There has never been a better time to pivot to a new role or industry. Yet there is also a science to making the right choice — one that will bring the relevance, satisfaction and lifestyle you seek. Here are the three steps that have proven successful. At the end is an invitation to participate in a free quarterly Zoom session we are hosting to help those who want to embark on this journey of taking charge of your career.

Step 1 - Setting your compass

First you need to identify the career options that will meet your goals. It is equally important to be honest about those that won’t fit your goals/interests so that you can avoid pursuing them later. For example, owning your own business might feel attractive. Yet being honest about questions like these could remove that option from your list:

• What is your (and your significant others) tolerance for risk?
• Are you good at marketing?
• How do you rank the importance of teams and culture, and your need for engagement?
• Would managing the kind of work force you would need be fun?
• Are you oriented more towards operations, or strategy?
• What operating hours, and prep, are required and do they match your lifestyle goals?
• Are you a procrastinator? Surprises happen in business, and if you have put off essential tasks you might regularly run out of time and feel a lot of pressure.

We use a battery of assessments and a career psychologist to dig out these insights. Our experience has been that our clients know some data points, yet do not have a clear composite picture. Two specific tools can help you with this step. 

1.   This Passion meets Purpose chart is a good starting place (link so they can return). Mark it up with what is most important to you. 

2.   Our five cards exercise will also help you zero in on what is most important (link so they can return).

We also use our own experience to “think outside the box” to add options that meet the composite objectives yet were not previously on your radar.

Step 2 - After Step 1 you may have five or more options that intrigue you. It is impractical to pursue that many, and the more an option excites you the more it will show! 

The goal is to net down to the one or two options that excite you the most, How? By having conversations with “been there, done that” people. Go talk to people that have done what you are considering. Ask them questions like:

What do you like best about what you do?

What surprised you the most?

What is your least favorite thing, and why?

If you made the change again what would you do differently?

Listen to what you learn, and rank your options after each conversation. Eventually you will end up with one or two that are best for you.

Step 3 - Putting yourself “in the market” for the options you want to pursue. At this point you want opportunities to find you, and you want to make the most of leads from your friends. To maximize your campaign you need four things:

1. “Elevator pitch”. What is your succinct answer to “what do you do?”. The best answer is a handful of words describing what you do now, then focus on what you aspire to do - and let your passion for that new role show!

2. LinkedIn is crucial. 85% of companies and recruiters use it as their primary tool, because it provides so much information efficiently. There is so much to cover that we packaged LinkedIn tips.