How a Serial Career Pivoter Navigated Life’s Twists and Turns
By Laura Deck
Career paths stopped being linear decades ago. Working for the same company for thirty plus years hasn’t been the norm for a long time, and, thankfully, job-hopping is no longer considered a career-limiting move. The new reality of work is more often characterized by frequent pivots rather than a sustained sprint. According to Jenny Blake, author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One, a pivot is a methodical shift in a new, but related direction based on what is already working in your career. She encourages us to connect at least one dot ahead so we are moving forward to take advantage of opportunities. This advice has served me well as I navigated choppy career waters in the midst of life’s many twists and turns.
Looking back at my sporadic career pivots, some were planned, some weren’t, and some seemed risky at the time. In spite of the challenges of demanding work, raising twins, unanticipated divorce, and the onslaught of technology, every pivot in my path led me to the next opportunity, even when I couldn’t see that far ahead.
Pivot #1: Classroom to ed tech
My journey started with a BA from UC Berkeley and a California state teaching credential back in the 1980s. Believe it or not, there were not many teaching jobs available in the Bay Area, so I pivoted and evaluated educational programs for a software publishing startup. That experience led me to another startup that pioneered the concept of e-learning. Marriage came next along with a move to Philadelphia so my husband could attend the Wharton School of Business. I leveraged my instructional design and newly-minted technical skills to pivot and join the computer-based training (CBT) revolution at Unisys.
Pivot #2: Corporate training to change management consulting
After graduation, we moved back to California where I pivoted again and landed at a boutique training consulting company where I managed CBT projects for high tech clients, adding client service and project management skills to my arsenal. Once my learning curve flattened out, I pivoted to the big leagues and joined Accenture’s Change Management/Human Performance practice in San Francisco. There my career took off and I accelerated along the management track for the next twelve years.
Pivot #3: Infertility and motherhood to divorce and layoff
After a long struggle with infertility, and with the help of medical science, I became pregnant with twins. I downshifted to a slower speed to focus on motherhood while planning a gradual return to work. I lobbied for a part-time (80%) arrangement which management agreed to. Having one day a week to focus entirely on my children was a personal victory and cherished time. Then came two life-changing, unplanned pivots: divorce and a layoff during the 2003 dot com crash.
Pivot #4: Hit the reset button
Fortunately, I had valuable skills and experience that allowed me to pivot to other options. I found a position at a company close to home that allowed me to juggle single parenting duties and support myself. This company provided in-person and virtual leadership development programs for businesswomen, so I picked up web development, webinar production, and conference program design skills. By this time, my original teaching skills had evolved from elementary curriculum to online corporate training programs which kept me relevant and in the game.
The epiphany
At some point between pivot #2 and #3, I had an epiphany: as long as my vocation contained a significant component of teaching and writing, in a broad sense, my job satisfaction was high. This revelation sounds so simplistic, but it was a lightning bolt for me and kept me grounded as I evaluated opportunities at every pivot throughout my career.
Pivot #5: Coming full circle
I had always enjoyed the mental process of writing and quietly nurtured the goal of becoming a full-time writer. At times it seemed unattainable, but I was determined. In spite of an all-consuming work schedule and the rigors of the “second shift” when I got home, I took a writing class through UC Berkeley extension and found my sweet spot. That class led to a supportive writing group and submissions to several publications. When Bay Area Parent published my first article for $100, I knew I had arrived.
I pivoted to a side gig of freelance writing. When my twins went off to college, the empty nest gave me more flexibility and control over my schedule. After several micro-pivots, I was offered a part-time job writing a blog for Benetech. Benetech soon offered me a full-time position on the marketing team as a writer/editor supporting their global literacy program. My teaching and classroom experience gave me instant credibility. I had come full circle.
Lessons learned from my career pivot playbook
- Keep putting drops in the bucket – build a body of work slowly but surely; small, ongoing contributions are more important than bigger, sporadic ones
- Give yourself permission to turn the volume up and down throughout your career without feeling guilty – it’s a marathon not a sprint
- Stay in the game when kids (or elder care) come along; you never know how your personal situation might change (i.e., divorce, partner gets laid off or becomes unable to work, or worse)
- Keep your technical skills up to date – learn on the job; take classes; find a millennial who can teach you; take on a volunteer role
- Be kind to yourself – in my 30s and 40s at the peak of raising twins, working full time, and managing a household, I used to feel disheartened that I wasn’t doing more to advance my freelance writing business. I soon realized the self-defeating nature of that attitude and focused on what I was able to accomplish rather than what I wasn’t.
Laura Deck is a Marketing Communications Writer/Editor at Benetech, a Silicon Valley tech nonprofit whose mission is to empower communities in need by creating scalable technology solutions.
