Pivoting With Intention
Students pick majors for all sorts of reasons including employability, earning potential, alignment to interests and/or simply because it’s a subject matter they find easy to grasp. In a perfect world, a student’s intentions and expectations do not change and they spend four years preparing for a career in their chosen field. But according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 80% of college students change their major at least once. Fortunately, most universities are well equipped at supporting students in finding new areas of study and have processes in place to ensure the transition to a new major is a success.
But what happens when a student is close to completing a four year degree and they become interested in a path that seems unrelated to their field of study? For many upperclassmen, it’s no longer practical to change majors and more importantly, it may not be necessary. First, the undergraduate experience sets students up to build a wide range of soft skills that may have nothing to do with their major. Second, there is a strong likelihood that many of the technical skills they developed in one area can be repurposed for another area. Third, with the number of courses available online, there are tremendous opportunities to fill knowledge gaps with self-paced learning. For most students, the challenge is not in making the call to pivot but in knowing what actions to take while also marketing themselves in an authentic way. Below are a few tips on how these individuals can build and tell their story:
Accentuating Soft Skills: The executive functioning skills and interpersonal lessons learned during college are integral to employability. Employers are eager to evaluate a candidate’s ability to organize and manage complex projects, to pay attention to detail and to maintain focus despite unforeseen challenges or competing priorities. Similarly, when a candidate communicates effectively and demonstrates a history of collaboration, there is an appreciation for the impact they can have on a team. None of these situations are specific to a major or concentration. However, accentuating these qualities is particularly important when showcasing one’s fit for a job that typically goes to someone with a different degree. Taking the time to develop a resume that accurately reflects these qualities and having corresponding examples to discuss in an interview will go a long way in demonstrating suitability across industries.
Repurposing Skills and Story: In reality, certain majors (e.g. engineering, computer science, accounting, finance) are focused on developing very specialized skills for the industries they support. Interestingly, most of my coaching students who want to work in a different area of study are drawn to jobs where their learned skills are still relevant. I have worked with a handful of Engineering majors who want to pivot from R&D to sales or marketing. These individuals are ideal candidates for Sales Engineering roles at software/product companies as the combination of their technical background and analytical skills allow them to effectively work between customers and technical teams. There are also many parallels between Computer Science and Finance. For instance, individuals who do not want a career in software development can apply their knowledge of algorithms or programming languages to financial analysis roles at investment banks or private equity firms. Regardless of how closely aligned professions are to one another, those interested in repurposing their skills need to properly assess their capabilities and learn to describe the connection in a meaningful way.
Filling Knowledge Gaps: External factors often play into why someone decides to pursue an alternative career path. In some cases, an internship showed the reality of working in a particular industry and it no longer seems very appealing. In other cases, a student learned about a more interesting career through networking or a job fair. Regardless of how someone arrives at the fork in the road, doing an assessment of the skills required to be a formative competitor for an entry level position in a new field is a productive exercise. For example, if a position is aimed toward business majors who have all taken Accounting classes, it may be a good idea for a student to add a foundational Accounting class to their last semester course load. Alternatively, online platforms offer self-paced courses that can fill some knowledge gaps in areas such as programming, web development or social media marketing. While 1-2 extra classes may be far from filling a content gap, it demonstrates commitment to the alternative career path and contributes to overall knowledge capital.
Ultimately, most students who are willing to do an honest evaluation of their predicament and have the drive and determination to take action can successfully pivot to an entry level position outside of their area of study. Options tend to open up even more if the candidate is flexible when it comes to geography, travel requirements or other lifestyle matters. It’s not uncommon to find a professional working in an industry that is totally unrelated to what they studied in college. While the transition is gradual for most people, there is no reason someone should not consider it earlier.