Pivot...

Anyone who knows me will recognise the title of this latest instalment is indeed a Friends reference.

In my last newsletter/blog I wrote about how I had remained in my comfort zone for too long, so I thought today I'd follow that up by going into more detail about how and why I decided to "pivot" my career.

I started working in the recruitment industry in January 2006 and for the next 15 years I worked solely in one market - Office Services! I absolutely loved my job and by my own admission, I was bloody good at it! I knew the market inside out and I had progressed from a trainee with absolutely no clue what I was doing, to a well respected (by most anyway) Director in that period.

I loved it and I regularly said I'd never change market, least of all into Technology.

So what changed?

Well technology. And me.

I realised that as the world of tech was evolving it was only a matter of time before elements of the jobs that I worked on would be replaced by tech. I also didn't want to get left behind and I recognised that the people working in the tech recruitment space were also inadvertently learning about subjects that would be vital to their career growth in the long term. Subjects that I had little, to zero knowledge of.

It wasn't easy! I struggled to find a job in Tech recruitment in Scotland, despite having 15 years experience. Not many people seemed to think the transition from one to the other could be done, certainly not successfully!

I suppose that's a fair assumption as at that point I don't know many others who had done it, let alone successfully, so fair enough. I had to find another way in.

Through a referral, I secured myself a job as the Sales Director for a small tech start up - actually selling the technology. I moved away from recruitment but was selling recruitment software.

I lasted 6 months. The people were brilliant but the job wasn't the right match.

I'm a recruitment & talent person through and through.

This 6 months experience started to open up conversations that it hadn't before and before I knew it I had been offered a job as a Director with a highly respected Technology recruitment business in Scotland.

This is where the pivot really started though, making the decision and securing the job is about 10% of the battle. Actually learning a new market and being successful in it is where the change really happens.

Now believe it or not, 3 years on, I am not a technological whizz who understands every element of Technology (data, cyber, cloud, AI, front end versus back end....the list is endless). I don't need to.

What remains is that I'm an excellent recruiter and I will keep learning about the market by having deep and insightful conversations with the people around me who are experts in their field.

And I hope they trust me, as an expert in mine.