Often times in someone’s career, there are times when a career change is necessary. Sometimes these changes are voluntary – you see a promotion opportunity and you would like to throw your hat in the ring. Or, especially in Post-COVID times, it’s possible that it was involuntary, and as a result, the business is closing and you are in need of a career change. Regardless, changing jobs can be scary AND stressful, and although you may not always be prepared for these changes in your career, you can make things a LOT easier for yourself if you have a plan to pivot in place.
A way to do that for yourself is to create some immediate concrete action steps that you can take, to get yourself ready to make this change, and to do just that we are going to take the word PIVOT, and make it an acronym so that you can easily remember these steps:
Here we go…
· Plan– plan as much as possible. Do the research, look at your options and then make a decision. If you have time on your hands, then sure, prepare as much as you can ahead of time, but if you can’t, move forward, and take action.
· Imagine – the next thing you want to do is imagine what your future might be – this can be hard at first if you were not ready to pivot and are having to adjust to a “new normal.” An easy first step in imagining a different future for yourself is to talk to those in similar situations. Reach out to people, whether it’s a colleague, a friend, or even a Facebook group. Doing so will remind you that you are not alone and can help you as you plan your next move.
· Vision– an invaluable part of the process is to create a vision of your new future. You can achieve this in many ways – if you are a list-maker, then a To-Do List might be right up your alley. If you are visual person, than a vision-board might be the tool for you. The research is pretty consistent on the power of vision, the notion being that the more clear and visual you can be, the greater your motivation will be to create that new future for yourself.
· Opportunity – Some of the most successful entrepreneurs have said in interviews that making the decision to pivot, not only created new opportunities for their companies, but that in many cases, these new opportunities led them to expanding their businesses in ways that they could have never imagined. Keep this in mind when your career seems to have hit a dead end – out of change can come great opportunity, and out of that opportunity, a brighter future.
· Train– sometimes people are reluctant to step out of their comfort zones and take a leap of faith because they don’t believe they have the skill set necessary to meet this new demand. Often times that is fear talking and that fear is simply holding you back and keeping you from gaining the confidence you need to take the next step, even after you realize you need to pivot. Other times, you really MAY need to brush up on some new skills, but today’s technology has made that need easier to meet than you might think - You Tube has over 3 billion available videos, many of which are in the “How-To” genre, so if you can’t “Google” your answers on the web, you may easily find a free webinar, or how-to mini course on the very skill set you are looking for.