Welcome back to Lunch Break, a weekly newsletter + modern guide to a meaningful career from career coach Janel Abrahami. Brought to you by Pivot With Purpose career coaching program.
The last week of the month meansā¦ Career Therapy is in session! This monthly series is dedicated to answering your burning career questions- from coworker drama to culture battles to the everyday existential crises. Nothingās off-limits!
āØĀ I want to make a pivot within the education space, but Iām worried that any job I take will require a pay cut. What should I do? -Ali
Iāll get the tough love out of the way first: Maybe it will require a pay cut, and maybe thereās no way to get around that if you want to stay in one specific iteration of education. If thatās the case, then this is an exercise of ādesires vs dealbreakersā-Ā is a certain salary a desire or a dealbreaker? Is staying within one specific realm of education a desire or a dealbreaker?Ā
If, however, youāre willing to get creative about what a career in education (or any other field) can look like, there may be potential to find more money. āWorking in educationā doesnāt have to mean āworking in a school.ā You could work for a think tank on education intervention, you could work for a startup building innovative educational tools (like PWP alum Emma is doing now!), or you could work on educational content for tech platforms that reach the masses (LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Masterclass).
There are ways to stay close to the values that education fulfills for you within a different field with more economic opportunity. What do you think?Ā
āØĀ I keep having doubts about pivoting into a higher-paying position so early in my career. My mindset equates higher pay to much more years of experience. Do I need to wait longer to ask for more? -AnthoniaĀ
While job tenure and earned experience are important factors in your earning potential, there are other reasons you can earn more earlier in your career:
It makes sense to negotiate a compensation increase when:
Your job scope/responsibilities increase
You can point to specific ways youāve driven significant ROI for your team/companyĀ
Youāre leading more people
The market rate for your job scope (note: not necessarily your job title) has increased
None of the above are specifically tied to your years of experience or your job title, and now more than ever weāre seeing a younger generation of employees lead whole teams, campaigns, and initiatives that would have been previously gatekept (is that word?) for senior roles.Ā
TD;DR: Your impact- and not necessarily your years of experience- is more valuable than ever.
āØĀ I started pretty actively job searching earlier this summer and in August, I got to the final round for a role. After a few weeks of waiting, they decided to not hire for the position and reevaluate the department needs. I was pretty crushed after putting in all the time and energy, and since then, I just havenāt been excited about anything Iāve been applying to. Iām tired of feeling stuck at my current role, and tired of endless searching, but I donāt want to settle. Do you have any advice on how to stay motivated and keep going with intention? -Jess
I fully support taking a brief break from the search to take care of your emotional health and re-prioritize your next move. Grinding away at a job search because you feel desperate to get something, anything is a recipe for finding yourself in this struggle cycle again 6 months from now (or sooner).
During this intermission, reevaluate these two things that you articulated in your question: the endless search, and the lack of excitement for any other roles.
Why does this job search feel endless? Are your search criteria too niche, or too broad? Are you implementing all three pillars of a successful job search (targeted applications, strategic network, strong candidate brand)? Are you holding yourself back from taking some kind of action that seems intimidating but would make a huge impact?Ā
Next, why havenāt you felt excited about any other roles in the mix? Did you romanticize this near-win so much that other jobs just canāt compare? Are these roles ones that you *actually* want, or do they just āmake senseā with your work experience so far? Is it the companies you donāt love, the day-to-day job description, or something else? Pinpointing where the āmehā comes from will help you filter out roles that would feel like settling.
I commend you for holding out for the right thing. Making an intentional career pivot does take time and effort. Try this journaling exercise to tap back into your intention: āWhat would the future me who already has an aligned and meaningful career want me to know right now?āĀ
You can do this.
Want daily career coaching access to make the right career move for you?
Apply to Pivot With Purpose now ā
Janel Abrahami, Career Coach
šĀ ICYMIĀ
ā CURRENT FAVESĀ
WATCH: Marie Forleo on The Belief That Can Make You Unstoppable
In a 1:1 coaching session with a PWP member this week, we spent a good chunk of time digging into the fear of failure. What if I make this pivot and I hate it? What if I get this job and I canāt meet expectations? The fear of failure can be paralyzing, and thatās exactly what feeds it- inaction. I shared this talk from Marie Forleo after our call and wanted to share it with you, too.
TRY: Framed Vision Board CreatorĀ
My social media algorithms are too scary accurate. A day after talking about vision boarding in PWP (a few members are taking their personalized Pivot Blueprint one step further!), a sponsored post for this vision board creator got me on IG. I have to admit, though- the final products are beautiful, certainly a step up from my usual drugstore poster board and magazine hodge podge!Ā
READ: Start Finishing: How to Go From Doing to Done, by Charlie Gilkey
Multi-passionates and over-extenders, this oneās for us: Start Finishing provides a system for transforming your ideas into projects and shows you how to address the challenges you face by giving each project the time, energy, and attention it needs.
š COOL JOB (remote-friendly + mission-based)
Title: Lifecycle Marketing Manager
Company: Splice
Location: Remote
Description: Weāre looking for someone creative and analytical who enjoys getting in the weeds on segmentation and customer journeys, while also thinking strategically about what will drive funnel improvements at each stage. We want to tell better stories to our community of music producers and empower them to get started, make progress, and finish their next track with Splice.