6 Steps to Successfully Navigating a Career Transition

Successfully navigating career transitions requires strong self-awareness, knowledge of new areas, expanding one’s network, sharpening job search “tools,” and managing the emotions of new challenges.

Review the following areas and assess where you’re on track and in which areas you need to explore, strengthen, and plan some action steps.

STEP ONE:  Assess Your Top Skills & Interests

• What are the top skills you want to carry into your next opportunity?
• In what issues/industries/causes are you most interested?
• How has your experience prepared you for the new direction you want to go in?
• How does your unique background make you the IDEAL person to do what it is you want to do?
• What problems are you uniquely qualified to solve?
• What are you instinctively drawn toward?
• What is your ideal role (functional role)?
• In what industry do you most want to be?
• Do you want to change your functional role or your industry or both?

STEP TWO:  Mitigate Risk:  Research, Explore, Get Experience

• Who are the key players in the space you’ve identified?
• Create a target list of organizations.
• What are the professional associations connected to your area?
• What’s going on in the economy (or world) that’s impacting this particular job market?
• Are there any alumni at these organizations or working in these functional areas?
• Check social media accounts of key players? Online discussion boards?
• In what safe and practical ways could you ‘try out’ this new area (informational interviewing, job shadow for a day, consulting projects, volunteer, certificate programs, online trainings)?

STEP THREE:  Network, Network, Network:  Build Your Relational Bridge

• Do an inventory of your current network.
• Reconnect with contacts closest to your areas of interest.
• Leverage the power of ‘weak ties’ and second-level contacts. Who do you know who might know someone in an area of interest?  Alumni and professional associations are great spots to reach second and even third-level contacts.
• Stay grounded in a spirit of curiosity, generosity, and collaboration. Look for opportunities to give and to help others along their path.
• Be able to clearly communicate what you’re looking for.
• Join the online spaces where people are discussing the problems you want to help solve.
• Go all out with scheduling coffee chats and informational interviews!
• Prepare and practice a short elevator pitch that describes the value you can add to the area you’re targeting. What sets you apart?  What value can you provide?
• Ask smart questions that demonstrate you know this area, industry, or organization, and reveals something about your qualifications.
• Be on the look out for an advocate, mentor or sponsor who is excited about you and would be willing to open doors and make introductions.
• Practice gratitude along the way. Send out updates to your connections.
• Let LinkedIn do the heavy lifting! Make sure you’re leveraging all that this tool has to offer.

STEP FOUR:  Sharpen your Tactical Job Search Skills

• Does your resume clearly convey your value proposition? Can the reader ‘get’ what it is you want to do and are qualified to do in less than 5 seconds?
• Is it obvious for a recruiter and hiring manager to see how your skills are connected to the needs of their team or company?
• Are you customizing your cover letters and resumes with key words from the job descriptions?
• What’s the narrative you’re telling? Does your reader have to search to connect the dots, or have you done that for him/her?
• What does your online presence convey?
• Do you know how to leverage social media in a way that is relevant to advancing your career goals?
• Conduct a professional presence “checkup:” hair, clothes, posture, handshake, etc.
• Prepare thoughtful, concise answers to interview questions you are likely to be asked. Practice answering these on video and evaluate.
• Always follow up, write thank you emails, connect on LinkedIn, request introductions as appropriate?

STEP FIVE:  Manage Your Mindset

• Job searching is HARD and getting rejected is even harder. Transitioning to a new career often involves an identity shift and maintaining confidence is critical to success!
• Meet with a coach for support and input.
• Notice any beliefs or ‘stories’ that are holding you back.
• Feed your spirit with positive, inspiring content.
• Review all your accomplishments. Keep past successes top of mind!
• Enlist a support group. Find other job seekers to meet with.  Don’t allow yourself to become isolated.
• Drill down on your core strengths/superpowers. Aligning with these breeds confidence and strength.
• Avoid comparisons at all costs! Most often you will be comparing how you’re feeling on the inside with what someone else is presenting on the outside – not helpful!  Run your own unique and brilliant race!
• Don’t waste time bemoaning how it ‘should be’ or that things are unfair. Realize it’s a bit of a game and learn to play it well.  And when you’re in the position to hire, make introductions, or open the door for others, open it wide and do it with gusto!
• Establish a growth mindset. What can you learn from this experience?  What new opportunities and relationships are coming to you as a result of what you’re going through?

STEP SIX:  Always have a bias for taking action!  

• List 3 concrete steps you will take this week to gain more clarity, build momentum or overcome any blocks as you consider your next steps.
• Who can you share this with to build in some accountability and encouragement?
• Don’t wait until you have the perfect next step figured out. Just do the next thing that comes to mind.
• What’s an excuse that’s been keeping you stuck? How can you ignore or eliminate this?
• It’s always easier to steer a moving boat. Just keep moving forward!  Rinse and repeat steps 1-5!
• Most people underestimate how much activity they should be generating for a successful job search. Start tracking the number of people you’ve talked to, and to whom those conversations have led; which groups you’ve joined, the professional associations you’re active in, the organizations you’re targeting, etc. 
• Don’t stop just because you had a great interview. Keep all aspects of your job search ACTIVE until the moment you’ve accepted a job offer.  It’s a lot easier to bounce back from unexpected rejection in the final round of a very long process if you’ve got lots of other options brewing.