Wading into a whole new field of work is like going for a swim in a really cold pool. It is best to take small steps into the pool as the cold water ascends, inch by chilly inch, until you are fully immersed. Suddenly diving into the deep end might be shocking to the extent that you cannot swim as lithely as you wished. After all, you need a good amount of warming-up to swim in proper form.
What if you are drawn to the water but are afraid to get wet?
With so much experience in your current professional role, you already hold a wondrous collection of well-honed tools, including expected responses and outcomes for any given scenario. Becoming a master of a trade is noble indeed. Within said trade, you have grown fluent in effectively getting your point across and knowing how to navigate uncertain situations. This means you are capable of learning and evolving. You can do it again somewhere else.
The thing is, you might not seem so graceful at first in a new setting. It might feel awkward. Yet, your intuition tells you—prompts you, compels you—that it’s time to move on to a new pool.
Bidding farewell to a long-established title that includes a specialized array of talents is no simple feat. Imagine transitioning from the realm of higher education to that of corporate. You find as you network and learn more about the differences between these cultures, that each entails unique terminologies and expectations in communication. You might want to take avid notes and begin your own cross-professional terminology thesaurus as you cross the bridge.
Say you have been actively seeking for months. Rejection emails splat—like cafeteria mush—onto your plate. It feels unhealthy, void of nutrition. The most common feedback you receive from corporate companies who are turning you down is that you—who hail from the realm of education—do not have enough experience or are not as qualified as other candidates.
You want a chance to prove your ability to adopt a new trade. You know that your skills are indeed transferable to a fresh scenario, and/or you are capable of earning the certification necessary to be considered. How can you prove this?
Dominique Vatin includes a personal account of transition in her blog post, “How to Successfully Transition to a New Career When You Have Limited Experience”. She states: “I personally found it helpful to separate my transferable skills into hard skills and soft skills. This allowed me to better identify what I should advertise during my job search and which knowledge gaps I needed to fill in to be more marketable. Objectivity was key here” (2022). Making lists and organizing your strengths will help you distance your mental being from your emotional being enough that you can self-evaluate in a non-biased way.
Try not to take things personally as you encounter new methods of expression. What you might find incredible is that there is a speed and fluidity to some companies’ communication styles, which are more goal-oriented and less concerned with feelings and etiquette. They will exude a formal kind of composure in professional interactions. Others could be more prone to gushing about sentiments or setting up activities for improvisational team bonding. How will you know which way to behave, here versus there?
Utkarsh Amitabh of the Harvard Business Review shares several pro-tips in his piece, “The Right Way to Make a Big Career Transition” and concludes with the following reassurance. He says, “Career transitions are messy, but they can also turn out to be catalysts in shaping a future self you will be proud of” (2021). Messes are a part of life, after all. Sometimes it turns out that taking all the safe routes and recommended career choices earlier in life was not in your best interest after all. Perhaps you were just absorbing opportunities that came along, that were easy, or that made your parents proud. A career transition, however, is the opportunity to make yourself proud.
Putting yourself out there and exploring the unknown might feel absolutely terrifying. Just remember that once upon a time, you successfully learned and fit into a career lifestyle and adapted to its demands. It simply took a series of learning episodes to get there.
You can do it again. You can be different versions of yourself and you can be reinvented. So don’t sell yourself short. If you introduce yourself as a mere seeker of benefits, you might limit potential opportunity landscapes. First impressions are often the most impactful, and you have so much value to offer. Eileen Smith of Fast Company highlights the importance of asserting focus to meet the needs of the employers in her article “3 Things Not to Say When You’re Looking for a Job”. She writes, “Focus your initial conversations on the impact you want to make by working for that organization. Talk about what drives you professionally” (2024). In this way, you will come off as generous and open. Later, you can negotiate for your specifications.
It takes education and hands-on experience to transform the new into the known. It takes immersion. It takes practice, knowledge, and external feedback. It takes humility.
Wading into a whole new field of work is like learning a new language. What do you start with when you are learning a new language?
Learn how to introduce yourself.
Learn how to ask about the other person.
Learn how to describe where you are from.
Learn how to describe what you love.
From there, it’s all just paying attention, practice, repetition, and satisfying snack breaks.
Of course there is a real comfort clinging to the career genre in which you have been trained and in which you have previously performed. Your professional expertise feels like home—natural and familiar. Holding on to the familiar solely to avoid change is like glomming onto those friends you see at the party: not for the fun, but for the security of it. This sense of secure familiarity might impede your drive to approach random fellow attendees with whom you might make new and glorious connections. Avoiding new career fields might cost you your happiness.
One thing to do when you are moving into unknown waters is to rewind a few strokes to assess the overall panoramic view. Grab your telescope and zoom in. Get used to the temperature of the water. Swim awhile. After acclimation, you might take a dive and do some laps. Grab your microscope and look for water bugs. With the right set of new tools, you’re going to be just fine in any pool.
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