From Workforce Adjustment to Career Renewal: A Personal Journey

For many public servants in Canada, receiving a workforce adjustment (WFA) notice represents uncertainty, loss, and fear about what comes next. But for one former deputy director, this moment of professional disruption became an unexpected catalyst for career clarity and renewal.

A Journey of Immigration and Public Service

Arriving in Canada from Venezuela 25 years ago with three suitcases, a husband, and a three-year-old son, the author carried more hope than certainty. Like many newcomers, she believed hard work and adaptability would help build a meaningful life without losing her identity.

Over the years, she built a family, learned French, earned a degree from Carleton University, and joined the federal public service in 2006. She worked at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development, planning to stay until retirement.

The Quiet Shift During the Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, while working full-time as a deputy director, she returned to school part-time to complete a master's degree in counselling. This wasn't part of a clear exit plan but felt aligned with something deeper in her identity.

During her practicum, sitting with people navigating pain, transition, and loss, she realized that helping others had become her calling. She began seeing clients in the evenings as a registered psychotherapist (qualifying), building something quietly alongside her public service career.

When the WFA Letter Arrived

When the workforce adjustment letter arrived earlier this year, something unexpected happened. Instead of fear, she felt clarity and recognition. What she had been building on the margins of her life was now asking to take its place at the centre.

"I expected to feel fear. Instead, I felt clarity. Not because the situation was easy, but because I recognized the moment," she writes.

A Different Perspective on Public Service Cuts

While acknowledging the real disruption and pain many colleagues are experiencing, she offers another side of this conversation—one where moments of professional disruption can accelerate decisions that were already forming quietly.

"For some of us, moments like these create space to pursue paths that once felt too uncertain to choose," she explains. "They push us beyond the comfort of stability into something more aligned."

Public service cuts are rightly discussed in terms of loss, but they can also, at times, become moments of redirection and renewal.

Stepping Forward with Gratitude and Purpose

As she steps away from the public service, she does so with respect for the institution and deep gratitude for the colleagues she worked alongside. And she steps forward with clarity toward her new career as a registered psychotherapist.

"Because for me, while this may look like an ending, it is, in fact, the moment I am finally invited to begin the next chapter," she concludes.

This personal story highlights how career transitions, even when initiated by external forces like workforce adjustments, can become opportunities for professional reinvention and alignment with deeper purpose.