When Life Needs to Take A Pivot:Navigating the Road to Career Change

By Erika Fehrenbach Prell

Who else imagined Ross from Friends yelling “Pi-vot!”? Anyone? Bueller???

DreamChaser, I have a few questions to ask. Have you ever…
    -Realized mid-way through your college courses that this degree wasn’t for you?
    -Landed that dream job, then realized it was actually a nightmare?
    -Went back to school but still were unfulfilled or getting burned out?
    -Realized you were just going through the motions, living for the weekend?
    -Took a chance on yourself and did something totally different?

Is my hand the only one that was up the whole time? You got it, friends, this is a summary of my personal journey of career twists and turns, and it started before I even had a career! I changed my degree 4 times in college before settling on nursing. I graduated from nursing school and landed my dream job, then learned what it means to work night shift. I returned to school for an advanced degree to just burn out a few years later, finding myself unfulfilled, uninspired, and going through the motions. And, more recently, I seized an opportunity to take a chance on myself with a huge pi-vot.

Why do I bring this up? I doubt I am alone in this interesting plot twist of a career path journey. The statistics say that the average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life. Crap, that means I might change 2 more times??? Bring it! I am that person that changes direction every 5 years or so, and I expect that will continue. Due to several life events growing up, I realized at a young age that life is short and to live all out, meaning life is too short to be miserable. While taking a pivot to a new path was a little nerve-wracking at times, I saw it as an expected part of the process, which made it less scary. 

At some point, the possibility of opening that chapter to career change will present itself, and it will be up to you to be the author of that next chapter. A little guidance is always helpful to navigate unknown waters. Here is a way to evaluate where you currently are so you can take your next step confidently. I have found this process is helpful in making sure all doors have been peeked behind, creating closure so you don’t wonder “what if” as well as opening new doors.

Explore your current profession first
Perhaps the profession is correct but the particular job or job setting is the issue. For instance, in nursing, there are multiple settings to work such as clinic, hospital, community, or school with different types of nursing jobs within each setting. This is a good place to start to refresh your career outlook as you already have the skill sets needed to do these jobs.

Creative extensions of your skillset
Explored other jobs within your profession and came up short? Time to turn the creativity on! There are often careers that are related to your current profession like teaching, consulting, or sales that require knowledge of the profession. This would allow you to use your current knowledge while building new skills!

At some point, the possibility of opening that chapter to career change will present itself, and it will be up to you to be the author of that next chapter. A little guidance is always helpful to navigate unknown waters. Here is a way to evaluate where you currently are so you can take your next step confidently. I have found this process is helpful in making sure all doors have been peeked behind, creating closure so you don’t wonder “what if” as well as opening new doors.

Explore your current profession first
Perhaps the profession is correct but the particular job or job setting is the issue. For instance, in nursing, there are multiple settings to work such as clinic, hospital, community, or school with different types of nursing jobs within each setting. This is a good place to start to refresh your career outlook as you already have the skill sets needed to do these jobs.

Creative extensions of your skillset
Explored other jobs within your profession and came up short? Time to turn the creativity on! There are often careers that are related to your current profession like teaching, consulting, or sales that require knowledge of the profession. This would allow you to use your current knowledge while building new skills!

Keep up your certifications
I’m a firm believer in two principles when it comes to career...keep your options open and don’t burn bridges. Many professions require certifications or continuing education to maintain them. It is often way easier to keep them current than letting them relapse and having to go back to school, take more classes, or sit for an exam (or all three in the case of nursing!) to get those certifications back. Even if you think you will never, ever use them again...keep them current! Just never know when you might need them again.

And, finally...ready, set, leap!
Like many chapters in life, there will never be the perfect time to change careers. There is always something in the way...kids ages, your age, location, that one project, the amount of vacation time you have. Here’s the hard truth...life is too short to be miserable, uninspired, and going through the motions. You were meant for more! Believe in yourself, trust your instincts, have an open mind, and push yourself to get uncomfortable to pivot. What’s around the corner might be exactly what you have been looking for! 

Shine on!

​