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Career Directions for Researchers

Navigating career change

Gain the confidence you need to change your career and pivot to an exciting new role or sector.

Career change is a normal part of working life! Advancements in AI and technology have drastically changed the labour market, creating new jobs, fundamentally changing others and influencing the skills employers want. Your research career might even have been the result of a desire to actively pursue a new career direction. Changes to your career plan may be planned or unplanned, but what’s important is that you develop the right mindset to tackle change positively and resiliently, evaluating what you want from your career and accepting some inevitable risk. Developing strong career management skills and understanding how you can plan and implement work transitions can help you navigate change and uncertainty in your own career.

Types of career change

In addition to the more obvious change of job, sector or role, a career shift or change could also incorporate:

  • A change to work pattern (e.g. full-time to part time)
  • A changing career model (e.g. one type of work to a portfolio of options, freelance to employment)
  • Upshifting/downshifting (change in work responsibility or intensity)
  • A changing context (similar work/skills used in a different sector/culture e.g. from private to public sector)
  • A changing vocation (new mission or direction)
  • Changing career priorities (commonly linked to life stage and experiences)

Whatever the outcome, career changers can start with vague ideas e.g. ‘I just need a change’ or ‘I need a new direction’; the endpoint is far less clear than the urge to just do something new. To help make a change happen, you’ll need to break things down so that you can harness your willingness to change and focus on taking small steps in the overall direction you want. Don’t worry if the objectives are unclear to begin with, focus on achieving something that gets the process going and allows you to build momentum – the important thing is to start somewhere.

Planning for change

Talking about career change is one thing, but doing it needs commitment and motivation. Transition is core to the process, but this isn’t the change itself – it’s the time, process and experience we go through to arrive in a different place. Whereas a change of job is determined by the timescale of a recruitment process and defined activity (finding and applying for jobs, attending interviews etc), a change of career is a longer process involving both personal and practical aspects.

Firstly, it can be helpful to reflect on where you are now and what you would like your future career to look like. You could follow the simple steps outlined below to help you get started:

  1. Step 1 – if you have a specific change in mind, write it down. Doing this will turn it from a loose thought in your mind to an explicit goal.
    If you can’t be that specific, start from Step 2.
  2. Step 2 – write down up to three important things you’d like more of and up to three things you’d like less of in your career change.
  3. Step 3 – what practical changes might your ideas involve?

Once you have an idea what changes you could or would like to make, you can use these practical tips to help manage career transition:

You will need new connections and contacts within an area you hope to move to. Begin circulating within the sector, attending events, joining online communities – make your interest visible and start to be known. You can read our more detailed advice about networking as an early career researcher.

Dig deeper into what is going on in sectors and organisations you are attracted to. Search their websites, follow the news and read key reports. Take a step into their world and try to understand the agendas and issues they are grappling with. This is information you can also use in applications and interviews.

If you can, try to find opportunities to do a placement, a short ‘taster’ or undertake shadowing or volunteering in the sector or role you want to move to. See it from the inside, ask questions, gather information and create contacts. This will also help you to confirm that your assumptions about this kind of career path are correct or show you that the grass isn't always greener!

The higher education sector has a distinct culture and language and so do other sectors and organisations. What words, phrases and acronyms do you see and hear in the sector you’re interested in now? Hone your commercial awareness and inside knowledge of the industry you want to join.

The expectation of moving to something that will offer the same grade, level of reward, benefit or status can sometimes hold back change. If those things are important, even in a place you are not happy with, you may not be ready for a change. Without relevant experience or a proven track record in your new chosen field, you might not be as competitive as you are now. Be prepared to tread water, slow progression, step down temporarily and plan for this. If you move to a track that is right for you, progression will accelerate, and your work satisfaction will increase dramatically.

Similarly to stepping backwards or sideways, you begin and progress a career transition at the same time as doing whatever you do now. This is what we mean by career pivoting – as in basketball, this means having one foot planted where you are whilst the other helps to position for an opportunity to move. You need a series of pivots to move toward a new career in small, practical steps that land you where you want to be. The Career Pivot Community has great resources for mid-career change. Pivots may involve unfamiliar career tactics. A traditional career approach involves identifying specific career goals and working towards them in a logical, linear and orderly manner. You’ll need curiosity, to explore unfamiliar opportunities and be open to chance events; persistence, to deal with obstacles; flexibility, to address a variety of circumstances and events; and optimism, to maximise benefits from unexpected events.

Connect with someone you know who is already working in a role or sector that that you hope to transition to and see if they will offer mentorship to help you navigate your way there. They might not be able to open doors for you, but they will be able to guide you through your transition. Having a mentor can be invaluable for your ongoing professional development.

Further resources

Use the below resources to explore this topic further: