Why Making a Big Career Pivot is So Hard.
I’ve been running a career coaching practice for over 5 years where our coaches and I have worked 1:1 with hundreds of people who are navigating the next step in their career. Some have made small career changes like lateral moves to a different industry, and some have made very large pivots like shifting from fashion buying to healthcare administration, or entertainment talent management to social work.
There are times when on an exploratory call, a potential client will ask me, “Do you think it’s realistic to make such a large career change?” And I find myself very torn as to how to answer. In my experience, being able to make a really large change isn’t just a matter of showing your transferable skills and finding a role that fits. At the end of the day, the most important piece I’ve seen is this: Are they willing and able to really put in the work?
In the beginning, everyone who wants to make a big change knows that they’ll have to spend time networking, updating their application materials, and figuring out how to communicate their story and transferable skills in an effective way.
But over time, as I’ve watched my clients go through the process, here is what I’ve seen:
People love the first part of the work. The part where they get to think about their strengths, what drives them, and what potential options might be for ways their career and life could look. Where they get stuck is in the unclear, ambiguous steps between being excited about the possibilities and landing a new job. And that’s because there isn’t a one-size-fits all approach, or recipe to follow to get there. And it not only requires a lot of time and effort, but most importantly, mental and emotional grit and perseverance.
One of the things I see people struggle with most is how to talk about themselves – who they are, what they’ve done and their accomplishments, and what they’re interested in. To effectively network with others, it takes time and a lot of preparation to have meaningful networking conversations and think about what pieces of your career history are the most important to each individual person you talk to. It’s important to think of unique, meaty questions to ask that show you’re starting to understand the field and are not just the classic ‘what do you love about your job?’ or ‘what’s a typical day like for you?’ questions.
Networking is the most critical piece of making a career pivot! Why? Because if you’re applying for something very different, your application materials will have a harder time matching the keywords and phrases of job descriptions you’re applying for. (And to make it to the top of the applicant tracking systems (ATS’s) that most companies use, you’ll need those keywords and phrases in your application.) And you’ll need a human who can look beyond the fact that you haven’t had experience in a specific role or industry. Having real people who can vouch for you and help you get your foot in the door becomes crucial.
And this is where I see people really get stuck. Initially they may procrastinate sending outreach emails because they don’t feel comfortable talking about themselves, and asking someone you don’t know for their time is uncomfortable for many of us.
When people do reach out to learn and grow their network, the desire to ‘figure it out and get going’ usually kicks in after a few conversations, and they’ll want to quickly start working on their resume and applications. Not knowing when you’ll get hired and how it will play out is uncomfortable. The higher up we go in our careers, the more we’re supposed to project an image of ‘I’ve got it figured out. I’m settled. I’ve arrived.’ To totally switch gears in your career is like shouting from the rooftops, ‘I do not have it figured out. I am not settled. And I have not arrived at my destination.’ This takes courage and the willingness to lean into vulnerability (but that’s a whole other topic!).
Bill Burnett & Dave Evans cited one example in their Designing your Life book of a fellow, Kurt, who had 56 conversations to grow his network when he was looking to make a change. (He did get 7 job offers out of those conversations but only one that felt right to him that he took. He also applied for 38 jobs without networking and got zero offers!)
As Burnett & Evans write,
“We know this is hard. We know this is a lot of work and is sometimes scary… To some degree, it’s also a numbers game -- the more connections you make, the more prototypes you run, the more opportunities will turn into offers.”
Beyond all of the time required, the people we see that succeed in making a big career change are the ones who approach it with genuine curiosity and excitement about what could be possible in their next life chapter.
Curiosity and possibility thinking may feel difficult when you’re burned out or zoomed out, and trying to manage the ever increasing demands of work and life, but they are skills that can be developed and refreshed.
Here are four important elements to consider when you’re starting to think about a big career change:
Evaluate your capacity. Many people we work with, (and usually the ones that are most successful in making a change), actively make a decision to take something off their plate to make room for the work they know they’ll need to do.
Ask yourself how much capacity you have to devote to making a change - do you have at least a few hours every week to dedicate to the exploration and job search? Do you have the mental and emotional energy to learn, research and reflect on potential ideas and options? Think about what changes you might need to make in order to make time and energy for this work. Setting yourself up for success is dependent on this.
Get ready to expand the pool of possibilities. There have been many times where Pivot coaches have started working with people who say some version of, “I could stay in private equity and keep earning good money and trying not to care that I’m so unmotivated, or I’ve been toying with the idea of quitting my job and going back to school for a masters in art history.” You don’t have just two options in your career - you’ve got an infinite number of them. Get ready to embrace those options and start to see lots of possibilities.
Create an exploration process that leverages your strengths. If you’re a great relationship builder, your strategy might include doubling down on networking conversations since you’ll naturally build rapport with people. If you’re not a people person, but are a deep thinker who enjoys research, your strategy might involve attending learning events, reading industry resources, or analyzing and reviewing job postings to look for patterns for what you gravitate towards. (Not sure what your strengths are? That’s where we start with most of our clients so they can effectively leverage their strengths in the search process, and in careers that will play to their strengths.)
Prepare to experience and positively reframe imposter syndrome. When you start this exploration work, it’s very common to have fear creep in and imposter syndrome pop up as you consider shifting to work that you may feel less confident in or have less knowledge about. This is really where having a coach with an outsider’s perspective to support and reframe challenges can make a big difference! There’s also new research showing those who suffer from imposter syndrome may have a motivational advantage. Pivot coaches prefer to find that middle ground between imposter syndrome and overconfidence, which organizational psychologist Adam Grant calls, ‘confident humility.’ According to Grant, confident humility is where we can “recognize how little [we] know and yet have a strong conviction in [our] capability to learn.”
If all of this seems overwhelming, that’s why there are many coaches and companies like Pivot out there. The International Federation of Coaching (ICF) estimates there are 71,000 professional coaches worldwide and the profession is growing. Over the last five years, the number of professional coaches worldwide increased by 33% globally (ICF's 2020 Global Coaching Study Final Report). This is why it's important to think critically about the type of support you personally need, so you can find the type of coach that will best support you as you undertake this big process and change.
If you’re ready to imagine and create a new version of your career, that’s what we’re here for.