4-bbl carburetor, 305 (5.0-liter), V8 engine; coil-sprung MacPherson struts up front and live axle with coils in back; Cherry red exterior with gold-metallic trim; custom gold-detailed aluminum wheels; T-tops; velour seats; fully electronic instrumentation featuring a bar-graph tachometer and a digital speedometer; stalk-mounted cassette/radio with five-band equalizer on the center console; and dashboard with overhead control console that looked like a fighter plane cockpit (see picture above). After hours of haggling on price… my wife and I signed the papers and became the proud owners of a two-year-old 1984 Camaro Berlinetta in mint condition. We found cool. Or did we?

Two months after our purchase, while pulling out of an underground garage I scraped the front end against a cement pillar. A month after that a film prop truck backed into it creating a foot-long crease on the back end and soon afterwards a garbage truck swerved into my wife’s lane side-swiping the car.

One morning my wife found our car on wooden blocks; the custom wheels and tires… gone. The cost to replace them? $1,005.00. The deductible on our insurance? $1,000.00. Our license plates were stolen (we were sure the plates would be used on a get-away car for a bank robbery), and attempts on our T-tops, car bra, and tires became a common occurrence.

The fuel pump broke filling the underground garage of the apartment building we lived in with gasoline. We stressed at the thought of what one spark could do. The car frame broke under the driver side… apparently a common problem among Berlinettas. The alternator, generator, radiator, air-conditioner, digital display, and the engine itself all needed repairs or replacement… constantly.

Our dream machine was spending more time in garages being repaired than on the road being enjoyed. We poured tons of money into it but never seemed to be able to keep up with the newest calamity. We began to suspect that the previous owner got rid of it because it was possessed.

The final straw however happened while driving a friend home on the freeway. In mid-conversation… BANG!!!! I watched in disbelief as shards of tire ripped up the side of the car stripping off the door handle along with all the side molding. The rear tire exploded, yet somehow the steel belts in the tire kept it inflated long enough for me to pull over, most likely saving our lives.

Later that week, we drove into a Saturn dealership, got $500 for the “Camaro from Hell” and bought a new Saturn SC coupe, which we enjoyed trouble-free for years.

So what does this have to do with you and your career?

First, like our Camaro, if your efforts are not working… your resume is not producing job interview opportunities… and your interviews are not landing you job offers… perhaps it’s time to stop trying to maintain or “fix” the old and try an entirely new approach to developing your personal brand. Redo your resume format. Try a new approach to finding job opportunities. Rethink the answers you give during interviews. Hire Blueprint 4 Resumes to help you (had to throw that plug in there... but you should).

Second, if you’re stuck in a bad work situation, a place that doesn’t appreciate the efforts that you are putting forth… well guess what? You have a choice. A choice to try something different. A choice to ask for a meeting with your manager and express your concerns to him in a civil, proactive way. A choice to… if all fails… look for another job. I’m not suggesting you quit on the spot (that would be reactive), but it doesn’t hurt to have a plan B.

Yes, there comes a time that if your current efforts are not producing desirable results… it might be time for CHANGE. My wife and I really, really wanted to hold on to that Camaro. But all our efforts… our expensive efforts… couldn’t better the situation. Sometimes you just have to get rid of the old and give yourself a fresh, new start. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.