A Well Done Professional Midlife Crisis
by Kelley Malott
It’s not often someone tells you to embrace your midlife crisis, but that’s exactly what Sharon Hulce does daily. As president and CEO of Employment Resource Group (ERG), she has helped thousands of professionals find passion in new roles and rediscover their love of the job.
Hulce started ERG 18 years ago. Working out of the Fox Cities, Hulce has matched candidates for executive level positions for Fortune 500 companies across the country. ERG works with many industries, including construction, manufacturing, financial services, and more. They not only assist recruiting talented candidates but also make plans that foster employee engagement and personal growth.
“Our mission is truly to impact lives,” said Hulce. “It is to impact a company’s life cycle by providing them with talent that will help them to grow their organization in a way that is faster, quicker, and smarter. We’re able to put great companies with great candidates and therefore make businesses and lives that much better.”
Hulce has made a real effort to be involved with not-for-profit organizations. ERG is approaching $6 million in donated fees to recruit leadership candidates for not-for-profit organizations. Hulce said, “I’ve seen the landscape of the amount of services our not-for-profits can offer has changed so much with having better business leaders. They’re bringing in more funding so they can offer more services.”
It was through her work in executive search that Hulce was inspired to write her book. Time and again, Hulce was hearing the same story from her clients. “After 24 years of being in executive search, I have had thousands and thousands of people who walk in my door and say, ‘I’m successful and I make good money, but I don’t love what I do anymore and I don’t know what to do about that.’
“The whole premise of the book was really all those years of just wanting to help people be happy,” said Hulce. Whether you’re looking to stay in your current role or stepping into a new career, Hulce’s book will help. “Success is rarely monetary. Your life’s vocation speaks to who you are, and it enhances who you are, your natural gifts,” said Hulce. Each chapter includes an exercise with the purpose of assisting the reader learn their goals and their next steps.
Through her work, Hulce wants people to realize they are not alone in their professional journey. She encourages business leaders to reach out to her if they need someone to talk to. “Sometimes what leaders miss is they just don’t have someone they can confide in,” said Hulce. “It’s incredibly difficult to always know for sure what the right next move is. Having the right mentors is important. Sometimes it’s just a matter of having someone who has talked to thousands of executives to say, ‘Here’s three examples of what somebody has done in that particular case.’
“I’d like to transform people’s lives through doing,” said Hulce. “Even as you go through your career, it’s okay to not necessarily know what the right next move is, but to give yourself permission to do what you’re naturally good at.”
Sharon Hulce’s book, “A Well Done Professional Midlife Crisis” was published March 3, 2020 by ForbesBooks and is available wherever books are sold.