If you want to change industries, you need to be doing these THREE things…

Changing the industry you work in is one of the most common job challenges I see when working with clients.

Typically people finish university and just want to get started with their career. So they take the best job they can find - even if it's in an industry they don’t love - and promise themselves they will ‘course-correct’ in a few years.

A few years goes by, a promotion comes along and BAM, you wake up at 30 in an industry you hate doing work you find soul-destroying.

Sound familiar?

If this is you, I can promise you one thing - it's a lot worse to wake up at 40 in an industry you hate doing work you find soul-destroying.

So this newsletter is going to literally change your life if you apply the knowledge in it.

Here are the things you can MUST be doing if you want to change industries.

And I promise, these are tried and tested by people on my Creative Career Level progrmame who have made big industry moves including:

• Someone who moved from social housing to working in football
• Someone who went from a 3-person beauty start up to big global gaming 
• Someone who moved from influencer marketing to brand marketing in FMCG
• Someone who went from B2B conference production to media at Google

Here’s how they did it:

1. Deep industry knowledge

You may not have worked in the industry but you can still have deep industry knowledge. You need to obsess this industry to the deepest level that you can without actually being in the industry. 

Knowledge of the industry and your ability to talk naturally and with conviction gets you half way there. For most companies the reason they like to hire within their industry IS because of industry knowledge. So you need to plug this gap.

ACTION: Find 5 people in the industry you want to be in and take them for lunch/coffee/dinner. Interview them about their industry - who are the big players, what are the quirks that only those in the industry would know, what media should you read to immerse yourself in the industry, what big things are happening that you should be aware of, how is their industry different versus other industries. 

2. Learn the Lingo

Semantics are important when it comes to changing industries. In applications and interviews you MUST be speaking the same lingo as those already in the industry. 

Even if what you are saying is the same, a tweak in lingo and using words that relate to the industry creates the impression that you are already in their industry. Which makes it easier for them to imagine you working in that industry. 

ACTION: Immerse yourself in media. Follow the social channels of all the big brands. Follow people on Linkedin who work at the companies. Subscribe to industry media and publications. Take notes on how they speak and reference their industry so you can use it when applying for roles.

3. Build the Bridge

In order to change industries you need to be able to create the ‘bridge’ between the skills/experience you have in your current role and the ones you need in the other industry.

In Marketing and the Creative industry, the skills are VERY similar across industries. But most people cant see it because they are blinded by the nuances of the industry they work in. It is your job to ‘build the bridge’ and bring them over to your side to see how your current skills/experience translates.

ACTION: Take your deep industry knowledge from speaking to people and immersing yourself in the industry. Use this to identify the key skills/experiences that translate over. Use the lingo the industry and examples that relate and make sense to the hiring manager. If you have to change language all together to make sense, do this! Have at least 6 examples that you can use that will make sense in the languages of the new industry.