Changing Professional Directions

Changing professional direction can be an intimidating, frustrating and lonely experience. Quite often people find themselves having a significant amount of experience in a particular area of industry and then realize that they would really like to participate in another area of that same industry. Ideally there is someone in the other area reaching out a hand to bring that person over to the new area based on what they know of the professional in terms of professional capabilities and industry experience.

For example, a web developer may find after a time that they really do enjoy the coding aspect of their job more so than the interface design or execution of design. Ideally there is one or more people in the application development/software engineering group who recognize the talent and drive in the web developer, have seen and approve of the code that he/she has written and invites them to become a part of the application development/software engineering group. In this ideal situation (which does happen all the time), the web developer will not have to take a cut in pay or feel professionally inferior on his/her team because there is an established relationship that already includes respect for previous work.

What do you do when you have identified the area you'd like to be in but do not have an established relationship to bring you over? There is not one answer to all of the possible scenarios, but there are a few things worth trying and they apply to all industries. The first and most important step to take is to reach out to your professional network to let them know that you're looking to move in a new direction. Let's use a technical writer who would like to become a project manager as an example. On the surface, it may seem that a technical writer may not be best qualified for project management since they are not coming up through the normal channels of technical development or business analysis.

The technical writer should reach out to their network of people that should include former supervisors, coworkers and recruiters. If currently working, the technical writer should make as many contacts with the project managers at their present company first. They can ask one they know to make introductions or have a meeting with someone from HR to ask for introductions. Meet these individuals informally over coffee or lunch to discuss the idea for the new direction.

The conversation should go something like this:
TW: Thanks for meeting with me, Cheryl (current project manager). I'm very anxious to talk with you about your role so that I can better prepare myself to make the leap into project management.
PM: My pleasure. What would you like to know?
TW: Specifically, I feel that my experience in technical writing for our company has really taken my skill set to the next level because of the responsibilities that go with the technical writing role here. Unlike at other companies, here I am solely responsible for making sure that the information I need is gathered to a specific timeline, and I am in charge of keeping track of all of that in MS Project as well as making sure that all of the leaders of the groups I support have the information they need when they need it. Furthermore, I have somehow become the go-to person for all of the initiatives that I've been involved in because I have to navigate between groups without a project manager dedicated to this end of the process. I also think that my industry and company knowledge help to balance out my lack of professional experience as a project manager.
PM: There isn't a PM over your role? I didn't know that. Well good for you for stepping up to the plate and taking ownership of that process.
TW: What I'd like to do is make this information known to everyone in the organization who can help me make the transition to project management. Do you have any suggestions?

The conversation sounds cheesey when you read it, but you'll put your own words in place to personalize it and it will flow much better. The point is to identify people who can potentially help you, have a conversation in which you somehow communicate your accomplishments and rationale for wanting to change directions and most importantly ask for their assistance.

Conversely, if the technical writer is not currently employed, the same conversation can be had with the folks in their network that I described earlier. For recruiters in particular, candidates should have this conversation with the understanding that recruiters will likely not be able to assist with a placement outright, but may have other suggestions or people in their own network that might be of assistance. You never know until you have the conversation!

Other avenues include offering service to a non-profit company in order to gain experience that can then be included in a resume, joining social and/or professional organizations in order to grow a network to tap into and participating in on-line forums and discussions to both increase knowledge in the desired area and to build a reputation as a knowledgeable source.