Change One Thing, Not Everything
When people decide to make a career move, the instinct is to change everything at once. New industry, new function, bigger title, more money, a whole new way of working. It feels bold. It usually backfires. The more you change at once, the harder it is for anyone, including you, to see what you actually are. A hiring manager can follow "experienced operator moving into a new industry." They stall on "former nonprofit person who wants a different field, a different role, a big raise, and a four-day week." That isn't a candidate, it's a wish list.
So before you start, get specific about what you're actually changing. There are five dimensions to any career move, and most real pivots only turn one or two:
Industry. The sector or space you work in.
Function. The kind of work you do day to day.
Level. Your scope, seniority, and ownership.
Comp. What you're paid, and the whole package around it.
Style. How and where you work: pace, autonomy, location, team.
Rank them, from the one you most need to change to the one you care about least. The ranking is the exercise, because it forces a choice your gut has been avoiding. Your top one or two are the real move. Everything below should stay as close to where you are now as you can manage, because every dimension you hold steady is one that keeps you legible and lowers the risk for the person hiring you.
This is also where a lot of stalled searches come unstuck. When the applications go nowhere, it's often not the resume. It's that the move is asking the market to take too many leaps at once. Hold more of it steady, and the same person suddenly reads as an obvious hire.
I recently coached an educator who was ready for a pivot.
None of this means you can never change more than one thing. Over two or three moves, you can change all five. It means you change them in sequence, not in a single jump, so each step is believable and each one sets up the next.
Exercise
Write the five dimensions: industry, function, level, comp, style. Rank them from the one you most need to change to the one you care about least. Look at your top two. That, not the whole list, is the move you're actually making.
Trying to work out which one or two dimensions are really your move? That's a good thing to think through with someone. Book a free consult or explore 1:1 coaching at rupadevrihan.com.