A career change can feel like swimming in darkness.
During this Let's Talk on career pivots, we'll have conversations with executives who have dived into the unknown and changed career paths despite the murky waters ahead. If you've ever considered a career pivot but weren't sure where to begin, join us for our next Let's Talk.
Let's Talk is a bi-weekly conversation with leading executives, thought leaders, and changemakers. There are no presentations or talking heads, just people having a conversation about career, family, and what matters the most to them.
Hear part of the conversation in audio by clicking down below SCROLL DOWN BELOW for additional resources and content):
Join me and our co-hosts:
Mita Mallick, Head of Diversity and Cross-Cultural Marketing at Unilever
Ali Levitan, Head of Global Strategic Business Development & Innovation at General Assembly
And this week's special guest Stephanie Nadi Olson, Founder of We Are Rosie
SCROLL DOWN FOR ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. FEEL FREE TO ADD RESOURCES YOU FEEL MIGHT BE IMPORTANT IN THE COMMENT SECTION.
Five Strategies for Making a Career Pivot
Today, Americans average about 4.4 years in a job, a dramatic departure from yesteryear’s 25 to 30. For younger generations, that job duration tightens to a mere 2.5 years. The idea of climbing the corporate ladder has been pushed aside by the concept of career pivot.
Business Talent Group founder and CEO Jody Greenstone Miller is a prime illustration. Her business cards have read lawyer, investment banker, special counsel to the White House, COO of telecommunications company Americast, and venture partner at Maveron.
Understand your gaps. Ask yourself: What do I know? What skills do I have? What do I need for the next step?
Miller recently offered the GSB community five tips to pivoting successfully in an interview with Michelle Landrey Cline (MBA ’98), sponsored by Stanford GSB and the Stanford Alumni Association.
1. Know What You Want
Your life has a cycle, Miller says, and you value different things at different points. “You need to match up your career objectives with your life cycle, which is something that was not possible in a world of a traditional career,” she says.
Take advantage of resources including friends, colleagues, alumni services, and professional services who can help you determine what you want, and when.
2. Build Your Knowledge Base
You must understand your gaps. Ask yourself: What do I know? What skills and experiences do I have? What do I need for the next step?
“You’re really doing an inventory,” Miller says.
Once you find your weaknesses, determine how to improve. Maybe it’s as simple as learning new software. Maybe it will involve going to conferences, reading trade publications, or taking classes.
Also, internships aren’t just for 20-year-olds, Miller says. Consider them or pro bono work to get a foot in the door.
3. Leverage Your Strengths
Analyze your current skills and consider how they might be transferable. Someone with an executive background, for example, already understands human resources, the legal department, and marketing. “Those are very transferable, and the fact that you are coming from a different industry may make you more desirable because you can bring lessons from one industry to another,” Miller says. Someone who helped scale a startup from 20 to 100 people has a replicable skill useful in other industries.
Also, think broadly. An entertainment industry background might be very attractive to technology companies, which are trying to make greater inroads into content.
“Look at your skill set and see the gold nuggets in it, and imagine how you could apply them in a new venue,” Miller says.
4. Market Your Skills
Think both online and offline. Online, update that LinkedIn resume, but think beyond the chronological resume — if you’re switching industries, you’ll need to connect dots for people. Show them why your skill set is transferable.
Offline, leverage your network. Help your closest friends and colleagues see what you’re trying to do and how your skills translate to a new career, and they can help on your behalf.
“It’s marketing, where you have to do a little more of the heavy lifting than you would typically do,” Miller notes.
5. Avoid Common Mistakes
When people pivot, they must remember three keys: Be realistic, patient, and willing to work incredibly hard.
Changing careers is uncomfortable, Miller says. You may need to backtrack. You may fail. You must give yourself enough time and space.
Get into the mindset that you are a brand-new employee. Be fluid and opportunistic. Look for ways to make an individual impact.
“You want to show that you can make a contribution, and you want to make it in a way that lets people understand that this is going to work,” Miller says.
Career Pivot Guide:
https://skillcrush.com/blog/career-pivot-guide/
There's a concept in Japanese culture called "ikigai" that means "a reason for being." It's the thing that balances the spiritual and the practical and makes your life worthwhile.
The diagram below shows that to find your ikigai, you have to find the cross-section of 4 things: what you LOVE, what you're GOOD at, what the WORLD Needs, and what you can be PAID FOR.
Follow these 5 Tips if you Want to Make a Career Pivot by Matt Zimm for Fast Company
At a time when millennials are hopping jobs more frequently than ever before, career pivots will become more common in the years ahead. Right now, there isn’t a simple path to make that transition, but as I learned from experience—following these maneuvers can help make the change less daunting.
1. SKIRT HR AND AVOID RECRUITERS. DISCOVER A WAY TO COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH THE HIRING MANAGER
Most job applicants for any given job will check off certain boxes. If they meet the specific skill sets and experience required for a listing, an applicant tracking system (ATS) will flag them and notify the recruiter.
But career pivoters tend to be light on the listed job requirements, so HR personnel and recruiters are fundamentally disincentivized from even thinking about forwarding their application to the hiring manager. Their job is to filter out high-risk applicants and discover the applicants that—on paper—most align with the particular attributes a hiring manager is seeking. Yet the most highly skilled applicants may be a costly disaster for an organization if they lack the fundamental soft skills.
Whether through an email, phone call, or handwritten letter (you don’t hear about those much anymore), find out who the hiring manager is and then reach out. They’re not being solicited every day. This is your chance to get in front of the audience that matters the most.
2. NO MATTER YOUR AGE, CONSIDER AN INTERNSHIP AS AN ENTRY POINT
Organizations might see career pivoters as high risk. Therefore, the onus is on them to find ways to minimize that risk for the prospective organization.
The pivoters can prove their worth by mitigating the risk for the new organization by persuading a manager to create a six-month trial period internship. If the pivoter demonstrates his/her/their worth, it can potentially lead to a long-term position.
Career-pivoting applicants need to come up with creative ways to craft their skill sets as transferable and then articulate what they may look like in an internship. Even if the internship doesn’t lead to a full-time position, at the very least the candidate has some actual new career experience that they can parlay elsewhere.
3. DON’T SUBMIT YOUR RÉSUMÉ TO A WEBSITE. CALL OR APPEAR IN PERSON AT THE COMPANY TO SPEAK WITH THE MANAGER WHERE YOU HOPE TO PIVOT
An extraordinary, gifted individual doesn’t always translate into an email or a résumé. Résumés are fundamentally two-dimensional documents attempting to capture the rich complexity of individuals.
Consider an interview transcript. You lose so much of the texture and the conversation. Résumés are no different. They can’t capture the whole person.
So once the candidate knows who the hiring decision-maker is, they should show up in person. If they can capture the decision-maker’s attention, they can make an impression that lasts much longer than even the most impressive résumé.
4. UNLESS YOU ARE COMMITTED TO A CAREER THAT DEMANDS FULL-BLOWN RE-SCHOOLING, AVOID JOBS THAT REQUIRE YEARS OF TRAINING AND ACCREDITATION
Certain positions such as medical doctors, electrical engineers, and lawyers require extensive training and degrees—for obvious reasons. Know the time limits of what you are willing to commit to training. This way, you’ll avoid wasting your time on a pointless job hunt.
5. CRAFT A COMPELLING NARRATIVE ON WHY YOU ARE LOOKING TO GO FROM X TO Y
Humans think in stories, not in facts. Any hiring manager will want to know “what’s your story, and why you’re seeking to make this change?” Craft an unforgettable answer to that inevitable question. This is an opportunity to articulate how past interests and goals have brought you to this point, and how your core values, soft skills, and hard skills will be valuable to this new organization.
This list is by no means exhaustive. Undoubtedly, some are more helpful to extroverted personalities. Current HR systems are fundamentally not suited to screen for highly talented candidates but who do not align with the traditional skill sets outlined by the hiring manager. Yet the reality is that there are many job listings where the skilled candidates will fall outside this filtering system. In the current hiring system, career pivoters will have to discover creative solutions to get hired for jobs that don’t align with what’s on their résumés.
15 Questions to Ask Before Making a Career Change by Chrissy Scivicque and Jenna Arcand
1. What is it about my current career that isn't working?
2. What does this new career offer that my current career doesn't?
3. What does this new career ignite in my soul?
4. How does this new career align with my core values?
5. What are the long-term opportunities associated with this new career?
6. What skills or resources will I need to take advantage of these long-term opportunities?
7. Who do I know who is already in this career and can give me an honest "insider's" perspective?
8. Will my friends and family support this new career endeavor?
9. How long will it take to make a comfortable living in this new career?
10. Do I have the financial resources to make this new career work? If not, how can I get what I need to feel secure?
11. What struggles can I predict in my transition to this new career?
12. What can I do now to minimize these potential struggles?
13. What specific experience do I hope to gain in this career move?
14. How will my previous experience help me in this new role?
15. Is this career move one step in a larger plan? If so, what does this new career need to provide in order to help me move forward?