I view career transition as an ongoing cycle. At any given time, you could find yourself in transition whether it was brought on by you and your desire for change, or perhaps the decision was entirely up to your employer. If you look back at the last few years, many employees found themselves looking for something more whether that was in their work or life in general. This was underscored in a study that revealed 37% of the U.S. labor force changed or lost their job in 20201. In this ever-evolving and advancing world we live in, change is inevitable.
Change invariably brings on a series of expected and unexpected events so it’s not a surprise that we experience a bit of trepidation regarding the “unexpected” events. However, it’s these unexpected events that more often than not, bring about the most interesting and surprising changes we didn’t think possible. So, with the help of this 3-step roadmap, career transitions will never feel overwhelming or intimidating.
Step 1 – Gaining Clarity
In order to effectively rebrand or reposition yourself in the marketplace, it’s essential to gain clarity on the following:
– Your goals and desired timeline – if you don’t know where you want to go next and by when, all the following steps are meaningless.
– Your new niche/audience – who needs to know you in order to help you achieve your career goals and where can you find them online?
– How do you want to be perceived by your audience?
Step 1 Tips
– Make a list of ideal companies you want to target.
– List those in your network that work or know someone in this ideal company.
– What are your must have’s in your next company /industry?
– Know what your deal breakers are (what are you willing to walk away from if they don’t or can’t accommodate you with x).
Step 2 – Access your online presence
Take inventory of your digital footprint and how you show up online. This will help you understand how much of your branded content is out there and what needs to change. You might find that your content needs to only be tweaked a bit to fit into your new narrative. Or perhaps, you realized everything needs to change in order to fit into your new role/ industry. This step is designed to help you gain perspective on how to leverage what you have and minimize content that no longer serves you.
It’s important to look at everything including:
– Thought leadership content (blogs, articles, podcasts, interviews)
– Headshot /images
– Professional associations
– Endorsements
– Testimonials
– Social media platforms
– Videos
Step 2 Tips
– Write down the common key attributes people use to describe you (great communicator, compassionate leader, relationship building, etc.) because these transferrable skills can help you land a job no matter how unmatched your skill set might appear to be.
– If you are going from a conservative to a more creative industry, ensure your personal brand visually supports this through your wardrobe choices, headshot, and image selections.
– Identify the social media platforms your new audience is on so you can be visible to them.
Step 3 – Identify gaps
Now that you have gained clarity on your goals, new audience, where they are online and how your current brand is perceived and where is the gap, forming a communication strategy is critical. First, it’s important to understand how you can position your value swiftly and succinctly to those that need to know you. When someone is viewing your digital footprint, you want to be able to quickly convey your brand value so that it resonates with a future employer.
In my previous career as a marketing professional in tech, I crafted many position statements when launching a new product or service. A position statement is how a brand fills a particular consumer need in a way that its competitors don’t. In this case, you are the brand and you will need to articulate how you can fill an employer’s need in a way that others can’t. This is your positioning statement.
What to include in your positioning statement:
– Identify your target audience
– State their primary need
– How you will solve this need
– How is your value different from x
Career transition can feel overwhelming and stressful but if you plan ahead and leverage the 3 step process outlined in this article, a transition will be easier.
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*Source: Zippia 2022 Study: How Often do People Change Their Jobs?
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