn't grow up in, she still doesn't have much of a network to lean on.
What's the challenge?
Elena has built an impressive career across two major global companies. But right now she's applying to roles based on brand recognition rather than a clear sense of what she's actually after.
On top of that, because she didn't grow up in the market she's working in, she's missing the kind of long-standing network most senior hires quietly lean on to get in the door. Without it, she's relying almost entirely on cold applications to get noticed.
How can she move forward?
Elena needs two things running side by side: real clarity on what she wants from her next move, and a deliberate plan to build the network she never got to grow up with.
Once she's clear on what she's actually chasing, she can start being intentional about who she needs to know, and how to sell her story with the confidence it deserves.
My advice
1. Get clear before you get confident
Confidence doesn't come from nowhere. It comes from knowing exactly what you want and why. Before Elena sends another application, she needs to work out what's genuinely driving her next move, rather than defaulting to chasing recognisable names.
2. Build the network you never got to grow up with
Most senior hires lean on decades of relationships built in the market they grew up in. Elena doesn't have that head start, so it has to be built deliberately: real conversations and real relationships, not just a message when she needs something.
3. Sell your story as an asset, not something to explain away
Moving countries, learning a new market from scratch, and still reaching senior roles is genuinely rare. That story should be central to how Elena pitches herself into top roles, not something she downplays out of nerves.
If Elena's story sounds familiar, and you're trying to work out what you actually want from your next move, the Creative Career Level Up programme might be a good fit.
Check out more details, including testimonials, on our website here
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