Top Tips for A Successful Career Pivot

New in your industry? Or have a new role? In any of those cases, you must know the best ways to go about the changes that are about to happen during your career pivot, and how to manage situations that may occur during the process.

We’ve gathered some of the best practices and advice that you can apply when you’re in the early stages of a career pivot. Hopefully, these will pave the way for a bright and smooth start for you.

1. Immersion is key

Like we mentioned in our last blog about Career Pivot, it is necessary to plan and map out steps before doing making any move. This includes immersing yourself in the industry or role of your interest.

Do a trial run. Reach out to people you know who have a small business and see if you can get them to take you in to mirror with their employees for a week or so. Start doing research and reading about the new environment you are entering, and remember that the goal is to learn as much as you can.

You can also reach out to organizations or people online via LinkedIn. You can start by creating a pitch that expresses your keenness in doing the career pivot, the value you can offer in exchange (skills you have and problems you’ve solved for years), and ask for any network connection or groups you can join. Listen in and actively ask for problem areas they might need your insights with. 

Don’t worry about not knowing anything from the beginning and feeling like you will have nothing to offer. Chances are, every industry or role is experiencing an issue in its processes that can benefit greatly from someone who isn’t in it and could offer a fresh perspective.

2. Subtly lay the foundation to establish credibility

This simply means having due diligence and learning the critical and inner workings of your new industry or career path through doing good research and reading, asking the right questions and getting perspectives from the right people involved.

Take note: The key word there is to subtly do it. 

People often trust those who are knowledgeable and have experience, so if you want to build credibility and have your ideas heard, you need to lay a strong foundation first and make it known that even though you’re new, you’ve done some pretty good homework and is ready to bring out some value.

Build relationships and find out whose support is critical, who has influence and who you can offer help to.

3. Some of your skills may or may not be transferred

Skills and experiences vary in application across industries and or positions within a company. This is most true in leadership, where the kind of management style depends on the type of staff involved and company culture you have. The type of work you do in one industry may be entirely different from another, even if the labels and names are the same.

Disciplines may, on the other hand, have similarity with what you know. Don’t assume some if not most of your skills may not be useful or applicable to your new industry or career path. 

Bottomline is, to be effective in your new role, you need to be willing to learn, re-learn, upskill, or reskill. If you resist, your potential to succeed and have career advancement could get hurt.

4. Have business acumen and understand how the revenue system works

It’s vital information to understand from the onset who the customer is, and how the revenue system works in the business you are in. This is essential due to the fact that the faster and better you understand how it works, the more you understand you and your team’s role and contribution, and hold yourself accountable for it.

5. Keep an open mind

A good sense of being open to receiving new information, ideas, and ways of working will benefit you during the pivot. Resisting and not accepting leads to conflict, disengagement, and an overall bad look for you.

Need help getting started in your career pivot? Talk to us to see if you qualify for our 1:1 coaching program.  We're as excited as you are!