Pivoting in Your Career: Take These Steps Before Making a Leap

If you have ever worked in a industry or role that no longer aligns with your personal goals or values, it may be time to transition to a new role. This realization does not come easy and many factors should be taken into account before switching a job or career. Using these tips can make that choice a bit more clearer for you. 

What are your strengths? 

Assessing your strengths are incredibly important to identifying your strongest skillset. You can simply make a list of all of the strengths you have or widen the net and expand this question to your friend or trusted coworkers. This could actually surprise you on what you think may be your strength vs. what may actually be your strengths. This exercise could also be an eye opener and an opportunity to brush up on skills you may need for your career path. 

What are your passions? 

This sounds like the easiest question to answer. Simply ask yourself, “what makes you feel alive?” This could be anything, even outside of work. Whatever may be on the list, are things that give you energy or even your “why”. This is very important to understand your motivation and also find purpose in your work. 

Identify Why You Don’t Like your Current Role

Any recruiter, HR person or hiring manager is going to ask about your previous role. Before we get to the interview, this is a question you should ask yourself. Maybe it is your workload, the culture of the company or maybe you are being micromanaged, there is no wrong answer, but learning how to frame it in interviews is important. This is also a good identifier of tasks you like and tasks you do not enjoy, this is helpful in the search for a new role.

What are Your Personal Goals and How Do Your Career Goals Match Up? 

This is the fun part. Assess your career goals and line them up with your personal goals. Do they match up? Are they incredibly imablanced? Try this tip: Envision your life in 3 years - what does your life look like? You may not have a perfect picture, but this will give you a general idea of where the direction you want to go in. Review these goals and make sure your career goals align. For instance, maybe you see yourself traveling, so you want to choose a career that will allow you to do so. 

Audit Your Time Management Skills 

Time management skills can make or break your success. You can have the most talent in the room, but if you are not efficient and use your time wisely, it can negatively impact your performance at the job and in life. In roles where deadlines are tight and follow through is highly valued, time management is the key to your success. To get better at this, try blocking your time and tracking where you tend to waste time - you will be surprised to see where your time is actually going. 

Assess your finances 

Before making any switch in your career, run the numbers first. Review your banking transactions, subscriptions and other things that are tied to your money, so you can ensure this is a good choice financially. If you don’t have an emergency fund, now is the perfect time to start stacking up for any future inconveniences. How much money do you need to make in order to pay your bills? These are very important questions to ask yourself so your bills are not impacted. 

Check Your Mental Health 

Of all of the things listed, this is the most important. There is a high likelihood that the reason you want to change industries is due to mental health. If that is the case, congrats on making this decision. Your mental health means more than anything. Before making the step to another industry, check where your mental capacity is: can you handle a fast paced job? Do you find purpose in the work you are doing? Burnout among these notes tie into your mental health and could be a barrier in any role you are in. 

When it comes to taking a pivot in your career, it is a very hard decision to make. These notes are are great markers to help you along that process.

Did this resonate with you? I would love to hear your feedback! Shoot us an email or leave your comment below!

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Do You Need a Recruiter to Get a Job?

Have you ever wondered if you absolutely have to work with recruiters when job searching? 

I love hearing the perspective of candidates and other career coaches and how they feel about the job process as a whole. It's always interesting to hear  some of the feedback about what their thoughts are about the role of recruiters in the job search process.

I remember being on a career coaching panel and another coach said that they HATE recruiters. Now, being in the career community, this is not the first time that I have heard this. In fact, a lot of people would be surprised about my take on the relationship between recruiters and candidates. 

Since I am both a recruiter and career coach, I have a unique perspective on each point that was raised.  Here are some subjects that were raised during the panel and my REAL thoughts.

True or False? : A recruiter can be a barrier in the job searching process.

This is two fold. It is true, recruiters have to follow a process. They usually have a certain amount of calls they have to make and they are juggling a lot of balls at once which can lead to burnout. So I can be honest in saying that dealing with a recruiter can be less of an intimate candidate experience depending on your recruiter. 

A good recruiter nurtures a candidate throughout the hiring process. Let's start with the notion that you don't need a recruiter: You will more than likely deal with a Recruiter or an HR Rep at some point of the process.

• The truth is that companies need help with bringing on new talent. Even the best startup will most likely bring on some one or outsource to find talent - this means finding or sourcing, interviewing, making offers and onboarding which needs to be legally compliant.

• At some point in your job searching process, you will encounter them, so I agree that they play a part in the hiring process. They can always let you know when there are other jobs that may come available

My verdict: It is always good to know a recruiter in whatever industry you work in. They can give you the lay of the land of the hiring trends and let you know about opportunities.

True or False?: Getting a referral is the easiest way to get a job.

I agree with this wholeheartedly! I would say that getting the RIGHT referral is the easiest way to get a job. The fact is,  the candidates who know someone with a great rapport amongst management are the ones that get through the process quickly. 

Jobseekers must know that even as a referral, you will have to go through some type of process i.e the company’s application, offer letter, etc

My verdict: Network! Network! Network! You never know who you might meet - you could make a great friend or a link to your next opportunity. 

True or False?: Recruiters don't care about a candidate’s experience.  

This will depend on the company and the recruiter. Depending on the company, they may have an applicant tracking system that will automatically disqualify you if you don't have keywords in your resume. A good recruiter puts the candidate's experience first. 

• For the Candidates: Find the recruiter of the company (or someone prominent in the department you are aiming for) and email them your CV (this is a key time to add your cover letter). This will for sure make you stand out against other candidates.

• For the recruiters: Ask the candidate how their experience was, most likely they will be honest with you. 

True or False?: The Recruiter does not make the final decision 

In many ways this is  true - the final say does usually rest with someone else, Especially if you are dealing with an internal recruiting and not a staffing agency- most likely you will be interviewing with someone else or at least given a yay or nay by someone else that is in authority in the department or company you are going applying for. 

My verdict: Most times they don’t make the final decision, but let's not count out the role recruiters play in the process. 

Final Thoughts: 

Here's the thing, say you apply for a job you aren't good at and you just rely on connections at a specific company. If you are not selected for the job, your resume will mostly stay in the hands of that same person. Now a recruiter - a good one anyways, main concern is to ALWAYS have a candidate in mind for a role. Recruiters are constantly building their network full of professionals and new employers who may have a lead that could fit your expertise. This means that a good impression left on a great recruiter will keep you in mind for a future position that come across their desk. 

All in all, when it comes to securing your next opportunity, your safest bet is to cover your bases. Get your resume in front of the key players and utilize the recruiter to as a resource throughout the process.