Whether driven by personal aspirations, industry shifts, or unforeseen circumstances, transitioning into a new role or career path can be both exciting and daunting. It's essential for individuals to not only identify their transferable skills but also to adapt and grow them to fit new opportunities. At the same time, companies and mentors play a crucial role in supporting these transitions.

In this Q&A Graham Quinn, Flexa partner and employer branding consultant shares his thoughts on how companies can better support employees with a career change and how to adapt your skills if you are looking to transition into a new role.

1. Have you experienced a career change yourself and what motivated you to do this?

I have! I’ve experienced three career changes so far, with the most recent one being the jump from digital marketing to employer branding.

I found my fit in marketing, but I never really enjoyed the aspect of pitching a product or service to people who may not necessarily need or want it — it felt too disingenuous, and so I always felt like something was missing. What motivated me to make the jump was the opportunity to apply the same marketing principles to an employer’s brand but with a human-centric people focus. To me, it’s about building a brand in an honest and authentic way to help individuals decide if the company is the right fit for them, their careers, and to allow them to self-select out if it's not.

2. What are the most significant challenges you’ve faced during your career transition?

By far, the most significant challenge was trying to get recruiters and hiring managers to see the strong correlation between marketing and employer branding. I faced a lot of pushback because I didn’t have talent acquisition experience, which many hiring teams equated with being qualified and capable for the role.

So it was a matter of fighting unconscious bias and helping them understand through storytelling, either in the recruiter screen (if I made it that far) or in the cover letter section, that the product you’re marketing is people — which is why a marketer is the best fit. Similar to how you move buyers down the funnel from awareness to loyalty, your people are moving down the same funnel; except each stage can easily be represented in your employee lifecycle stages.

In the end, it was about listening to understand their pain points, needs, and wants, and translating marketing 'speak' into their language to demonstrate how marketers can help solve their problems and why they [and I] would be a good fit for the role.

3. How have your previous experiences and skills prepared you for your new role?

I made a sideways step that helped; an offer came in to lead Employer Branding and Talent Acquisition for a FinTech. I took the opportunity because I knew it would boost my CV and help address any concerns about not having talent acquisition experience when I eventually made the full transition into employer branding. Plus, I had the chance to build their EB from the ground up, so it was perfect!

What led to this was, funny enough, my previous experience in marketing, building my brand on LinkedIn, and connecting with practitioners in the field. I was referred to the role by someone I considered an industry mentor of mine, and all the pieces fell into place from there, especially since I was tasked with hiring for Product Design and Marketing roles.

4. What new skills or knowledge have you had to acquire for your career change?

In my 'transitory' role in talent acquisition, I had to quickly ramp up and learn the ins and outs of recruitment, including navigating an ATS, conducting phone screen interviews, stakeholder management skills, and offer negotiations, among others. It involved learning how the talent function worked, our processes, and the structure of various teams. The soft skills I already possessed and demonstrated, so it was less about 'being a candidate’s biggest advocate and leading with empathy' and more about 'how do I become a recruiter?'

When I fully made the jump into employer branding, I had come full circle, having acquired talent acquisition and marketing skills. It wasn’t about gaining new knowledge in these areas, but instead learning from my tenured colleagues and their experiences in the field.

5. How do you identify and leverage transferable skills when transitioning to a new career?

Connect with others in the field to identify the hard and soft skills needed for the role, and jot them down on a piece of paper. Next, search for job descriptions for the role you’re targeting and review them to find out the specific skills they are looking for. You can easily find this information in the ‘key responsibilities’ and/or ‘qualification’ sections. Once you’ve identified these skills and written them down, compare the ones you already have with the ones you're missing and can easily transfer to the job you’re targeting.

A great example of this is a school teacher. They are generally empathetic, patient, adept at distilling complex information into an easily digestible format, presenting to large groups, and helping others understand problems when they don’t comprehend them.

So if you’re targeting a Learning & Development role, a Customer Support Trainer position, or even an IT Specialist role (all closely related to teaching), highlight the transferable skills you have by crafting a narrative around their benefits.

For instance, “Working as an educator, I excel at distilling complex information into an easily digestible format that helps learners feel confident and knowledgeable in the topic, while remaining patient and supportive throughout their learning journey. As a Learning & Development professional, I can create and administer programs to your staff that not only meet your business's knowledge requirements but also expedite their onboarding process in their respective areas.”

6. What resources (e.g. courses, mentorship, networking) have been most helpful to you during your career change?

What I found most helpful was networking and building my personal brand. I would search for EB practitioners all across the world on LinkedIn, send personalised connection requests, and follow up with a message asking for insights into how to transition into employer branding. This approach led to learning how to pivot my experience, having virtual coffee chats, and finding a mentor in the field who eventually helped me secure a role in Talent Acquisition and Employer Branding.

On the other hand, I demonstrated my knowledge in the field by regularly posting on LinkedIn: sharing my own opinions, thoughts, and ideas on improving employer brands and candidate experiences. In addition, I actively engaged with others’ posts that I found interesting or had a differentiated opinion on by liking and commenting. While my opinions sometimes changed and others remained steadfast, my overall writing improved.

7. How can employers better support employees who are seeking to transition into new roles within the company?

Simply put, make it easy and transparent on what the employee needs to do to transition internally by building a career path framework.

Start by being clear about what people need to achieve in order to move up from their current role to the next stage (i.e., Specialist to Manager, etc.). What hard and soft skills must they have learned? What realistic and achievable metrics should they have achieved? Should they have experience leading a project or a working group? Additionally, highlight any internal training they could take to help them level up their skills. If none exist, point to external offerings (including whether they are free or paid) that can help them get there.

This is also a great opportunity to remind employees of the internal training platform available to them or, if partnering with an external provider, how to access it.

When it comes to growing into a People Manager role versus an individual contributor (IC), place greater emphasis on the types of leadership skills needed for a healthy environment (such as EQ, giving and receiving feedback, and building a safe and inclusive culture), in addition to other skills. You can even offer the opportunity for a new manager to be mentored by a senior leader. Start off with regular coaching sessions for the first six weeks meeting once weekly early on into being a Lead. Then, move to staggered bi-weekly check-ins thereafter to provide support as they become more familiar with their responsibilities. Follow this with monthly or bi-monthly check-ins to offer further support or guidance.

Ultimately, having a solid career path framework that everyone is aware of and that is easily measurable will help overcome any bias or favouritism and ensure equity for all.

Bonus Tip #1: At each stage or job grade level (i.e., C4 = ‘Coordinator’, C5 = ‘Specialist’, etc.), be transparent and list the salary ranges for individuals at that level.

Bonus Tip #2: Re-onboard your employees when they transition into a new role from a different team or department. They’ll need the same focus as new hires to learn the ways of working and better understand their role.

8. What role does continuous learning play in successfully navigating career changes?

When you don’t have the ‘traditional’ experience typically required for a career change, it can be challenging to demonstrate your qualifications. You're competing against others who have had time to hone their craft and gain demonstrable experience. How do you gain that experience? Ongoing education helps you acquire the skills and experience needed that traditionally comes from experience gained within the field. Whether it's a six-week intensive bootcamp, a one-year university program, or an online certification, many of these programs provide the fundamental skills necessary to facilitate a career change.

Even better, after completing training, seek out volunteer opportunities to gain firsthand experience and apply what you've learned! I would even recommend adding these experiences to your CV; you are demonstrating transferable skills, doing the work, and the outcomes you achieve may align perfectly with what employers are seeking.

9. How can organisations create a culture that encourages and supports career mobility and development?

Be intentional and find ways to integrate it into stages of the employee lifecycle. Share the career path for the role or job family with candidates by including it in their offer letter package. Right from the start, you’re signalling there are opportunities to grow here and you won’t have to navigate this alone. Plus, it will help boost your employer brand efforts.

Alternatively, host ‘career weeks’ bi-annually where employees can gather to learn about internal mobility, get tips on career growth within their current role or at the company, and hear from leaders about their career transitions.

Companies can also offer job-sharing programs where employees in good standing can join another team on a temporary 12-week assignment to ‘try out’ a different role. After a brief onboarding session, they can work on a real project to gain the experience and skills required for the role and determine if it's a good fit for them.

Bonus Tip: Multi-national company? Give employees the opportunity to temporarily relocate to another office. A cultural exchange program is a great way to help employees broaden their horizons on where their career can take them internationally.

10. What advice would you give to someone who is considering a career change but feels uncertain about taking the leap?

Connect with people already in the field, either internally at your company or on LinkedIn. Reach out to them, explain that you’re thinking about making the transition, and ask for any advice. Be prepared by having questions ready beforehand that you want to ask.

Don’t take it personally if some don’t respond (people are busy), but more often than not, people will be glad to help and either reply to your message or be happy to jump on a virtual call with you. From there, you can decide if it’s the right fit for you or not. And no matter what happens, you have a new connection who will be willing to support you.