Software to Hardware. Banking to Tech. B2B SaaS to ClimateTech. [insert basically anything] to AI.
↔ Career shifts come in all shapes and sizes, but shifting an industry can be challenging, particularly in a tighter hiring market where experience is valued. Over the years, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people who are looking to move into a new industry and I’ve found a few things influence whether or not someone will be successful at making the leap.
1️⃣ Find the thread - If you want to make a change, it’s your responsibility to craft a story that makes sense. Don’t force the person reading your resume or interviewing you to guess why you’re able to make this jump. At MuleSoft, I interviewed a program manager at a non-profit for a recruiting role. Sounds completely unrelated, but throughout the interview, she did the best job showing me how many of the things she had accomplished in her role actually translated incredibly well to recruiting. She took the guesswork out of it for me and actually convinced me over the course of the interview that she knew enough about the job and had enough of the skills that she could make the pivot. As you’re prepping for your interviews, make a list of all the things you’ve done that translate to working in the new industry and make it a point to share those in your conversations.
2️⃣ Do your research - I’m the biggest fan of benchmarking conversations when you’re hiring for a role on your team. The same logic applies here - find people who are experts in the industry you want to pivot into and ask if they’d spend 15 minutes with you so you can get advice on how to pivot. Come prepared with great questions and soak up the trends, lingo, etc. Doing even 3-5 of these calls will make you sound exponentially smarter and better researched for your interviews.
3️⃣ Ask great questions - Basic, surface-level questions, “what’s it like to work here?” indicate you haven’t done your homework and send a red flag that you’re potentially unable to make the shift. At Dropbox, I interviewed an equity analyst from a big bank for an Enterprise AE job. Sounds like quite a jump, but he asked the best questions about the product and company. He understood the role we were hiring for and sounded like he had been in our industry for years. His intellectual curiosity sold us on his ability to make the jump.
4️⃣ Network hard into companies - Part of the challenge in making a career shift is being able to get your story across on why you can make the leap. A reference at the company where you hope to work can do this for you. Maybe it’s not an obvious connection, but see if you can dig deep. For example, you may find a past coworker who knows an investor in a company you’re interested in, and that investor may be able to forward your information, with the appropriate color, to the hiring manager or recruiting leader so you get a proper look.
What else have you all seen that’s been useful for those trying to switch industries?
