Pivot: Deciding Your Next Career Move - Laura Lundahl Baga

You've heard the term "company-man", the guy who stayed loyal to his company until the bitter end, staying with one employer for 45 years and then retiring. Back when the term was used more frequently, company-woman wasn't really a thing, because the commonality of the lifelong-dedicated employee faded about at the same time women became standard in the workplace. This concept is now dated.

No, we don't see too many who stay at one company or one venture their entire career these days. Closing out 2016 in the next two months, we are in an age where people job-hop frequently as part of staying sharp in the industry and bringing a diversified portfolio of competitive experience to their roles. Personal choice also plays a bigger part - in the age of information, there are simply more choices available. Employees now do what's right for them, and employers chase the good people down and recruit them from one workplace to another like complex game of chess. 

In a sea of options, but with a finite amount of experience and a limited number of jobs available, how does one direct their own career into a path that works for them financially and is interesting and stimulating?

Call your own shots, or someone else will
As a woman, especially as one in the male-dominated technology industry, I am always thinking strategically about my next career move. I learned right out of the gate, graduating with my BA at 19 years old, that if I continued to be naive and unprepared and didn't actively call the shots about my career, someone else would be more than happy to call them and it would benefit them, not me. 

So I became a shot caller, because I saw I had to be that woman who knew what her options were for next career moves, and who took them. If you're curious how the career trajectory has gone for me so far, you can read all about that here, on LinkedIn.

• Overall, the concept here is that you are considering your possible next moves in any position you are currently in, and aligning your actions and choices. 

This book echos that concept - and starts under the primes that you're considering multiple options at once, not just one. A career is not a marriage. You are free to move from one option to the next as you see fit. 

I mentioned a game of chess, above. Deciding your next career move is very much like that. It's not just one potential - even when initially considering your options there may seem like only one choice. There are almost always many moves you could potentially make.

What's next: The Rule of 5:
I have run my career plans by the Rule of 5. This is the concept that in any given role I am in, there are about five options for what I can do next.

For example, in 2011 (when I moved out of charitable giving and into technology and public funding), there were several options I was considering at that time:

1. Stay in my role at the university, which I had been in for seven years roughly (three as a consultant, four as an employee); work to merge and change my role into what the university needed at that time;
2. Make a move into the corporate world, leveraging skills from current and past roles;
3. Quit and drive ahead full-force with my side-hustle;
4. Go back to school: Take an adjunct teaching role at the university I was currently working at, and do consulting on the side while working on a Ph.D.;
5. Move to a fundraising role at another nonprofit and take either a lateral or higher-level position (a natural career move from where I was). 

I was ready but not actively looking for a role and didn't plan to. But because I was ready, when a recruiter approached me about making a move to the tech industry, I knew exactly what my choice would be. I was ready to pivot.

This had been my top choice for my next move because corporate life was something I'd wanted to try and never been a part of, and because I was deeply interested in working in a technology-oriented role.

Ultimately, because it was on my list of options, I knew this it was one of my right-choices. This didn't mean it wasn't scary, completely switching industries. But, do it scared, to quote Carrie Fisher.

Bottom line: Your track isn't going to define itself. Active planing is required. If you don't define it, you leave room for your career to become a part of someone else's story, while you serve as a supporting actor in someone else's Broadway show.

Stay agile: Turn Around on a Dime
The age of information has brought in an environment that necessitates change-readiness and adaptability. Endless amounts of information available at any time has dramatically changed education. High-quality online course offerings and free "mooc" courses are readily available, even with degree-track offerings. College is still relevant, but for different reasons than it was 20 years ago, or than the historic university/academy was founded on. Mashable's Hansoo Lee describes these reasons here.

Hiring has also changed, as job searches no longer take as much time as they once did when hearing about a new job is as simple as receiving a LinkedIn or indeed.com update on your smartphone. Roles are constantly changing as companies are bought, sold and new ones emerge at a more rapid pace than any other time in history.

This environment necessitates someone who is ready for change at all times, and who walks into each day with her options weighed.

My current favorite read on considering your options, being ready for quick change, and staying adaptable is by Jenny Blake. The concept of today's world of change is presented in a factual way, and solutions for being able to adapt daily, and in a long-term manner are taught.

"When it comes to our careers, pivoting is the new Plan A. Jobs and careers and business are changing more now that ever before. ... When you hit a career plateau... how do you most effectively plan your next move? ...If change is the only constant, then let's get better at it."- Jenny Blake, author of Pivot

Bottom line: being career-agile and learning to pivot from one focus to the next is critical for anyone. Because even in 2016-2017, advanced career opportunities are more readily available and more frequently offered to men than women, it is especially critical that a woman is ready to pivot.

Have you made a career change lately? Are you agile and pivot-ready, or do you need to be? I'd love to hear about it below.