#9: Overcoming Impossible Career Pivot Problems

There are big walls and hurdles when pivoting to industry from academia.

The number of obstacles can pile up. It feels overwhelming, doesn’t it?

But are you worrying about things you can’t change?

And how do you deal with problems that look insurmountable, such as “years of experience” requirements?

Today, I’ll give you a framework for navigating the brick walls that pivoting academics encounter.

And you’ll come away with ideas for the most common “impossible” barriers to industry.

Ignore ‘gravity problems’

In their book Designing Your Life, Burnett and Evans warn about “gravity problems.”

Big, real problems that you literally can’t change. Like gravity.

Fighting these problems exhausts you and gets you nowhere.

There’s a lot of things to worry about:

• Layoffs
• Ageism
• Discrimination
• Overqualification
• The wrong degree
• Location constraints
• A saturated job market
• Lack of years of experience
• Other applicants who are more qualified
• Just look at that list. Does it make your stomach tighten?

But which of these can you actually change or affect in the short term?

...

Let’s cross off the problems above that aren’t actually your problem.

That leaves us with:

• Overqualification
• The wrong degree
• Lack of years of experience
• These are thorny problems.

But you can work with them.

Tackling hard problems

Take your remaining problems and identify what the underlying issue is.

Consider whether sometimes it could be a gravity problem and sometimes not.

Let’s take “lack of years of experience.”

What’s the underlying issue?

The hiring manager wants someone who knows how to do the job, how to deal with stakeholders, and how to step into the role and start quickly making an impact.

Sometimes a hiring manager or recruiter might truly stick to the requirement. In that case, it’s a gravity problem. You aren’t going to change their mind. Let it go.

But often a hiring manager is using years of experience as a shorthand for someone with knowledge and competence.

So now the problem becomes, how can you effectively show your knowledge and competence such that you feel like an equivalently low risk as someone who ticks the box for years of experience?

This is a problem that you can actually do something about.

For all your hard problems, step back and assess whether there is an underlying issue that you can address.

Overcoming common “impossible” barriers

Here's some examples of tackling the underlying issue.

Overqualification — How can you better demonstrate your fit and passion for the role?

The wrong degree — How can you better demonstrate your knowledge and that you’ve already been applying the fundamental skill sets of the field?

Lack of years of experience — How can you better demonstrate that you can do the job on day 1?

No industry experience at all — How can you get hands-on experience in your current role/life and demonstrate your knowledge of your target industry?

In short, how can you make yourself look less risky as a hire?

The answer in almost every case is side projects/portfolio, upskilling, and networking. You can chip away at all of these.

Again, if the HM or recruiter is a stickler, it’s immediately a gravity problem. So it’s not your concern.

But in many cases, you can take action about the underlying issue.

—

Ignore the truly impossible problems.

Figure out how to flow with the remaining problems, not just feel helpless against them.

Worry less. Do more.