Making a career change can be overwhelming at any stage, but especially when you’re a leader. There’s more at risk. More to lose. Status. Lifestyle. Your corporate reputation.
But you can also lose a lot by staying in a career you’ve outgrown. Every day your world gets a little grumpier and greyer. Your energy lowers. Your patience lowers. Your drive to get up in the morning lowers.
I know because I’ve been there. Four times. Before I became a corporate coach and personal branding strategist, I successfully re-branded my own career through four industries, two Fortune 100 companies, and a variety of job roles including being a radio DJ, to leading global teams in marketing, IT, and HR inside a Fortune 100 company. Sometimes I re-branded for survival. Other times I outgrew the position and chose to follow a new passion.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve helped hundreds of other corporate leaders and professionals re-brand and step into a new job role, company or industry. I think most will agree that making the decision to re-brand was the hardest part. After that, it was a matter of learning the smartest ways to find, land, and thrive in new opportunities.
If you’re thinking about re-branding your career, here are 4 things to consider along with my advice and lessons learned –
- What is career re-branding? If you change companies but keep a similar job role, that is a career change. Re-branding is more complex and involves changing industries and/or job roles that require a different set of experiences and skillsets than you’ve used in previous positions. For example, one of my clients re-branded from ESPN Marketing Director into sales for a top technology company. Another re-branded from IT Director to become a wine bar owner. Another went from principal engineer into marketing strategy. Want to switch industries? It may be easier than you think. All kinds of industries and companies want strong leaders with expertise in IT, finance, sales, program management, legal, HR, marketing or business operations. Want to switch job roles? You probably have a toolbox of transferrable skills such as leadership, business strategy, contract negotiations, problem solving, motivating teams, knowledge of new technologies, tools, and processes, etc., and may only need to acquire critical new skills, training and experience for landing that new job.
- Is it worth the risk to leave my current role? Stepping into a new role where you have less influence and a smaller reputation is truly humbling. It’s like going back to the bunny hill. It requires courage and humility to let go of your reputation, mastery, and influential connections that you’ve built over the years. One exercise I give my clients to help them assess their career motivation is to write a list of what they would gain in the new role such as passion, prestige, money, challenge, stability, etc. Next, ask yourself, What am I losing by staying in my current situation? It may be costing you joy that you would gain from stepping into your passion, or depleting your energy as you navigate through multiple layoffs, re-orgs and leadership changes, or frustration as you watch others step into the professional role you really want. I also recommend assessing the health and stability of the industry, companies and job role that you’re considering, plus developing a personal finance strategy. A good coach can help you mitigate risks and make a faster career change.
- Does re-branding mean a salary decrease?
Not necessarily, but you’ll need to be strategic. I increased my salary 56% when I re-branded my marketing position in the retail industry, into an internal communications position in the technology industry. I received another 22% bump in pay when I re-branded inside that tech company from internal communications into IT program management. It wasn’t just switching job roles and industries but switching and excelling in those new environments that bumped up my salary and lifestyle. It’s possible to increase your salary when you re-brand depending on the industry, company, and job role of your new career. If salary is a priority for you, then I recommend researching highest paying industries, highest paying companies, and highest paying job roles. The sweet spot is attaining all three. - What if I fail?
Whenever we decide to change our career, inevitably self-doubt creeps in. Am I REALLY going to do this? Change is always riddled with fear. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. Fear of past mistakes. Twice I failed when I tried to re-brand into a new company, industry, and job role – all three at once. Both times I was let go during the 1st three months. It was humiliating. Paralyzing. But those layoffs gave me rich lessons and led me to new environments where I thrived. I learned that risk is more manageable when I changed 1 or 2 of the three (industry, company, or job role.) I learned smarter questions to ask during job interviews to assess whether the company, new manager, and team were a good fit for my leadership style and personality. And I learned the best strategies to set myself up for success such as asking for support and leading conversations with my new manager, leadership chain, and customers to align expectations, address concerns, and resolve tension.Before you step into a new career ask yourself, What will I need to be successful in this new role? And, What will give me the confidence I need to succeed? Two very different questions.
For every career transition I’ve made, I’ve released the fear by asking myself, If I fail in this new career, could I come back to my current position? The answer has always been yes (perhaps not the exact same job role with the exact same manager, but I knew I could go back to something very similar.) And by asking myself this question and releasing the fear, I always chose to step into my new career path. And never once have I gone back.
