Webinar: Advice for career transitioners

Being able to effectively translate your experience to other roles and sectors is critical, whether you are new to global development or simply looking to change roles within your organization. Effectively telling your story and leveraging your network are also key, yet these are some of the biggest challenges facing career transitioners. Craig Zelizer, founder and CEO of PCDN, and Anne Steen, executive director at Georgetown University’s Graduate Career Center with the Walsh School of Foreign Service, joined Devex to share their advice on overcoming these challenges and making that big career move. Here are four key takeaways from the webinar. Watch the full recording below for more advice and insights. Find your place within the sector Switching careers, particularly if you are making a drastic change and moving sectors, does require you to be “comfortable being uncomfortable” Zelizer said. However, it’s also important not to jump in blindly, and take time to think about your next move, he added. There are four key components to figuring out where that next step is in your career, Zelizer said: First, consider what skills you have or can develop; second, think about what you enjoy doing; third, and something that career transitioners often forget about is to ask whether the world, or the field, really need that service; and four, who is going to pay for it, he explained. Assess your skill set Consider what skills, aptitude, and knowledge you already have, and creative ways to develop those skills that are lacking, Zelizer said. This doesn’t necessarily mean more academic training. Instead, Zelizer recommended looking for opportunities to learn within your organization, or through joining a board or volunteering with an NGO. Training courses, such as those provided by Humentum, self-paced massive open online courses, and professional fellowships can also be a great way to further develop skills and advance knowledge. Connect the dots The way you tell your story is important. You need to “connect the dots for people” and make it easy to understand what it is you bring to the role and how that fits in with their needs, Steen explained. One of the most important things to telling your story is making skills transferable. “The skills you use in your current position or in a previous position can leverage you in a job where you may not have an exact skill set fit,” she added. Steen recommends taking the time to reflect on roles and accomplishments. A good exercise is to look through your resume and previous job descriptions and note down skills used, then think about how to make these transferable. This might mean renaming skills, putting them in a different context, or focusing on the impact of your work rather than the processes, she said. It’s also important to lead with your strengths and not your deficits, Steen advised. Anticipate that questions around your competency deficit but be confident and ready to let potential employers know your strategy for dealing with them. Network with intention Many jobs are not posted or posted only for a short period of time, so networking and building relationships do matter, Steen said. As you think about making a career transition, you can reach out to your network and ask for information on organizations, sectors of interest, or introductions to others working in the space. With each networking interaction you should have clear goals, Steen added, and know what you are looking to get out of that conversation. Be prepared to answer questions about yourself and provide examples. “When you are in the networking phase,” Steen said, “you need to treat it like the job search, you need to treat it like an interview.”