Over the past few years, I’ve watched with awe and a not insignificant amount of curiosity as friends, acquaintances, and former coworkers have made major career changes.
Some have taken similar roles in new industries, others have gone back to school to make a more drastic change, and many—whether catalyzed by layoffs or their own ambition—have transitioned to self-employment, building their own freelance businesses, consulting gigs, and independent studios.
Call me uncreative, but when someone takes a big career leap, I’m always thinking about how, logistically, they did it. How did they know they wanted to do something else, and what the something else was? Are they worried about their skills transferring? How can they afford to do it?
I spoke with a few women in my network as well as a career strategist to learn how they decided to pivot—and more important still, how they’re making it work. I loved these conversations and hope they might provide a little inspiration, if you’re considering a change as well.
A framework for pivoting
There are only six possible career pivots, according to Janel Abrahami, a career pivot strategist for employment website Glassdoor:
- Take the same role at a new company.
- Take a different role at the same company.
- Do something new at a new company.
- Go all in on entrepreneurship or take up a side gig.
- Go back to school (whether for a new degree or certificate).
- Take a break and step back from work altogether.
Most people will be able to look at those six options and strike out one or two immediately, she says. Maybe you have no interest in going back to school, or you know entrepreneurship isn’t your thing. Maybe you can’t afford to take a break. Okay, great, you have three options left.
From there, two primary considerations can help you clarify further:
- What do you want to do?
- What are your ideal day-to-day responsibilities?
- What impact do you want to make?
- Where do you want to do it?
- What kind of people are you working with?
- Where do you want to make an impact? (Local, national, global, etc.)
- What's the environment? Is it a large legacy company, or is it a three-person startup?
While you answer these questions, there’s no shame in taking a bridge job, Janel says.
“Maybe you can’t just go from here to entrepreneurship in one step, and you want to take a bridge job at a company for a full time role that kind of fills in the blanks, or fills in the gaps of your skills,” she says. “Take that 18-month, two-year bridge job, you’re even better positioned.”
Everyone has their own limitations, time constraints, and financial concerns, so it’s not always possible to take a leap. But if you are truly interested in changing careers, these questions are worth exploring.
If you’re still having trouble making a decision, Janel advises forming a sort of personal board of advisors. Who can you ask about a potential new career pathway, or go to for advice? This can be especially helpful if you want to go the entrepreneurial route.
“There’s value in actually finding a number of individuals who you trust, who will be transparent and vulnerable enough with you to say what the reality is when you're starting out,” she says. Forming a mini focus group with people who are a couple steps ahead of you can help you get a handle on what’s possible.
‘The most me’
It’s taken more than one job loss, but Maria LaMagna Morales is hitting her stride as an entrepreneur, the second pivot of her career. In fact, she’s doing some of her best work yet, while finding more fulfillment in other aspects of life.
Maria started her career in journalism, mostly on the audience engagement and social media side of things. We overlapped at CNBC Make It, where Maria also edited stories and helped shape the feel of Make It’s content.
A layoff from CNN led her to Andreessen Horowitz, the well-known venture capital firm. Though journalists are prone to tie our identities to our work, Maria didn’t really have time to be precious about leaving the industry: She has two children, and, anyway, she liked the work producing in-house content at a16z from the start. She learned invaluable skills there, and enjoyed working at a cutting-edge firm.
Now, after another layoff, Maria is running her own social media strategy business. Having the tech experience on top of her media experience sets her apart, and she likes that she can structure the work day and contracts however works best for her. She’s also been able to do things she avoided before, like post on TikTok or even speak openly about things that are important to her, like supporting women in tech.
“What I'm doing now feels like the most me, which is nice and really exciting, because it does feel like a combination of different skills I've been growing into the last couple years,” she says.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about women leaving the corporate workforce to do their own thing. Some of that is by “choice,” as in, traditional workplaces often don’t offer the flexibility necessary for many women to do their paid jobs in addition to unpaid caregiving responsibilities, so they decide to strike out on their own. Others are losing corporate jobs in an increasingly disastrous job market and have little other choice.
“I’m a mom, and I’m in a happy marriage, and I’m able to provide. All of those things are also part of the dream.”
It’s inspiring, then, to see women like Maria take a job loss in stride and make something on their own terms that offers more fulfillment. Her business is growing quickly: She already brought on two new hires this week to help with the workload.
She says we can put too much pressure on ourselves by constantly asking if we’re achieving our dreams. It’s helpful, she says, to remind herself that she’s just focusing on what’s next, what she needs right now. And right now, she needs health insurance.
“I'm trying not to let myself think too much about, was that my dream when I was five?” she says. “But I am getting to live a lot of my dreams. Not to get overly sappy, but I’m a mom, and I’m in a happy marriage, and I’m able to provide. All of those things are also part of the dream.”
‘Intention becomes reality’
Ruby Katz has made two major pivots: First from bartending and serving to property management at the end of her 20s, and then from property management to PR at age 36.
The second transition came after Ruby reflected on what she really wanted in life during the Covid-19 pandemic (relatable). She was also burnt out (relatable).
A friend made an offer: She was leaving her corporate job to start her own PR firm. Ruby could try out a role with a new client if she wanted to. So she did, and she’s been working there ever since.
Ruby differs from Maria and Janel because the actual type of work wasn’t super important; she says her job has never defined her. Instead, she was determined to find something flexible and that would allow her to travel more. After more than a decade in the workforce, she knew those two things were more important to her than a specific title or pay.
It’s worked out. She’s been able to work remotely at the new company, taking summer Fridays for extended hiking trips and planning long stints abroad. She and her husband are currently living in and working from France, which helps feed her “nomadic spirit.”
“Don’t be afraid. Just follow your heart and trust the process,” she says. “It will be challenging at first, but life is fun when it’s scary, and whatever you try if it doesn’t work out, you can fall back on your previous experience or re-connect meaningfully with your original career with hopefully more vigor.”
“It will be challenging at first, but life is fun when it’s scary.”
A bonus: Though she didn’t know much about PR or her financial clients before, she’s finding a new sense of purpose in the work—helping people who help others, as many of her clients do, makes her feel part of something bigger.
“You risk more by staying stagnant than you do by trying something new,” she says.
You might be thinking, well, I don’t have a friend offering me a job at her newly-established PR firm. But I like Ruby’s takeaway. She was offered the job because her friend knew she wanted to make a change. It wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
It can sound a little like manifesting or The Secret or whatever, she acknowledges, but it’s important to verbalize what you want. No one will just hand it to you by chance.
“There’s a bit of magic that happens when you put yourself out there,” she says. “Once you put it out into the universe what you want and make yourself available for it, the intention really does become reality”
Something as simple as a LinkedIn post or sharing with your friends can snowball “into a random person in your orbit offering you an opportunity you would have never known existed if you hadn’t verbalized your desires,” she says.
As for me, I don’t necessarily want to make a big pivot. I love researching and writing, and I enjoy connecting with others about their work and learning new things. I also crave autonomy, so journalism has been pretty perfect. But pivoting to a more entrepreneurial mindset within journalism is almost a necessity for those who want longevity in the field. That’s what I’m trying to do at The Purse.
Also unanswered: The AI of it all. No one really has good answers about what to expect, or if the fields were pivoting to will still look the same in a few years. Then again, that was true before AI as well. If you pivot once, you can always do it again.
This post was originally published on my newsletter Money Moves.
