Who Are You Without Your Job Title?” How Sherri Overcame an Identity Crisis After Job Loss
Note: To respect the privacy of our clients and the sanctity of the coaching space, the name of the individual in this story has been changed. “Sherri” is a real sales professional who has graciously allowed us to share her journey.
For six years, “Sherri” was the kind of colleague every team hopes to have.
As a sales lead at a global tech firm, she was a consistent top performer from the day she joined. She put in the extra effort, stayed the extra hours, and over-delivered on every task that landed on her desk. But numbers were only half of her story. Sherri was the one newer team members turned to when they needed guidance, and the one other departments loved collaborating with. She lifted people up as naturally as she closed deals.
Year after year, the workload grew heavier and the sales targets climbed higher, often to levels that felt out of reach. Sherri kept pushing anyway. That was simply who she was.
Or so she thought.
The News That Shook Her World
Then, without warning, Sherri was let go.
Not because of her work ethic. Not because she didn’t work hard. Not because she dropped a single ball. But because she missed her targets in one quarter.
Six years of loyalty, late nights and quiet sacrifices, and it came down to one quarter.
Sherri was devastated. The world she had poured herself into had collapsed overnight. She felt angry, betrayed, confused and deeply disappointed. She cried on the first day. And the second. And the third.
A Question She Couldn’t Answer
One evening, while scrolling through social media, a post from The Pigeon Hole stopped her in her tracks:
“Who are you without your job title?”
Sherri stared at the screen. She tried to answer it, and realized she couldn’t.
For six years, “Sales Lead” hadn’t just been her role. It had become her identity, her self-worth and her sense of security, all rolled into one. Without it, she didn’t know who she was.
That unsettling moment became her turning point. Sherri searched for a life coach on The Pigeon Hole and booked her first session.
Making Space for Grieving
Over five sessions across three months, Sherri and her coach began the work of rebuilding, gently and at her pace.
The first step wasn’t about job applications or a five-year plan. It was about giving Sherri a safe, judgement-free space to feel everything she had been carrying: the anger, the grief, the sense of betrayal. For the first time since that phone call, she didn’t have to hold it together.
“I didn’t realize how much I was holding in until I finally let it out. After every session, I felt lighter,” Sherri shares.
Untangling Who She Is From What She Did
As the emotional weight began to lift, Sherri’s coach helped her see something she had never noticed before: she had built her entire identity around her job.
Her worth had been measured in quarterly numbers. Her confidence rose and fell with each target. And when the title was taken away, it felt like she had been taken away too.
Naming this pattern was a breakthrough. Losing her job was painful, but it didn’t mean she had lost herself. It meant she had an opportunity to discover who she was beyond it.
Rediscovering Her Strengths and Values
Together, Sherri and her coach explored what truly made her her. They uncovered her core strengths: her ability to build trust, her gift for nurturing people, and her resilience under pressure. They also named the values she wanted to live by: growth, connection, and contributing to something meaningful.
Bit by bit, Sherri began to recognize the brilliance that had always been there, quietly shining beneath the pressure of the sales floor. And with that recognition, her confidence started to return.
Small Steps, Braver Every Time
Rather than spiralling over everything she couldn’t control, Sherri learned to focus on small, clear actions she could take between sessions. Some were practical, like reconnecting with her network. Others were personal, like carving out time for the things that brought her joy.
“Every time I met my coach, I walked away feeling a little braver and a little more in control of my life,” she reflects.
Each small step built momentum. And each session reminded her that she wasn’t starting from zero. She was starting from experience.
A New Chapter, and a Fuller Life
Today, Sherri has stepped into a new role as Partnerships Manager at a women-focused social enterprise, where she builds relationships with community and corporate partners to expand access to learning and employability for women. It’s a role that draws on everything she does best, from building trust to mentoring others, while aligning with her values of growth and meaningful contribution.
But the biggest change isn’t the new job. It’s how Sherri now holds it.
She knows her identity is so much bigger than her job title. After work, she heads to yoga or HIIT classes every other day. On weekends, she volunteers at an elderly care home, bringing the same warmth she once gave her teammates to a whole new community. And once a week, she sits down for dinner with friends, a ritual she guards as carefully as any client meeting.
Sherri is no longer defined by a target, a title or a single quarter. She is defined by who she is, and she finally knows the answer.
Sherri’s story is a reminder that the “pigeon hole” we find ourselves in isn’t always one we chose. Sometimes it is a label we wore for so long, we forgot we were more than it. With the right coach, we can rediscover the person behind the title.
Who are you without your job title?
If you’re not sure of the answer, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Book a free intro session with a Pigeon Hole coach today and take the first step toward rediscovering the brilliant person behind the title.