Looking to Pivot?
Don’t make the same mistakes I did!
Note: All opinions are my own
In 2021, I joined a big tech company to work in product marketing. I’d landed my dream job, one I moved to the UK to take up. 2+ years later, while I don’t regret the move, I think I would have done a few things differently.
Here’s why: I pivoted on too many dimensions at the same time.
I changed my industry (I used to work in international development), my function (I used to be in research/consulting), my geography (I used to work in the US / Southern Africa), and even the size and type of company I work in (I used to work in small/medium non-profit organisations). In hindsight I can say that may have been too many changes in one go — I felt like I was playing catch up on all fronts, personally and professionally, and two years later, I’m exhausted. Just because you can pivot on all dimensions, doesn’t always mean you should! It’s definitely the fastest way to get where you want to be, but I’d urge you to consider a different way.
Choose a dimension
If you’re looking to make a change in your career, my recommendation is to pick a dimension or two to pivot on. Here are the main ones, ranked in terms of ease of transition (in my opinion, of course):
1. Role — move to a different (often tangential) role within the same company, e.g. move from being working in Sales at Unilever, to working in Marketing, or in Business Development at Unilever. Most companies allow internal transitions, and these are usually easiest to execute on once you’ve built a reputation within the company.
2. Industry / Company — stay in the same role but move to a different company, or a similar industry that needs the same skillset you’re currently using. For e.g., move from a Product Manager at Uber to a Product Manager or Product Lead at Deliveroo.
3. Geography — you can stay in the same role and/or company but move to a different region or office. For e.g., move from an Ops role in Houston to an Ops role in New York, or even Dubai.
Making the change
Once you pick a dimension or two to pivot on, figure out your option space. Let’s say you want to move roles within the same company. In that case, map out what kinds of roles will be open to your background — this can be something you can look up on an internal job portal, but more often this requires talking to leaders in different functions to understand whether (and how) you can make the move.
Next comes the hard part — narrowing down your option space based on what you’re looking for out of the new role/industry/geography/company. Some people are looking to move simply based on pay — this could make it easy. But if you’re looking to move based on something that’s harder to quantify or know beforehand (better boss, better work life balance, better career progression, closer alignment to your values), this can be a tricky and iterative process. I’d recommend penning down a set of goals before you get started. It could be something as simple as a table with what you need to be true:
With this, you can check each role in your option space against your goals and see how it ranks up — this process should help you eliminate a few options, even if it doesn’t help you land on a single one.
Once you’ve narrowed down your options, you’ll need to make a plan to get to where you want to be from where you are today. And you cannot do this alone. Find someone (or a set of someones) to help you make this plan — ideally, the hiring manager or a team member of the team you hope to join is on your planning committee, so they can make sure your plan is sensible and is likely to get you the outcome you’re looking for.
Now all that’s left to do is execute on your plan! Controversial opinion perhaps, but I find making the actual transition the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what your options are, narrowing them down based on your goals, and then creating a plan with someone to get from where you are now to where you want to be. Once you do all that, all that’s left is to follow the plan you made. It may not be straightforward or fast, but at least you know what to do!
