People change jobs for many reasons like a better work-life chance, a more fulfilling career, or to expand their professional skill set. Anyone or even none of these reasons could be yours. We’ll look at some actionable steps to make your career pivot successful and easy as possible.
1. Know Your Why and Determine You’re What
Your reason for why you are making a career pivot is fundamental in determining your new path. Changing your career can be very challenging, regardless of how driven you are. More often than not, some of the reasons that make you consider a career pivot can be addressed if you get a new position in the same industry you currently are in.
If you have reflected and resolved the need to really pivot your career, then choose a new occupation that you feel will fulfill the needs and wants that your present job lacks. Next, your decision to change has to be tested. Do you know what the reality of pivoting to this new career is? Will you mind a pay cut? Are you okay with starting at a lower position? Will you be dedicated to getting the education and skills you need in this new career?
If you are really confident of the positive responses to the questions above, we can move to the next step.
2. Create an Action Plan and Skill Up
A career pivot cannot be freewheeled. You need a concrete strategy that states your goals and lays out the tasks and the timeline to accomplish those goals. This is an action plan. For an effective plan, research or set up informational interviews with hiring managers or recruiters about the new occupation you want to pivot into. You need to be familiar with everything it takes to get you there, but your small steps compound, and gradually, you see yourself getting closer to being qualified for the occupation.
Remember to track your progress. Monitoring your efforts keeps you accountable and informs you of your strengths and the inadequacies you need to work on to keep up with your action plans. Invite people from your network to become accountability partners with.
3. Rebrand Yourself Professionally
Crafting a new professional narrative for yourself is also essential. It is easy to neglect this. Rebranding yourself allows prospective recruiters or employers to see you as a fit for a role in your aspired occupation. You have to make that connection for them.
This includes writing a new professional resume tailored to your newly-acquired knowledge for your new career. This resume can also have your past expertise in your former career but should not include past experiences that will not serve you in the career you are looking to pivot into.
For example, if you are pivoting from a career in health to one in teaching, your new resume should include your degrees and certifications in your health career. However, only past experiences that exhibit or allude to your teaching skills should be displayed in them.
Cover letters and personal statements should also be rewritten. Your transferrable skills from your career should be sold there. Newly acquired hard and soft skills must be mentioned. Because you have competition, you have to brand yourself in a way that makes your pivot logical and makes you fit, or even perfect, for the available position.
Your profiles on business networking sites like LinkedIn should also be tweaked to position yourself for employment and make it known that you have pivoted your career. Remember to update your personal websites and business cards too.
4. Utilize Your Existing Network
Now that you have rebranded yourself, you need to go out there. Tap into your existing network; your friends and your former co-professionals. Inform them of your career pivot if they do not know about your professional rebrand yet.
Do not be afraid to ask for help from them. It could be as little as needing help with your child, so you can focus on your study or needing them to link you up with professionals in your new field.
Tweaking your social profile to convey your new career interests enables faster network growth. You can send out connection invites on LinkedIn and follow thought leaders in your new industry on social media. Attend networking events too.
These networks you acquire will come in handy when you need shadowing, internships, and volunteering opportunities that give you an edge over your competition.
5. Apply, Apply, Apply!
Applying for jobs as a new entrant should be easier with your network and some work experiences you might have gotten in the industry. Inform your network that you are looking to take up jobs. Because they are more experienced in the industry, they could point you to available opportunities or companies that need the services you can render.
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