How to pivot your career when the unexpected happens

2020 has thrown us quite a few curve-balls personally and professionally. If an unplanned career change happens, what do you do? Our first advice is to talk to someone like Lindsay Boccardo, generational consultant and millennial career coach, and they’ll help you from there.

Here are five tips from her on how to pivot your career when the unexpected happens.

1. Don’t panic. A lot of your core skills will transfer. Project management, presentation skills, team building are just a few examples of skills that can transfer into other opportunities. You are not starting from scratch.

2. Get a supportive team around you quickly. I know it’s likely that most of us would get shy if something changed in our career – the last thing we want to do is tell everyone. AND, your network is your lifeline. You need encouragement and connections.

3. Get clear on what matters most to you in this moment – do you need cash in hand, do you want to move towards something you’ve always dreamed of? Decide what matters most in the next 3-6 months and take care of that first.

4. If there is something you’re interested in, go shadow several people in that job. Sometimes we inflate or romanticize new opportunities and we don’t actually have tactical information about what the job is actually like. You’ll learn a lot by shadowing.

5. Expect that you may start with a certain new career in mind, and you’ll probably iterate 3-5 times before you land where you want to. Don’t set your heart on the first next job that comes to mind. I haven’t met a lot of clients who find the first job out the gate. They end up wiggling towards positions that suite their strengths and skills better.

For more from Boccardo, visit her website.