Create An Elevator Pitch For Your Career Transition

Twelve years ago, I was part of a layoff at a company that was going through a dramatic downsizing process. I was given three months' severance that kicked in during the sunny first days of June. Instead of sulking and hiding out, I broke out my sundresses, bought myself a pair of pink Pumas and deemed it, "The Summer of Rachel." I took the time to explore my options AND do the reflecting I needed to do to land the right next gig. What did I like about my job? What do I want to do more of? Less of? While I didn't wear my Pumas to networking meetings, I DID talk all about the "Summer of Rachel." Everyone got it. The gift of time to do things I enjoy, spend time with people I love, the space to "not know" for a while.

When you're in the process of figuring out what's next in your career, a time of "not knowing" can be terrifying. My high-achieving, goal-oriented clients admit, "On top of hating that I don't know the answers, how in the world do I explain where I am right now to my family, my former colleagues, my mentors? I feel like a flake!" Of course you feel that way, because that's how you're choosing to feel. I don't know if it's because I'm an optimist or a former marketer, but my next question is always, "How would you describe this time if you had to make it sound exciting…or like a gift?"

The truth is that it takes courage to explore something new. The process can be exhilarating, but it can also be scary and leave you with (as the sage Brené Brown would say) a vulnerability hangover! Hangovers aside, this is the time when being honest and authentic in your relationships can bring your connections to a deeper level. You can admit you don't know the answers. This doesn't make you a slacker. In fact, it makes you a hero. I can assure you the people sitting across from you don't have all the answers either. They have been in your seat in the past or may be inspired by your courage because they are desperate to make a change. 

How do you want to own your career transition story? Let's start with writing a Career Transition Elevator Pitch with some examples from my own career transition from Marketing to Career and Leadership Coaching:

1. Own up to being in a career transition. How does this sound for you?: Example: After 16 years in Marketing, I decided to take a step back to figure out my next move. I looked at my strengths, what I've loved about past jobs and started putting the puzzle pieces together. I don't have the answers yet, but I'm enjoying the process of figuring them out. 

2. What are you finding exciting about this time?: Example: It's exciting to start considering the skills outside of past job titles and descriptions for which people have always sought me out. Motivation, mentoring, writing, career advice. I've done these things throughout my career and when I did them—that's when I felt completely myself. There's something there that I need to look into for sure! 

3. How can this person help you?: Example - Now I'm talking to people who have similar strengths and roles that they seem to enjoy. Would you mind telling me more about your role, how you got there and what you like about it? 

4. Now put it all together!: String all the pieces of your pitch together. You get bonus points if you come up with a fun and creative title for your exploration time. This can be a gem that emphasizes your personal brand AND a clue that you don't take yourself too seriously. 

5. Practice: Practice with friends, family and your close-in circle. Make sure it sounds like your voice and your personality -- not robotic. 

Now own it with the chutzpah it deserves! This is where you are right now. It's not where you'll be forever. Fight it, and you will continue to struggle. Accept it, and you will move through it with grace and a deeper understanding of who you are. 

If you’re looking for a little extra support in honing your Elevator Pitch, please consider the Nail Your Elevator Pitch Mini Course!

The Mini Course includes…

Five short videos that walk you through:

• A welcome and setting you up for success

• Identifying your strengths

• The strategy and approach to writing your pitch

• The formula for three different types of pitches based on your situation

• Getting into action with your pitch

Plus, a workbook where you can write the first drafts of your pitch.

All for $60!

Add a 45-minute 1:1 session to workshop your pitch with Rachel for $125.

Let’s get you out there networking with a pitch that will give you the momentum you need to make that next big career move. Take the next step here: https://www.rachelbgarrett.com/pitch

Escape The Overwhelm That's Killing Your Career Creativity

Often when my clients come to see me, they know they want a career change. They know they’re craving something new, but they feel stuck. They’re exhausted and depleted. They’ve sandwiched our session between a presentation to senior leadership and the errands that are mission critical to running their home for the week (ie. picking up the kid who will be the last one standing at daycare, again). 

When I ask them, “What would you be doing right now if money and time were no object?”, I get a deer in headlights look in response. Not only do they have no answer, but they’re also furious at themselves for being this far along in their careers without knowing what they want to be when they grow up! 

Overwhelm coupled with an anvil of pressure to “do it all” is standing in the way of creative ideas about your next career move. When you keep pushing through the slog, you feel like a shell of your pre-kids self. Remember those (still Type A but) healthy dreamer people? They’re in there, I promise! They had hobbies and unscheduled time where they could disappear for a few weekend hours, be completely unproductive and it didn’t matter. In fact, after they had that time, they showed up to work the next day energized, alive and dare I say, brilliant. 

Let’s reconnect with that carefree-ish person and unpack your overwhelm with the Roles and Responsibilities Experiment I use with working parents:

Roles and Responsibilities Experiment: 
1) Its brain dump time, friend. Break out a piece of paper and create three columns: Work, Parenting and Household. 

2) For each category, write a list of the tasks you’re responsible for on a daily or weekly basis. For now, we’re going to focus on the Parenting and Household categories because my guess is that you do this type of exercise at work regularly. Don’t hold back…put it all on there. Gifts for friends and family take time to purchase. Lunches take time to make. Managing childcare, paying bills, budgeting, scheduling play dates—it’s all fair game and it adds up. This part of our lives is what I call—“The Third Job” and it often puts my working parent clients over the edge. 

3) Now that you have your list, put:

• a “heart” next to all of the tasks you love doing
• a “star” next to the tasks you think are a high priority in your life
• a “D” next to all of the tasks that could be candidates to delegate to your partner, your kids or someone you can hire if you have the means.
• an “S” next to all of the tasks you feel you “should” do, but you’re not truly connected to them. (This group has it’s own exercise that’s coming soon so hang on to it!)

4) Review your list and note what comes up for you. Are there any D’s and S’s on your list? IF NOT, REPEAT STEP 3! Don’t think I don’t know this trick! You’re holding onto control and that’s a surefire way to stay exactly where you are. If you want to move forward, you need to create space and that means letting go of some things. 

5) For those with partners, ask them to do the exercise as well. You can use this as a starting point for a conversation about shifting some roles and responsibilities. Last summer, I took on all of our personal finance tasks including budgeting, bill paying, investing and projecting annual expenses while my husband took on grocery shopping, meal planning and much of the cooking. It’s not perfect (and it will never be), but our kids are trying new foods and we’re more on top of our finances than ever before. It’s an exciting shift. 

6) If you do decide to shift roles, remember there’s a learning curve! You’ve been making lunches and managing the babysitter for years—give your partner some room to make mistakes and learn without judgment. Resist your instinct to take back control after one or two mistakes. When you say things like, “I’m the only one who can put the baby to bed.” you tighten your handcuffs and remove any chance of having a weekend away in your near future! 

As you begin to create space by removing your “should” tasks and delegating, start to fill that space with things that bring you joy. It’s in this time when you’re doing the things you love in the space that you’ve carefully guarded for only you, that you will begin to find clues about your next exciting career move. 

Who's On Your 2017 Career Support Team?

You officially put 2016 (a whopper of a year) to bed with the raucous bang it deserved.  Your goals are set. Your plan is mapped. Your desk is organized and neat and hungry for the powerful action 2017 will inevitably bring.  

There’s one monumental thing you forgot—and in my experience it’s this thing that is the magic that successfully moves people from Point A to Point B, or more realistically—Point A to Point A.1 to Point A.2 and so on. This magic is your team! 

Your team should include all of the people who already support you, cheer you on and motivate you right now--in an informal way. Now we’re going to make it official and specific. You won’t need to draw up contracts or roles and responsibilities documents, and there won’t be money changing hands, just some coffee, wine or a meal on occasion. You will ask for their help by acknowledging their meaning and the special role they play in your life. Yes, deep, but we don’t build powerful, lasting relationships without going there. And in 2017, we’re going there! 

Modern wisdom (or perhaps it’s age-old wisdom that’s new again) tells us that when we seek a life partner, we can’t expect that person to fulfill our every need. I like to apply this filter to my team. To live a powerful life that I create, to be a leader—I’m going to need a lot of support to get there. The open job recs are vast, so let’s identify the needs before we fill the roles. 

2017 Career Support Team

1. Person to make you laugh when shit hits the fan
2. Subject Matter Expert in your field 
3. Someone in your industry, at your level AND who actually cares about your day to day minutia
4. Guru who has navigated his/her career with impressive wisdom
5. Unconditional loving person who will just let you talk
6. Unconditional loving person who cuts off your talking to push you to go deeper 
7. Running partner
8. The one who sits with you when you cry
9. Childhood friend who can cheer you on by telling you that you’ve always had this in you OR that you’ve come such a long way
10. The one who will drop everything and play hooky with you to see a movie 

Your list will look different than mine, of course. 

And before you fill the roles, let’s be clear who SHOULD NOT be on the list. I see clients mistakenly looking to these people for support and as a result, they end up feeling frustrated and depleted. 

2017 People Who Love Us But Don’t Overtly Support Us

1. The person who feels threatened by you (for reasons that are not about you)
2. Negative friend or family member who constantly challenges your actions
3. The person who wants you to play it safe because he/she is scared for you or for both of you

What I find comforting about this short list of people—is that just because they may not support you in taking on some of your goals, it doesn’t mean you need to discontinue your relationships with them. Often times these people are a part of our families, and that’s simply not possible. We CAN change our expectations about these relationships. Perhaps you do more listening to help them in their lives instead of sharing important areas of your life that you know they will not support. You are staffing up with that first list of people, so you don’t need support from this group of people who can’t offer it to you. 

The funny part about this process is that when you are steadfast in driving toward your goals, getting support where you need it and thriving—some of those people who were once negative turn a corner and begin applying for roles on your team. It’s truly wild, but can happen. 

Now that you’ve outlined all the critical roles for your 2017 Team, have fun with your recruiting conversations! Make sure you respect the time of your people, but also don’t fear reaching out. They want you to succeed as strongly as you do—and they will hold you accountable where you, yourself cannot. I was proud to be on the team for many of my friends who were killing their careers in 2016 and was beaming with each achievement. New non-profits created. Documentaries completed, sold and winning awards. Podcasts started. Powerful work-life balance choices. Life is much more full and fun when we’re in it together. And what a relief it is to know that we’ve got our people lined up for the not-so-fun parts.

Instead Of New Year's Resolutions, Claim Your Non-Negotiables

There’s only one New Year’s Resolution that I’ve ever stuck with. In 2016, my daughters ages 8 and 5, made me promise that I would only wear sparkly nail polish for the entire year. I love this brilliant take on resolutions from a child’s point of view. You don’t need to punish yourself with six days a week of hard labor at the gym if that’s not bringing you joy (and I know for some it does—power to you!). Simply bring more sparkle into your life. Yes, little ladies. I can do this and I did. 

Sparkly polish aside, it’s the premise of resolutions that makes me squirm: there’s something wrong with you that must be changed. Between your hedonist New Year’s brunch (with Bloody Mary, please!) on January 1 and when you go back to work on January 2, you need to become a new person. Not possible! So why waste your energy and set yourself up for failure? 

Another way I like to approach the New Year is to decide top priorities and non-negotiables. And for these priorities to pass muster with our brains that are trained to need immediate satisfaction—you MUST articulate why these are important to you and how you’re going to achieve them. 

Here are some of mine so you can get the hang of it (and hold me accountable, of course!). 

Non-Negotiable #1: Connection With My Daughters: 
Why: My daughters blow me away each day with their view of the world, their generosity with love and hugs and their comic timing (nearly impossible to keep a straight face!) Plus, they will not be this age forever. I want to savor this time and remember that I created my own business in part so I can control my schedule and spend more meaningful time with them. 
How: Build in solo time with each girl, give them options for how they want to spend it, schedule in class trips and time to go into their classrooms, work with them on a list of activities they want to do with me this year and start enjoying those choices with them! 

Non-Negotiable #2: Connection With My Husband:
Why: My partner, my best friend, my love; the one person in the world with whom I would ever share a room and a life. 
How: Date nights, expressing gratitude for all he does, giving him space to do things on his own and see his friends, more hugs. 

Non-Negotiable #3: Creativity and Joy Time:
Why: The evidence from several experiments is in. I’m my best, most interesting, happiest self when I make the things that bring me joy a priority. And I know when I’m close to losing it that I’ve fallen off track with these things. 
How: Running, quiet time, writing, podcasts, friends, connecting people, reading, Prospect Park, coffee. 

Non-Negotiable #4: Support Women To Create Careers and Lives They Love:
Why: I’m lit up by helping others. Period. Then, 10X that when I can help others in an area where there’s a gap in resources and impactful help available. There’s a problem to solve here and it keeps me up at night. How do we support women in their careers and in motherhood so they feel like they can stay in the game, trading in a life of deep overwhelm, guilt and exhaustion for a life they’re proud, happy and grateful to live. 
How: Coaching, writing, connecting women to resources and new contacts, inspiring, speaking, acknowledging, re-framing, experimenting with new tools in my own life. Being there. Staying in it. Continuing to learn from wise teachers. 

Thanks for allowing me to walk my talk in your presence. Once you’ve come up with your Non-Negotiables, I would find a buddy who can keep you accountable. You can set up a time once a month over coffee or a nice meal where you talk about how you incorporated your NN’s into your life. Acknowledge your good work and see what you can tweak. If you’re having trouble fitting one of them in, re-read your why statement. Is it powerful enough for you to buy into it? If not, give it an edit and see where you land.

Congrats to giving up the punishment, pressure and self-loathing of changing your life in one day! Instead you can jump on the path to living an intentional 2017. Phew! See you there.