Ahn Jang-yong and Ingeus Korea
How Ahn Jang-yong found the confidence to start again
For nearly three decades, Ahn Jang-yong knew exactly who he was at work.
He'd built his career at Daewoo Motors, then GM Korea, after the company changed hands.
When GM Korea began encouraging voluntary retirement, Ahn talked it over with his family and made the decision to step away.
It wasn't fear of retirement that weighed on him. It was something quieter.
"He lacked some confidence about what he could really do after retirement," says Kim Sung-ju, Executive Director, Ingeus Outplacement Division.
Among the outplacement providers available through his company, Ahn chose Ingeus, drawn to two of its programs. Job Compass, for career planning, and I-Flower, for life planning.
"I heard that Ingeus's programs were very helpful," he says. "So I chose Ingeus."
The team at Ingeus looked closely at his career, using their Job Compass assessment to understand his interests, skills and values. What they found pointed somewhere new.
It meant starting again in some ways. Ahn took on the challenge of the Industrial Safety Engineer certification, studying for about a year before earning it.
"As Ingeus said, trust in your own strengths," he says. "I want to tell you not to be too anxious about the future."
Through an Ingeus referral, Ahn found his way to the Korea Safety and Health Promotion Association, where he now works assessing and improving safety standards in factories across the country.
The people who hired him noticed something in their conversations early on.
“I felt ‘Ah, this is someone who has the virtue to inspire trust in safety managers and CEOs at each workplace,’” says Lee Chang-ju, Branch Director at Korea Safety and Health Promotion Association.
“So I didn’t hesitate to hire Mr Ahn as a committee member.”
Today, Ahn helps make sure workers can do their jobs safely.
His advice to others facing the same crossroads is simple.
"Don't try to figure everything out alone," he says.
"Get plenty of help from those around you, and I believe that searching together will lead to much greater opportunities."
