Insights on Building a Resourceful Strategy to Shift to a New Career Path 

I was on Linked In the other day, and responded to a post about people making moves within a company – either to a new role, a new profession, or just taking on a new challenge. Then someone followed up with a question about making a transition to a new industry.

This exchange got me thinking about my own movement from several years in successful Sales and Marketing leadership positions to a leadership role in Human Resources.  Since my own move, I have counseled many others on how best to make a switch either at the beginning, middle or late stage of a career.

There are a few things to be aware of, and prepare for, as well as trade-offs to consider; that said, if I can do it, anyone can. So read on for recommendations!

Understand What You Want to Do — and, More Importantly, Why

My story: I started my career in sales without giving a lot of thought to it. I was good at it, I could make a decent living, and it met my desire in general “to win.”

Then, after a decade of roles with increasing responsibility, I became bored and made a natural move to marketing. I did that for a few years, and then was itching to do something different, something that would give me a feeling of reward and meaning. I had always thought the line, “Do what you love and never work a day in your life” was complete nonsense, but decided to take my dilemma to someone in career coaching, and uncover exactly what it was I found rewarding and meaningful.

I spent six weeks taking personality tests and analyzing, in expansive detail, every role I had ever held — and what I loved and hated about it.  This felt like therapy to me (she was kind of a therapist, after all!), but without me knowing it, she was also compiling a list of “pros” and “cons,” and finding alignment between similar aspects of roles that I found enjoyable or rewarding. And throughout our discussions, she was capturing what “lit me up,” and watched as my energy and excitement changed throughout the discussion.

By the third week, she said that she felt we had reached a good point, and she had two words for me: “Human Resources.” I had never thought about it before that moment. She explained that everything I loved in the roles I had previously – i.e. challenge, change management, communication, selling, compliance, building and developing others, coaching, problem identification and solution and making complexity simple – was all found in the field of Human Resources.

In this type of role, I could bring together all the things I enjoyed that made me feel joy and excitement, and revved me up. So we spent the next three weeks talking about the different disciplines within Human Resources – and the variety in their focus — in order to create a plan of action that aligned with those things for which I felt a professional passion.

Key Action:  Invest in the time to do due diligence about what it is that you love, and what it is that you find exciting in the professional realm. Without this very important piece, moving around may turn out to be about moving around — and less about getting to a destination you want.

Identify Where There is a Skills Transfer

This is the part that stumps most people: doing this properly can seem incredibly overwhelming, and it is very easy to get into analysis paralysis. Why? Because in this very important step, you want to identify what you know and can do today – and then translate it into something you can do in a different role, in a different profession.

Here’s how to think about it: every role, in every function, at every level (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) has a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) that differentiates it from other roles, functions and levels. These KSAs can then be translated into behaviors that demonstrate a knowledge, skill or ability.  So:

• Take some time and identify those KSAs in your current role, and assess either with a current manager or a trusted peer how you think you fare in those KSAs. Do you demonstrate the KSA behaviors as a novice or expert level?
• Then, for the role that you want, identify what the KSAs are. A great way to do this is look online for job descriptions in the role that you want and identify, usually in the “Job Duties” or “Requirements” section.

• Next, see if there is alignment between what you know/can do today and what you need to know/do in the new role. How much is similar? How could you take the skills/abilities you have today and port them over to a new role? For instance, a sampling of KSA’s are organization, communication, prioritization, change management, implementation of a process or activity, problem solving, etc.

Be prepared for the possibility that you have to work on building some skills, or take a slight step back in order to take a step forward, but don’t let this deter you: it is natural to build upon a good foundation, and by no means do you have to start from scratch and build a whole new foundation.

Key Action:  Spend some time understanding what you already have in your “professional tool box,” and what is needed to acquire/develop those tools for the role that you want.  You may be surprised to know that you are already pretty well-equipped!

Connect and Engage

This is another tough area for most people who are not naturally gifted at networking. It is critical, however, to connect with people in the profession you want to be in, who are (ideally) already in the role, or one to two steps above the role you want.

I did this after I met with my career counselor, and a person at one of my informational interviews turned into my future boss when she hired me into recruiting.  These “informational interviewers” can give you insight about what it takes to be in the role you want, and can provide you with real-life examples of the day-to-day existence in that role.

So ask them out for coffee, or invite them to lunch, and pick their brain. Tell them that you want to move into a role, show them the work that you have done — identifying the KSAs you have today– and what type of KSAs you think it takes to be successful in the new role. See if your table-mate validates your thinking. You will be surprised what you will learn.

Also, in these discussions, you can perfect your “pitch” and “positioning” for the future interviews you will have, and they can help guide you on steps that you can take to get you to your desired place, especially if the move is a big one. Lean on them as “subject matter experts” to help shape how you will position your current skills, and what you can bring to the role that you want.

These relationships can also be great connections to leverage now, or in the future, as the person will likely know about job openings. Demonstrating a desire and mindful planning for a role that you want will speak volumes to most people — and they will probably remember you when they hear of a great opening.

Key Action:  Spend time building a network of people in the industry, function or role that you want to help you design your path, and take your journey. In addition, they will be valuable resources to whom you can turn once you’re in your desired role.

Making a move at any point in your career can be daunting and downright scary, especially if your movement is more of a leap than a step, but it doesn’t have to feel like a free-fall. With a little planning and forethought, you can have the role you dream of that will leave you feeling full of reward and satisfaction – but if you want others to invest in you, you have to invest in yourself first!