The most common thought career-changers experience: “Do I really have to start from zero?” Often, professionals who are stuck or want to jump into a new profession believe that doing so will erase their experience. The truth is that smart professionals make career pivots that leverage what they already know and skills they already have.
Reframe What “Starting Over” Really Means
To start, let’s reframe what starting over really means. There is a difference between a career pivot and a career reset. A career pivot is a planned, purposeful change in career direction. A career reset is a change from the ground up. You don’t need to rebuild your career from scratch.
Most skills you developed through your years of experience are transferable, even across industries. Throughout your professional journey, you’ve gained career capital that can be used to secure your next role. Think of your network, your credibility, and your credentials.
Identify Your Transferable Skills
For a smooth career pivot, knowing what transferable skills are is key. For example, communication, leadership, analysis, and problem-solving skills are foundational skills that are essential in any industry. You can find your transferable skills by auditing your past experience. Look back on your past roles, side projects, and any freelance, volunteer, or hobby work. Focus on outcomes or results that you played a special role in – not job titles that you held.
Try this quick exercise to identify your transferable skills:
- List 3-5 roles or experiences and write bullet points about what you did in each role
- Look at each bullet point and identify the skills required to complete it. Rewrite each task as a skill phrase
- Review and circle or highlight anything that appears more than once
These are your core transferable skills. They’ve shown up across roles, they’re portable across industries, and you’ve already been trusted to use them.
Choose Adjacent Roles Instead of Radical Leaps
Instead of planning to make a jump to a different position, consider looking for adjacent roles. This kind of move can be lower risk and even shorten the transition time. If you’re not sure if the role would be an adjacent move, pay look for similar tools or workflows, overlapping audiences or customers, and if there are similar problems in a different industry.
Fill Gaps Strategically (Without Going Back to Square One)
When comparing your experience and skills to future roles, identify skills gaps that actually matter. Don’t focus on every shortcoming you might have. Once you’ve identified your skill gaps, search for opportunities to upskill efficiently. For example, enrolling in short courses or certification programs, jumping on a project, or participating in case studies, or taking on stretch assignments. Remember, it’s not about the credentials behind your name. It’s about showing proof that you can regularly and dependently perform the skills for the job.
Reposition Your Experience
A big part of making a career pivot is how you rewrite your professional story. Whether that be on your resume, for LinkedIn, or in interviews, how you reposition your experience will be key to your transition. Lead with relevant skills, not chronological history. While sharing your employment history can show how your skills progressed over time, you’ll want to emphasize your key skills and how they’d translate to a new role. Frame past roles as preparation for the new direction you’re headed in. Most importantly, do not apologize for pivoting.
Leverage Your Network Before Applying Cold
Whether you’re pivoting within your industry or outside of it, your connections are your most valuable asset. Don’t be afraid to reach out for an informational interview to learn about their career paths, what and how they developed their skill sets, and glean other information that could help you in your career pivot. Position yourself with curiosity, not desperation.
The decision to make a career pivot can be intimidating, but you aren’t starting over. You’re building forward. Nothing about this journey is final. Each step you take through your career change is an iteration that you will continue to improve on. Start with the first low-risk step you can, and build from there. Don’t try to do everything at once and risk burning yourself out.