What I Wish I Had Known Before Changing Careers (the first time)

Many working professionals had pandemic epiphanies in the past two years with 50% of respondents from a recent Harris Poll survey indicating they want to change careers. The average career change takes up to a year, but that’s for a partial career change. Full-blown career changes can take years and be riddled with serendipitous and downright soul-shattering detours. But with diligent research, trust-your-gut drive, and a dash of goodwill, it could just be the best decision of your life.

I’ve navigated two career changes (so far): one to a completely different industry and a different job function and one that was partial – changing job functions, but remained in the same industry. This blog covers my first one with part 2 covering my second and partial career change.

No One Knows What the Hell They Want to Do at 22 (and if they do, they’re in the minority)

I had been working in the advertising industry as an Account Manager for 3.5 years before going back to school to get my Master’s degree in International Relations. I didn’t wake up one day and say, “I’m going to work in international development”, apply to school, then land a job before graduation. The truth is it was five years from when I started to research a career change to when I landed my first job in my desired sector. Five years!!! I have friends that got married, had a kid, and got divorced in that time. I faced a rollercoaster of emotions, took on a tear-inducing amount of student debt, and weathered some unexpected and time-consuming detours along the way. Was it worth it? Hell yeah.

My cousin helped me land my first official job out of undergrad at a pharma company – not the job I wanted, but a job nonetheless. I spent 10 months there before getting a job with a digital advertising agency as an Account Manager - the exact job I wanted in college as a Marketing major.  I loved it - for maybe three months, four tops. Turns out I wasn’t a client services savant. My primary client was moody, conniving, and manipulative. That was my introduction to the phrase “power trip”. I thought that was normal for client services. It wasn’t, but I didn’t know any better and no one explained to me that was an abnormal experience.

I was also wildly inconsistent in my performance, as junior staff tend to be while learning to navigate entry level corporate America and gain professional maturity. More importantly, my inconsistency had to do with the fact I didn’t like my job and was quickly losing passion and drive for it. My Sunday night crying sessions became pretty routine. It was time to come up with an exit strategy.

Discovery Process

I always had a love for international travel, had a knack for business strategy, and like many millennials, was deeply impacted by the events that led to and transpired after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

For those unsure where to start, simply consider your personal interests (doesn’t even need to be something you’re passionate about, just a genuine interest) and consider your professional strengths.

I started to look into international relations, diplomacy, and mission-driven work around the globe where I could use my business management skills. I kicked off my exploration by talking to a college friend that had served in the Peace Corps and was in her first post-service job. She explained there was absolutely a need for business savvy professionals in the international development sector. From the time I started researching international development to when I landed my first job in that sector, I had a failed attempt at becoming a Peace Corps volunteer, changed jobs in the advertising industry, went to graduate school full-time and took seven months to land my first job after grad school.

Here are the key lessons from that five-year period:

1)    Your discovery process may reveal that your desired career change isn’t a good fit for you. While my primary focus was on international development and relations, I also looked into becoming a sex therapist. I know, wildly different career paths, but I’ve always been fascinated by the fact sex is so taboo in American culture yet it’s the reason for the demise of so many relationships. While I explored both of these career paths, I quickly learned I would need to get a PhD to become the type of sex therapist I wanted to be and PhDs require a lot of complicated math and research. That has never been a strength of mine. I also didn’t want to go to school for another five to seven years after having done four years of undergrad already. This narrowed down my search and I completely focused on learning about the international development and relations sectors.

Your discovery process may reveal the culture, work schedule, location, pay, required skills and education, or typical career trajectory for your target industry are just not in alignment with your professional goals and work style. And that’s ok. This is the main purpose of the discovery process. You may feel disappointed that the information you gathered about a job isn’t what you expected, but ultimately, be grateful that you are gathering reliable intel that prevents you from taking a costly and timely detour.

The discovery process may take anywhere from a few phone calls spanning a few weeks with professionals in your desired field to a year depending on how many jobs or sectors you are considering and how much research you need to do.

I cannot stress this enough – DO NOT rush this process, especially if you are desperate to get out of your current job. You want to make an informed decision especially if your career change requires you to go back to school and take out loans, for example. 

You absolutely should have conversations with professionals in your target job across all levels to gain a strong understanding of what the work will be like at every level. Attend networking events and reach out to university career services to try and speak with professors and alum in that target sector to get an understanding of the education and skills required to get a job in that sector.

2)    You may need to take on additional education costs to gain new skills. Make sure you speak with professionals in your desired field during the discovery process to understand what type of training and education is needed. Also, make sure you vet which schools are ideal vs. which are absolutely necessary. Can you complete a certificate program, a fellowship, or an apprenticeship that is shorter and more affordable than graduate school? Also, there’s no point in going to the best and most costly school for that job if you can get a job by earning a certificate or degree from a more affordable school with less brand recognition. Increasingly so, companies that value diversity care less about where a professional earned their degree and focus more on their abilities and experience.

If going back to school is necessary for you to make the change, consider if you can complete that program part-time while working full or part-time. I went back to grad school full-time because I knew I wouldn’t be able to manage school and work at the same time and I knew I couldn’t work one more month in the advertising industry. Many of my friends and co-workers who went to grad school part-time while working full-time were zombies for a three or four period and struggled to finish their theses. They got through it, but they often joke those years were the “dark ages” for them. On the plus side, they didn’t take on so much debt or worked for companies that paid for their degrees putting them in a much better financial situation than me.

3)    You may need to change jobs in the interim while you go to school part-time, gain the necessary skills, apply to fellowships or apprenticeship programs or grad school. This is a career layover that will allow you to keep earning a paycheck while you get some sanity back from a high-stress job that is simply unsustainable. I don’t recommend doing this if you plan on staying in that job for six months or less unless you’re taking on a short-term contract position.

While I was applying to the Peace Corps, I changed jobs from a digital ad agency to a direct mail one. Did I have an interest in direct mail? Not really, but the agency I went to provided me with work-life balance, kind and fun co-workers, better pay, and a shorter commute. I intended to stay for only a year while I went through the Peace Corps application process, but ultimately was rejected from the program for medical reasons. Ouch. I was devastated, but it turned out to be a blessing. Given my A-type personality, I wouldn’t have survived two years in a rural village in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Peace Corps would have chewed me up and spit me out. Detour #1.

I switched gears and started to research grad programs. My cousin told me about an interesting program outside of Philly that had students go abroad in year two. It appeared to be a great fit for me. Sign me up! The program had rolling admissions so I applied a bit late in the season, but thought I’d give it a shot. This was when the 2008 Great Recession hit and graduate school enrollment increased over 8%. I was waitlisted for the following academic year. Detour #2.

I stayed for another year at the direct mail agency while I waited patiently for the next academic year to arrive. It was challenging to remain engaged during this time, but I was fortunate to receive a promotion and left on good terms.

These layovers may last a bit longer than you initially intended, so stay engaged and always leave on good terms.

4)    Be prepared for a potentially long job search. If you change careers to a saturated job function (program management) or sector (marketing or management consulting) then you will be competing with new graduates and other professionals with more experience than you. If you’re cold applying to jobs without networking, you’re relying on your resume to tell a compelling story and when stacked up against other applicants who’ve been working in the sector for years, it’s can be a real struggle.

I was job searching well before I finished grad school and I networked my ass off. I was also willing to relocate essentially anywhere in the U.S. and was putting a local address on my resume when applying to jobs. I casted a wide net, but not too wide. You name the job search trick, and I was utilizing it. I even had direct short-term field experience in Sub-Saharan Africa that stood out among other graduates who didn’t have the same field experience, but my advertising background deterred some employers from considering me beyond an initial screening.

It took me seven months to get a job offer. I must have applied to over a hundred jobs and received one interview for approximately every 10 job applications. I really hadn’t anticipated it taking that long, and financially times were tough during this period. But I was committed and there was no turning back. Which leads me to lesson #5…

5)    Someone you interview with will appreciate a particular skill or experience you have that they deem to be highly valuable, and that’s the reason you’ll be hired.

When I interviewed with a Vice President at a large-scale government contractor, business development was one of the job functions a program associate had to do. In my interview I spoke about my time reviewing and editing client presentation documents and supporting RFP responses in the ad industry. I was skilled in new business writing – a highly desirable skill for professionals at this company and one that not many entry-level staff had. My advertising experience wasn’t dismissed; it was seen as an asset. I got the job. And a year into that job that VP commented they still remembered my cover letter. You gotta be a kidding me? Someone – a VP – read my cover letter?! (Side note: Don’t skimp on your cover letters). I couldn’t have been happier. Finally!

Whether you’re changing careers from accounting, journalism, engineering - whatever it is - you will most likely interview with someone who is looking for your exact skill set, so this is why recruiters and career experts are always telling you to be yourself in interviews. There is a company out there that is looking for your experience and will be patient with you as you learn a new sector. Your past experience isn’t something to hide; it’s something to be proud of and has led you to this very spot.

6)    You may need to take a temporary step down in position level and/or take a pay cut to get your foot in the door in your new industry. You may be able to negotiate a shorter performance/promotion review period during your compensation negotiations especially if you’re an experienced professional who quickly learns the job and proves themselves over a six-month period, for example, so don’t be afraid to negotiate this especially if you have highly relevant transferrable skills.

I ended up taking a pretty big pay cut. One so large that my new landlord asked “what happened?” when he saw my salary history on my rental application. I thought to myself “Whatever, man. Mind your business.”

Those were some financially lean years, but I was promoted twice in two years and quickly made that money back. In the grand scheme of life, those two years will barely be a blimp on your radar. If you’re happier in your new career and feel motivated by advancement opportunities, the temporary pay cut will be worth it.

Stay tuned for part two next week where I’ll discuss my second (and partial) career change and give you tips on how to kick start your own career change.