Hey peppercorns, how are you?
I am going to start a new masters degree very soon and it feels like I am about to make a career pivot. It won't be something big, such as the business world into the medical world kind of pivot, but I am getting out of my comfort zone of customer experience/service, into a full one Global Sales and marketing environment.
To be honest, I am very nervous and anxious because I never liked working with Sales. However, after thinking about where I could go on my career, it felt like that this change could help me more than hurt me. After all, almost everything in business is related to a monetary transaction!
What about yourself? What is motivating or has motivated you to make a career pivot?
I love this question for a chance to reflect/articulate where I am. I'm in academia (currently a PhD candidate) and here are my pivot reasons:
- Advancement in academia is very publication-dependent, and it takes me a while to craft a high-quality writing. I do believe that I could make my publishing quotas...but the question is, at what cost?
- Looking to work with people more
- Looking to shift to a process-based career (leadership development, training, system design, project management, ideating) rather than one that puts the highest premium on very specific subject matter expertise (like a policy expert)
I'm going to miss the freedom and flexibility, though! Part of the reason why I even get to do Peppercorn and think through the next steps is because my program affords me that flexibility.