But, I Know I Can Produce TV Shows!!

Remember when you were a child, say about 6-7 years old, and someone would ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Perhaps the question came from your parents, a teacher, or a friend. What was your answer? Was it a classic response? Maybe one of the following:  A nurse, teacher, policeman, fireman, cowboy, etc?

I remember being asked that question over and over again, and even thinking about that question myself over the years of my childhood, but for the life of me, I don’t recall any of my answers. I can certainly tell you it wasn’t what I actually became in my first professional job after college: an accountant! Ha! (btw, I haven’t EVER heard of any kids saying, “I want to grow up and become an accountant!”…just saying!).  

As a follow up to last week’s blog, “So Many Questions?!?”, I thought it might be useful to illustrate what a “pivot” might look like by creating an example using my background and experiences. If you’re thinking about a career change, and you’re not sure what that “pivot” could look like, then I’m hoping this might be useful. Off we go!

Analyzing Potential Career Paths

As mentioned, my first job after college was to become an auditor for Arthur Andersen. After passing the CPA exam and spending three years on the audit trail, I decided I needed a change, and I wasn’t sure what that would be. I sure wish I would have had some sound, Biblical, career counsel rather than just defaulting to grad school. But that’s going to have to be a different blog!  🙂

So, I knew I didn’t want to be an auditor any more, and let’s imagine for a moment that I want to produce television shows! (Kids, stop laughing!). Here’s a serious question: How many offers do you think I’d get to become a TV producer with accounting being my only professional experience? Answer: 0 !!!

But let’s say that was my dream, my passion, and I felt called to become a TV producer. How could I pivot into an opportunity? Well, that may take some time, but I always want to support people pursuing what they believe God called them to do. What advice would I give myself, in this scenario?

Here’s a quick summary of potential paths that could be logical for a person to build, over time, to pivot from being an accountant to becoming a TV producer. The summary defines what change is taking place and how it could progress:

1. Old occupation / Old field          Accountant in Professional Services
2. New occupation / Old field        Human Resources in Professional Services
3. Old occupation / New field        Accountant for an entertainment company
4. New occupation / New field       Producer for an entertainment company

Now, let’s unpack these a bit:

1. Having been a staff auditor in the field auditing clients, it would be fairly simple for a hiring manager to see the logic to hire someone with that background as a general ledger accountant, a cost accountant, or an FPA (Financial, Planning, and Analysis) staff. The bridge between roles is clear.
2. A little tougher to see (but this is the one I actually took), is to shift into an operational human resources role within the field or industry the person is already familiar with. Understanding the business and building relationships with people (networking), as it turns out, went a long way to making this transition.
3. Another pretty clear path for a hiring manager to get through is this one. Within the same functional responsibilities, just in a different industry or field, the adjacencies of competency can smoothly slide over.
4. This one is quite the stretch, as pointed out earlier, but if that’s the ultimate career goal a person is pursuing, then #’s 1-3 above are possible paths that could lead to #4. None of them are silver bullets, and there are so many different options available to each of us, that more and more summary outlines could be constructed.  

Be Open to New Possibilities

The point is, pivoting is a very useful approach. I’d encourage you, as you network for what your next change could be, to ask each person you speak with, “Tell me about your paths to get to where you are now.” You’ll learn some amazing things and see potential paths you’d never imagine yourself going down with their insights.

Finally, Scripture, as usual, has something to tell us about change. Proverbs 15:22 tells us, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Our Crossroads Guides can provide you some exceptional insights and will listen carefully to what you feel called and compelled to do. You can arrange for one of them to consult with you HERE.

Blessings!

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Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.