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As an academic, I spent years honing the story of my research: what I was doing, how I got there and why other people should find it important. Perhaps that is why when I was contemplating a career pivot, some of the most foundation-shaking moments came when I was suddenly called upon to tell my own story in a new way.
Sometimes, it was a casual “So what are you doing after you graduate?” from a family member over the holiday dinner table. Other times, it was a “How can I help you?” at a coffee chat, or even the dreaded “Tell me about yourself” at a job interview. In each case, I needed to somehow weave a coherent narrative out of my past, present and future—just when that coherence felt the most elusive.
Toward the end of grad school, I was asked such a question at an interview for a museum internship, which was one of many opportunities I was pursuing simultaneously. My mind was racing and my palms were sweating as I tried to sum up my dissertation research, love of museums, reasons for looking beyond tenure-track jobs and uncertainty about whether a museum career was even right for me. I found myself reckoning with existential questions on the spot—hardly ideal in an interview setting.
Heed the Call to Adventure
Today, on the other side of a career change and having helped many students and postdocs through their own pivots, I know that it’s completely normal to be daunted by telling our career stories in such transitional moments. It can be hard to know how to talk about our change in direction, whether because we haven’t fully processed it ourselves or because we fear sounding fragmented, inexpert or lost. But researchers Herminia Ibarra and Kent Lineback argue that when the goal is to enlist help from others—such as information, networking connections or a job offer—it can be useful to admit that we’re venturing boldly in a new direction.
After all, they point out, career-change stories have all the compelling characteristics of a hero’s journey: the call to adventure, followed by tests, ordeals and rewards. Telling such a story effectively can inspire our listeners to become allies and to offer the help we need to reach our journey’s end.
Also, although it may be counterintuitive, leaving our pivot out of our stories can make us sound more scattered, rather than less. Ibarra and Lineback observed a number of career changers at a networking event and found that most tended to downplay the “inherent drama” of their transition from one career to another. Instead, as I did in my interview, they simply listed a lot of biographical facts—which wasn’t an effective strategy. The employers who met these career changers didn’t even understand what kind of jobs they were looking for, let alone why they should be hired.
So what does a great career story actually sound like? Ibarra and Lineback highlight the importance of three Cs: 1) a compelling narrative, 2) causality and 3) continuity. I’ve heard many wonderful career stories from Ph.D. and postdoc alumni at the University of California, San Francisco, that beautifully illustrate those principles at work. From those sources, I’ve synthesized the following three tips and some reflection questions about each to help you weave the three Cs into your own stories.
- We all have multiple career stories—so be intentional about which one you tell.
How can you make your story compelling? It starts with being intentional about which version of your story you choose to tell and giving yourself permission to omit details that don’t serve that story.
I recall how bizarre it felt to be telling the “I want to work in museums” version of my story at one coffee chat on Monday and the “I want to be a French teacher” version at another on Friday. Those different ways of telling my story felt uncomfortable—even inauthentic—because I was so used to telling a single career story (the one about how I became a translation scholar) over and over.
But a career pivot requires many different career stories, one for each of the professional identities we’re trying on for size. No question, that takes a lot of work. But in many ways, it was a relief when I stopped trying to stuff my whole professional history into a single overflowing narrative that didn’t sound coherent, let alone compelling, to my listeners.
Questions to consider:
- What new professional identities are you trying out? What past work or life experiences best support that identity? What’s an example you could share?
- In what context(s) might you be called upon to tell your story? Whose help might you want to enlist? What new situations might you find yourself in?
- Consider each of your potential listeners. What’s important to them? What do they not need to know? What experiences might you have in common with them?
- Explain the turning point(s) leading you to seek a change—and how your listener can help.
When I was interviewing for the museum internship in grad school, I could have spent the whole hour describing my ambivalence about tenure-track faculty jobs. But most listeners who can help you in a career pivot are going to be much more interested in what you hope to move toward rather than the details of what you want to leave behind. After all, that gives them a better sense of how they can help and where their story intersects with yours.
So how can you explain the reason for your career change and capitalize on the drama of your hero’s journey toward a new career, without spending too much time dwelling on the past? All you need to do is explain the turning point(s) that steered you in the direction of your listener.
For instance, in my museum interview, I could have said, “I loved collaborating with the local art museum in teaching my recent class. It made me realize I love connecting directly with people who love art and culture outside the university, and I want to do more of that in my future career. I’m excited that this internship would give me the chance to use my teaching skills in a new way.” All true—yet a very different version of my story than the one I would later tell at an interview for a middle school French-teaching job.
Questions to consider (for each career story):
- What’s driving you right now? What realizations have you had? When?
- What challenges are you facing? What changes are you making?
- What external events shifted your thinking? What values did you discover you hold?
- Use your skills and values to connect your past, present and future.
During a recent career panel at my university, an alum discussed her impressive career change from neuroscience into politics and community organizing. She didn’t downplay the abruptness of that shift. Rather, she described a turning point when external world events led her to prioritize her political values in her job search and find a new way to use her data science and research skills. Her story was a master class in how skills and values can provide the connective tissue that brings continuity and coherence to even the sharpest career pivot.
As a job seeker, this technique was especially helpful to me at networking events. I’d say something like, “I want to keep using my teaching and research skills while having more opportunities to mentor and maintain a good work-life balance. I’m considering museum careers—do you know anyone in that field?” While admitting my uncertainty about my next steps was hard, it engaged my listeners in the problem-solving, leading to some unexpected and helpful suggestions.
Questions to consider (for each career story):
- What are your relevant skills and values? (You can self-assess at MyIDP or ImaginePhD.)
- How did you develop these skills and values? Why are you prioritizing them now?
- What events and people shaped you? What are some self-defining moments?
- What communities do you contribute to? What accomplishments are you proud of?
From Seeker to Mentor—and Back Again
My current career, as it turns out, has nothing to do with museums. But I still value the time I spent playing with these career stories, even for paths I didn’t ultimately take. That’s because I’ve come to understand that in today’s work world, career pivots are increasingly common. This means that being flexible and creative when it comes to our professional identities is an essential professional skill. And it’s all the more reason for each of us to recognize our power to serve as mentors and aides on other people’s professional heroes’ journeys, even as we’re in the midst of our own quests.
