How to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You Deserve

How to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You DeserveHow to Make a Career Pivot Get The Job You Deserve Although it would make life so much easier to have one of those fabled dream jobs youve known about your whole life, and eventually move through with joy, most peoples career paths arent so linear.In zu sich book, Fearless and Free How Smart Women Pivot - And Relaunch Their Careers , writer and content strategist Wendy skramasax explains how to move out of your work slump with a little more grace and intention. We asked skramasax to share some nuggets of advice for women looking to take the next step in their careers. Ahead, five pro tips that just might help you make your own career pivot .Whether youre applying for a new dream job , a better role within the company where you already work or simply looking to take the next natural step in your career, youll need to talk about your experience in a way that feels relevant. Sachs suggests using LinkedIn as a cheat s heet. Find someone in your immediate or close network who currently holds the type of position you want, read through their profile and pay attention to the language that they use to talk about their skills. When you look at a job description, you want to match your skills to what the parteie hiring is looking for and position it that way, Sachs says.Dont feel the need to downplay past positions that youre genuinely proud of, even if you think they might seem like a detour. In Fearless and Free , Sachs tells the story of one woman who took time out of the workforce after becoming a mom and volunteered to raise money for a local playground. When she started interviewing again, people would ask her what job she welches most proud of, and she would say Hippo Playground, Sachs says. She didnt position it as, Yeah, I helped raise money for some swings. She spoke about it in the terms that the industry she was looking to get into were looking for - raising X amount of money, bringing in programming and new partners, and it didnt matter that it was volunteer work .Its tempting to follow the latest trend in business or technology, especially when people make it seem like all your hopes for landing a job zusammenge on the skill du jour. Dont feel the need to mindlessly follow that advice. Case in point Not everyone needs to be a coder, Sachs says. In her book, she interviews Tami Pardee, a woman who went from fundraising and party planning for the Muscular Dystrophy Association to becoming the CEO of a small tech company. She had no tech background, but realized all those skills of development, working across teams and event planning actually fit beautifully into a project manager position, and that happened to be at a tech company.If there are certain skills that align with the industry youre trying to break into, learning them can absolutely be a boon. But theres no need to derail everything based on the smaller picture. Other people will tell you that not everyo ne needs to be a social media expert. Should you know about Snapchat and maybe pay attention to things happening there? For sure - if your job is in online publishing, or in entertainment, or in retail, or in fashion, or in any of these industries that spend a lot of time posting things. But does that mean that you need to be the go-to expert in it - or that everyone needs to be an expert in everything? Absolutely not.Most jobs these days will want employees who can wear many hats, Sachs says, but its possible to utilize the skills you already have in new fields, and grow into a job at the same time. Case in point Pardee launched the Just Not Sorry Gmail plug-in after she made her foray into tech, simply to gain a little more street cred. She told Sachs that she still has no plans to learn how to code, and is still moving along just fine.This is easier said than done, of course. Its also subjective What feels like a risk for you may be a breeze for someone else. But its hard to break through stagnation by doing the same things, over and over again, so you need to find a middle ground.The more risks you take, the faster your confidence will grow, so the through line is to do whatever feels risky for you, Sachs explains. Maybe thats going into a networking event, signing up for a class online , showing up in person to go take a class or reaching out to that more senior-level person in an industry youre hoping to move into.Most people usually know what gives them that sinking, but slightly excited feeling - or they can figure it out pretty easily. Whatever it is for you, dip your smallest toe in to start, and see where it takes you.If your risk involves asking someone else for something, make it easier on both of you and come prepared. Dont ask to pick someones brain, Sachs warns. No one wants or has time to have their brain picked. Be very strategic in what your ask is.If youre hoping for an introduction, be forthright about that - but not rude - and als o explain what youd like an intro for. You might say, Im interested in launching my own jewelry company and I know that youre friends with someone who has an Etsy store. Can you connect me to your friend who does this? suggests Sachs. You need to do that research so you dont waste your one chance with that person.Its also okay to have more than one person youd like to reach out to. Humans are complex with varied interests, and you might want to look into a few areas. Just dont bombard one person with all of your hopes and dreams.When you sit down with someone who is well-connected that you want to network with, dont throw all 10 ideas you have out there, says Sachs. No one knows what to do with that and frankly, they cant really help you - thats a conversation to have with a career counselor, your therapist, your mother or your best friend. Instead, pick a lane when you have a networking opportunity , and make it the one thing that is relevant to the person youre talking to. Sta rting small will be less overwhelming for both the other person and you, so that you can start taking small steps forward.Our career lives are long and mistakes will inevitably be made, Sachs says. Those mistakes can include picking a job you hate , doing something that gets you fired, even staying in a job too long, way past the point of when you learned something new. (Not to mention the possibility that at some point in your career, you may face layoffs, which is beyond your control.)Look at all of this stuff as very much part of the journey and part of the learning experience, says Sachs. When you leave a job, the most important thing is - even if it was a bad fit or you werent getting along with your boss - to leave on good terms. These people remain part of your network, and you would be surprised how youll circle around similar people over time, even when you switch things up.Sachs experienced that firsthand after accepting a job that met most of her criteria on paper - a well-respected company, great coworkers and a wonderful boss - but turned out to be a place where she would stagnate. I had interviewed five or six times and we talked about the creativity and innovation that I would bring to the job, but the reality was that the agency just wasnt ready for that. They had their own ways, and for me, it was taking five steps back and doing a job that I had already done for years.Sachs didnt leave immediately quitting a job in a huff isnt a luxury most people have . But she did try to make the most of it while she looked for a way out. I stuck with it for nine months because you dont want to let people down, and you think maybe itll work out , she explains. Now Im a lot smarter when it comes to thinking about my next move.Within reason (in terms of how much wiggle room you have when it comes to your work situation), think about what matters to you, whether thats making a certain wage, working in a particular atmosphere or having a certain kind of r elationship with your coworkers. Then, before you say your final goodbyes, make sure that youve at least learned something new, or built a few relationships that you can take with you.Youd be surprised at how much experience youve really accumulated along the way. So dont beat yourself up over it, Sachs says.This article was originally published by Refinery29 . It is reprinted with permission.