How to Make Informed Career Transitions

The moment you realize a career transition is calling your name: A flood of emotions. Fear, stress, anxiety, uncertainty... All flowing in suddenly, feeling so very real it seems they’ll never go away. But with some effort you can make them temporary. The first step: Shift your mindset from reactive to proactive. The key now is to maintain your composure and chart a deliberate path forward: 1. Buy yourself time and space to strategize This doesn’t mean checking out, failing to do your job, or becoming the toxic colleague. This means carving out time to make a plan, check your behavior, and think about your legacy at this company. 2. Start documenting your accomplishments Outline your: → major projects, → performance metrics, → the outcomes you and your team achieved, → the tools and systems you used, → your lessons learned along the way. This will help you build an inventory of information that will make it easier for you to update your resume and your LinkedIn profile. 3. Reflect on your values and desires for your next role Answer 3 questions here: - What do I really want? - What am I excited about working on? - What does the world need and want from me? This will help you define your path forward, and narrow the scope of your search to roles that objectively meet your needs and desires. 4. Lean on your support system Your mentors, and perhaps a career coach. Finding a great new job is not easy, it will take time, and there will be bumps along the way. The people around you can be instrumental in helping you see this through. If you’re going to hire a coach, doing so several months before you plan to leave your current role can give you the best return on your investment. Remember, how you handle this transition will leave a lasting impression on your colleagues (your network) and your own sense of professional integrity. Navigating a career inflection point can feel overwhelming. But you don't have to do it alone. If you're ready for a thought partner to help you clarify your goals and make a plan, let's set up a time to have a conversation.

“I’m trying to change careers. What advice do you have?” I get this question in my inbox almost daily. The time has come to put all my advice in one post. (Quick context for credibility: I pivoted from teacher to #ProjectManager this year. Before teaching, I worked in several roles, including in non-profits, as a Program Director and hiring manager). Here’s my advice to #JobSeekers: ✔ Always check out the Featured Content of someone you reach out to. They may have already answered your questions there. For example, here’s what I include in my Featured Content: -Link to my TopMate site and calendar for calls  -Link to my PMP ebook and free #CareerPivot resources (resume, template) -Long list of resources and who to follow if you are pivoting careers -List of successfully #transitionedteachers to several different industries -Carousel on how to career pivot your resume -Link to PM-Mastery podcast episode where I share my #PMP story -Posts where I share how I pivoted from #teaching to #ProjectManagement -Steps on how to tailor your resume -11.5 things I wish I knew when I first joined LinkedIn -Viral post on 3 resume changes I made that led to multiple interviews After perusing Featured Content and doing research, Here’s the rest of my advice: ✔ Get clarity on the role you want. It’s hard to do next steps without this. ✔ Don’t expect anyone to “take a chance” on you.  ✔ It’s on you to spell out your value and connect the dots. ✔ Start now and give yourself time. Transitions can take months. ✔Check out Teal. They offer fabulous resources for job seekers, like an application tracker and tools for tailoring your resume to a job description. ✔ Check out Better Career. They share resources for your job search and especially tech pivots. (Message me for more info and links to a Free Workshop and Job Accelerator Program). ✔ Optimize LinkedIn and know how to use it.  (Hint: it’s not Facebook. Don't underestimate your headline.) ✔ Ed Herzog, Scott Hinson, NCDF, and Yuji Higashi have helpful resources ✔ Remember: every post, every comment, every like, can be seen.  Use your presence wisely. ✔ Update your resume/LI to the language of your desired role/industry ✔ Start networking. And never stop. -Find people who post valuable content. -Interact in comments and provide meaningful contributions. ✔Make a plan (this may include upskilling). (I offer 1:1 calls to go over all of the above and/or help you make a plan!) ✔ Don’t pay hundreds of $ for content you can get for free/cheap ✔ Research your resources!!! And finally: 💡 Take breaks. 💡 Don’t give up. 💡 Know your non-negotiables. 💡 Know your worth and your “why.” 💡 Give yourself grace; career pivots are not easy. 💡 Don’t compare your journey to others; everyone has a different story. ✔ Reach out for help! A 30-minute chat might be what you need to get clarity and motivation. 🎤 To my LinkedIn Network: What advice would you add? Share below!

Turn your performance review frustrations into your next big opportunity: Your manager tells you you did a great job despite: — Losing resources — Lowered budgets — Higher targets to hit You worked your a** off. But it's okay. You know it will pay off. This is YOUR moment. But what you actually get: ↳  A rating of "Meets expectations" ↳  3% merit increase You're left frustrated, devalued. Your confidence at an all-time low. You want to immediately rage quit. That might feel good for a second. But then what? *Pause. Deep breath.* Hold it together. We'll get through this. 1. Reflect. First, take a step back. Give yourself the space to fully process your emotions. It sucks. You put in so much time and effort with little reward. Time to ask yourself: → Is this where I want to be? → Is it going to go where I want it to? → Am I happy if nothing ever changed? → Does this work align with my values? 2. Prepare. Depending on how you answered, it will involve some planning and preparation for the next step. Perhaps, you've decided on: → A career break → A new job entirely → A career/industry pivot No matter what it is, you can create a step-by-step plan to get to that next destination. 3. Transition You have your plan. You're following it. You can still experience fear of the uncertainty, the newness, the change. This is when the right support can help immensely. This could be: → A mentor → A specialized coach → A group with a similar transition No matter how disheartening a situation could be, understand that sometimes there is something greater waiting on the other side of adversity. You just need the right plan and to follow the steps.

How I transitioned from a career in Higher Education to Veteran Services Nonprofit... 1. Leveraged LinkedIn to make connections with folks in my target field. (Hint: all I did was search "veteran" and lots of people came up who work with veterans in various capacities.) 2. Sent those connections a custom message explaining why I wanted to connect and remained engaged with them online: a network full of people in your target field is a gold mine for learning about job opportunities. 3. Volunteered in the Veteran Service Organization space. (Gained valuable experience working for a Veteran Nonprofit which I could list on my resume and talk about with hiring managers, and confirmed that my target industry was definitely the path I wanted to take.) 4. Took a side hustle of working with veterans at the VFW as a Marketing Manager: it didn't pay the bills, and it was definitely a time-consuming portion of my "plate," but it was more experience working in my target industry. 5. Ensured my resume told the story of me as a helping professional, rather than a higher ed coordinator. 6. Crafted my "why." Interviewers were curious about why I wanted to get into the nonprofit space. I had my answers ready. It really can be that simple when you're wanting to change careers. If you're going for something very different from what you currently do, it may be useful to complete some professional development courses to illustrate that you are aware of industry standards and trends. What would you add? Have you successfully completed a career transition?

IS CAREER CHANGE STILL POSSIBLE IN MID-CAREER? Q. Hi Liz, I want to change careers but who would hire me in a new career path at my age? A. I remember how happily surprised I was when I realized that most jobs have a lot in common with one another. If we're talking about office jobs, most of the relevant skills are transferable. You'll learn new methods and new terminology in a new career path but everything else -- your brains, your wisdom, your ability to spot problems and solve them, your communication skills and so on - carries over from one career path to the next. Here are the steps to executing a career change at any age: 1) Decide which career path you want to explore. (That is a big question! If you're stuck on this point or any of the other points in this list, drop a note in my LinkedIn inbox and we'll brainstorm.) 2) Brand yourself for the new career path you're entering. That's going to involve changing some of what's on your resume now. You're branding yourself for a new audience, and hiring managers in that audience care about different things that the managers you wrote your old resume for. 3) Read job ads and research your target career path to understand the pain points hiring managers run into. They won't be obscure or mysterious. Common pain points are things like losing customers to competitors, checked-out employees (or turnover), a shortage of leadership bench strength, poor response to job ads, cost overruns, overburdened tech, etc. 4) Recall and reclaim some of your favorite Dragon-Slaying Stories(TM) - stories about times when you came, saw and conquered in your career thus far. Your stories illustrate your abilities far better than a list of skills ever could. 5) Create a Target Employer List. That's a list of employers who employ people in the new career path you're focused on. 6) Put together your strategy, and launch your job search! Need ideas? Drop a note in my LinkedIn inbox. Here's to your career adventures! #careerchange #midcareer #branding #rebranding #newyou #newpath #transferableskills #yougotthis

I want to share how I navigated my career uncertainty. Here's a simple 5-step process I think you'll find valuable: 1. Start with self-discovery. - Reflect on what energizes you. - What work makes time fly for you? These insights are crucial. 2. Complete assessments. - Leadership and personality assessments can be eye-opening. 3. Network conversations. - Reach out and connect with individuals who have taken similar career paths. Their experiences can guide and inspire your own understanding. 4. Explore beyond your degree. - Understand that your degree is just a starting point. - The real assets are your transferable skills like leadership, communication, and problem-solving. 5. Informational interviewing. - Engage in conversations with professionals. - Ask about their career trajectories and challenges. These insights are often invaluable. Remember, your career is more than your degree. It's about the intersection of your skills and passions. If you’re feeling lost, start exploring and be open to where the path leads. Action makes everyone feel about the future. Take action.

The most helpful #career #advice I got from 47 coffee chats/networking calls post-graduation. When I initially moved to #Seattle in 2019, I was both excited and confused in terms of how to launch a career. Throughout college and grad school, I wanted to pursue an academic track in Middle Eastern Studies. With a pivot away from academia and having just moved across the country after spending years on the East Coast, I wondered what I could do with a language & cultural studies background and a passion for #research and #writing to kick off a career. So I started reaching out to people - mostly alums and their recommended contacts - for career advice, learning about how each one of them navigated their career path. Princeton University and Duke University #alumni communities in the Puget Sound Area had been incredibly supportive. To this day, I'm deeply grateful for how generous people were with sharing their stories, time and network with me. Many people told me they, too, had received help from other alums in the past and wanted to pay it forward. For the 47 networking sessions (for some reason I thought it was 30, but just confirmed the number from my past meeting notes), I visited corporate/nonprofit foundation offices, met people at coffee shops ☕ or chatted on the phone. People had such diverse and interesting backgrounds - ranging from astrophysics to Russian literature - and it was eye-opening to see how people broke into industries or roles that seem completely irrelevant to their college majors. Sharing some career advice that I found super helpful with some thought bubbles. Hope these will be useful to others who're just about to launch a career or are contemplating a career transition. 1. "If you can't take a full step, then perhaps start with a half step." --> More than half people I talked to shared the same piece of advice with me. If you're trying to get somewhere that's very tough to break in, it's worth considering getting one foot in the door first - be it a small startup, a relevant or more junior role, etc. - so you can keep learning and double check if this is truly something that spark a passion from within. 2. "Keep on #networking!" Say if you're interested in Marketing, trying to talk to people working in different functions/funnels is extremely helpful to get a real sense of what a career in Marketing is like. You might also find inspirations on what to do as a next step, or get recommendations from real industry experts. 3. "Pick out a textbook in the subject you're interested in exploring further. Learn from a college student perspective and familiarize yourself with some industry terms." This helps get a better understanding of that field and helps you prepare for interviews. 4. "If you try, it's probably a no. If you don't try, it's definitely a no." --> originally in the context of job application, but can be applied broadly. (Took this picture after a coffee chat at a Starbucks store in SLU.)

Making a career transition requires an intentional strategy— If your move so far has been to Easy Apply to a bunch of jobs that are in areas you haven’t worked in (yet), it’s not going to cut it. 🙅♀️ One of my clients Kimberly was seeking to make a move from a paralegal to an executive assistant. All of her experience was in the legal industry, so she had to get strategic while creating her personal brand. Instead of writing that she assisted attorneys at her law firm, she referred to those attorneys as "executives" and "leaders". She didn't lie about her experience or fabricate her roles in any way. She just got creative while crafting her narrative so that her future CEO could connect the dots. The result? Kimberly made a successful transition in title AND a switch in industries! This was possible because she first took the time to understand her target industry and audience. Then, she wove a compelling career narrative that helped hiring managers view her as a top candidate. Career transitions aren't impossible— They just require a little creativity. Have you ever successfully made a career switch? How'd you do it? #careertransition #careerpivot #jobchange