CHAPTER 1
Are You a Switcher?
The âMagicâ Equation for Seizing Career Success
Donna secretly dreamed of a career in the fast-paced world of advertising and media. Yet, here she was, forty years old and still grinding away at the same large bank in New York City as she had since she was twenty. With her familyâs support and encouragement, Donna decided to make a change. It was now or never. Without telling anyone at work, she began looking for a new job. Not just any new jobâan entirely new career in advertising at a large media company. She knew she would probably have to sacrifice some of her salary, but she felt confident her impressive resume and stellar presentation skills would land her a well-paying role in her target area. After all, she was in New York, the worldâs media mecca. There was no better place to seek this exciting career opportunity.
Donna dusted off the resume she had last updated six years earlier when making an internal move by adding a few lines about her current job. She felt giddy when she searched the major online job sites and found senior roles open at CBS Corporation, HBO, CNN, and major advertising agencies. She picked out seven roles that seemed ideal and submitted her resume. And then she waited. And waited.
After six weeks she still hadnât heard from a single company. What was going on? Confused, Donna picked up the phone to follow up with a few companies just to be certain they received her application. The recruiters she talked to were pleasant, but they delivered jarring news. While Donna had an impressive background, she âwasnât what they were looking forâ because she didnât have âthe right experience or industry contacts.â Donnaâs background in finance was impressive but, as one recruiter bluntly put it, they were looking for a creative typeânot a math whiz. Donna was dumbfounded that her resume wasnât even being considered and frustrated by wasting six weeks waiting for responses.
Donna had an old college acquaintance who worked at one of the companies, so she reached out to reconnect and see if he had any advice. Her contact was candid and told Donna the company only hired individuals who had come up through the ranks. If she wanted a senior role in advertising, she would need to start from the bottom and gain experience like everyone else. Donna felt discouraged, but rationalized that this was just a requirement of her friendâs firm. Once she got an interview somewhere, she could share her many accomplishments and convince the hiring manager that she could learn the job.
Two months passed and still Donna hadnât gotten any traction. Not a single interviewâjust impersonal rejections, or worse, no responses at all. She considered returning to graduate school to get a masterâs degree in media studies, figuring this would boost her credibility. But with two preteen daughters, she didnât see how she could add schoolwork to her schedule. Then a neighbor connected her to a hiring manager at a small advertising firm and she got an interview. But she felt like she and the recruiter were speaking a different language, and she was never called back. Donna felt frustrated and resentful. She was on the verge of giving up and simply continuing with her standard routine, going through the motions at the bank. Why couldnât these companies see what a great candidate she was?
The Plight of the Switcher
If youâre trying to make a major change, Donnaâs predicament probably sounds familiar. Itâs hard enough getting a new job in the same career, but most traditional job seekers know the basic steps and typically land new positions within six months. Switching careers is different. Like Donna, you face broader obstacles to landing the job of your dreams, such as an inability or unwillingness for recruiters to understand how transferable skills can provide great value. Career Switchers often donât strategize sufficiently up front. They donât land interviews because they underestimate the need to reframe their experience, network properly, and use social media to their advantage. When Switchers do land interviews, they often misjudge the preparation needed, so they come across as incongruent or unqualified. As rejections pile up, they become disheartened. Eventually, all too many give up.
Thatâs unfortunate because unconventional career moves are easier to make than ever before. Globalization, technology advancement, the âgig economy,â and a rise in portfolio careers and side hustles are usurping traditional career certainties. With corporate ladders, up-or-out mentalities, corner office cultures, and glass ceilings all under siege, more professionals can leap boldly into new careersâif they know how to defeat stereotypes, poor hiring practices, and outdated thinking. To get a hiring manager to roll the dice on you as a nontraditional hire, you must be prepared. Donât suffer Donnaâs fate. In this chapter, youâll:
⢠Take an honest look at the sacrifices youâre willing to make for the
new career you want
⢠Determine whether a career switch is right for you at this point
⢠Learn the classic pitfalls career Switchers need to watch out for
⢠Discover the âmagicâ equation for seizing career success
What Type of Switcher Are You?
Many people who want to switch careers underestimate the nature of the challenge theyâre accepting. Before doing anything else, take time to think about what type of career Switcher you are. There is more than one type, and some switches are considerably more difficult than others. Hereâs the basic principle to keep in mind: The further you stray from a âtraditionalâ career trajectory, the harder it is to switch. Knowing the degree of difficulty will help you design your strategy.
An industry switch is moderately challenging. I made this type of switch myself when I transitioned from corporate to academia. As a corporate recruiter, I understood the skills and lingo of helping people shift in their careers, but I lacked direct experience applying those skills to an academic setting, where the structure, culture, resources, and outcomes differed significantly. So, when interviewing, it was incumbent upon me to prove to the hiring team that my functional knowledge was applicable, and demonstrate how I would adapt and navigate effectively in an unfamiliar industry. Interviewers asked me about this directly, and I got an offer largely because I anticipated this and prepared a concrete, outcome-based response.
Making a functional switch within the same industry is more challenging than an industry shift. Jessica was an accounting manager in the pharmaceutical industry who wanted to stay in pharma and become a marketing manager. Her familiarity with the industry helped a lot, but she needed new knowledge, skills, and credentials to market medications to prescribing physicians. It was a lot different than keeping the books straight. So with the support of her boss, Jessica sought out special projects inside of the company where she could gain hands-on skills by working with the marketing team. This ultimately put her on the right path to complete the switch.
Types of Career Switch by Degrees of Difficulty
To make a functional switch, you will likely need to find someone to advocate for you. Before you begin a job search, you may need to gain direct experience through volunteering, pursuing applied training, or working in a self-created âinternshipâ similar to Jessica. A functional switch can be easier if you do it within your current organization. If you have a track record of doing exceptional work with the company, they might be willing to put in extra effort to train you rather than conduct an expensive external candidate search or risk losing you as a loyal employee.
The hardest switch to make is the double switchâa professional who makes both an industry and functional change at once. This includes Donna, who wanted to switch from a finance role at the bank to an advertising role in media, or the newspaper editor whose job became obsolete so he followed his dream of working as a brand marketer in a startup, and the corporate attorney turned human resources executive in a growing nonprofit.
It comes as no surprise that double Switchers tend to become frustrated quickly. My friend Kevin, who joined the military after completing a degree in computer science, served eight years in the navy, where he earned the rank of lieutenant. Ready for a change, Kevin pursued civilian roles in large tech companies as a supply chain manager. Hiring managers were impressed by his noteworthy assignments in Afghanistan, but they had difficulty figuring out where Kevinâs skills would fit in their departments. Disheartened but not deterred, Kevin changed his approach and began describing his military experience in language that corporations understood. He created a strategy to network with individuals within the companies he was targeting, many of whom had made similar transitions, and he practiced relaying his value in mock interviews. He did the work for hiring managers instead of relying on them to figure out how his background might contribute.
A double switch requires persistence, courage, and sacrifice, but itâs completely doable. The key to success is to adopt a unique and tailored strategy, which I will help you develop in this book.
Think about your own goals. What type of a Switcher are you? Are you attempting a leap thatâs farther than you thought? Have you underestimated the difficulty? If youâre not quite sure yet, donât worry. The exercises in the next few chapters will help you define your focus with greater clarity. Then you can figure out how high the mountain is that you must climb.
Clinging to How Things Are
An old fable about a hunter who sets a trap to capture a monkey offers a perfect analogy for your biggest obstacle as a Switcher. The hunter puts food in a glass jar with a narrow opening. When the hungry monkey comes along and reaches into the jar to grab the food, he is unable to remove his paw since his closed fist doesnât fit back out through the hole. Although the monkey could simply let go of the food and remove his paw from the jar to escape, he instead chooses to cling tightly, and is captured by the hunter.
Sometimes we are unable to let go of what is keeping us trapped, even when achieving freedom could be simple. Switchers are excited to make a major change, but many arenât so jazzed about the sacrifices that often come with itâlike taking a salary cut, dropping levels on the organizational chart, or relocating to another city. We grow attached to our comfortable lives and donât want to give them upâor at least certain parts of them. So we cling to our current identity, without even recognizing it. And the more scared we get, the more we cling, and the less likely we are t...
