How To Change Careers
I first want to start off by going back to my college experience and what I studied throughout those years then go through why and how I eventually made the switch to marketing.
So for the college experience, I first went to Milwaukee School of Engineering for electrical engineering. Looking back, that was definitely a mistake. Not because it was a bad school but it certainly wasn’t what I wanted to do. I just thought it’d be a great way to make a lot of money straight out of school (those figures in the pamphlets will get ya…)
After an interesting year there and taking one semester off, I eventually transferred over to Milwaukee and changed my major to supply chain. Now that was mainly because I knew business school would be a tad easier than engineering and my dad had a good portion of his career in supply chain, so I knew a bit going in.
Now I didn’t do well in school but this move gave me a good start in the traditional corporate world. After a semester, I got an internship at a local manufacturing company that dealt with toilet paper and paper towel. You might be laughing a bit but since I graduated during covid times, this industry was one of the best I could have been in (for some odd reason people thought the world was going to run out of these items).
After over a year in that internship and graduating from school, I was offered a purchasing role with the same company. First off I have to say that it was a great way to transition into corporate. Staying with the same company gives you a sense of ease that I’ve seen others struggle with.
As great as it was there, I knew that clocking into the office daily wasn’t something I wanted to do. At this point, I already started posting on LinkedIn and exploring creative outlets and started to get a feeling that I wanted to pivot my career in this direction.
Now I’ll go through this in a second but after a few months of working to get interviews and just a foot in the door in the marketing space, I landed an email marketing role for a company out in CA. I was mainly just creating the schedules and the creative aspect of the email there for different companies they worked with but this was a great place to just get a basic understanding of the real marketing world.
After a few months there, I knew I wanted out (the schedule was just insane and the work was the same week in and week out). I was lucky that my sister started dating a guy who ran his own marketing agency in Milwaukee and after a few months of them not needing any more help, he reached out about an SEO position that they felt I’d be a good fit for and on my end, I knew it was a company that I respected but also one that I really wanted to work for.
So that’s the shorter story of how I’ve gotten to where I’m at but now on to the more important pieces, why and how. Let’s start with why.
Why I Made The Switch To Marketing
There are three main reasons why I decided to make the switch from supply chain to marketing, some having to do with longer-term reasons and one that was more of exploration.
To start off, after a year plus in an internship and a handful of months after college in a traditional corporate space, I just realized that I wasn’t a fan of it for me personally. It could and can be a perfect space for some (I’ve had friends have a really good start to more traditional corporate careers so I see the benefits) but for me, I struggled with a few things.
Politics of traditional corporate
First was the political side of it. I understand that this is likely in play at all companies but with being at a larger company, I saw it in play pretty often. Instead of experience and skills being a reason for a pay increase, promotion, additional time off, etc., it was seniority.
You can easily argue “well Tommy normally the folks who have been there awhile are the most experienced and have the best skills” and what I would say is that’s likely true BUT I have certainly seen (and I’m guessing a few of us have) multiple examples where someone who has just been there longer gets the better perks regardless of skill, commitment, growth potential, any of those things.
Positives of marketing
Now outside of the political side, the other two reasons are positives of making the move to marketing compared to the negatives I experienced in traditional corporate. Number 1 is that I wanted to explore more of a creative space.
All my life growing up I was told I was highly skilled in math and had much more of an analytical brain than a creative one. Although this is somewhat true, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve worked hard to build more of my creative capabilities and also found that I truly enjoy the creative side AND the numbers side.
Being in an SEO role, I get to tap into both of those pretty consistently, so don’t limit yourself to thinking a role is one or the other, there are some that can be both.
Number 2 is I saw a much larger potential for freelancing and side hustling if I focused on marketing compared to supply chain. I know a few folks in supply chain that have gone on to do some consulting but a lot of that turned to either leadership coaching or some type of management courses or coaching which is not something I want to do.
I started to love the process of video editing, photography and photo editing, creating notion templates, and a few more creative outlets and these are all areas that I can double down on outside of work for just the fun of it but also for potential revenue streams.
Now there are other reasons that I wanted to make the shift but these were the three main ones and ones that made enough sense and had enough weight for me to start to make the transition into marketing. Now onto how I made the switch.
How I Made The Switch To Marketing
So as a lot of people might imagine (or have been through before) making a shift in careers is not by any means easy. It’s hard to show that you have any relevant experience without having traditional experience or education in a subject. Most of the time, without that, it’s tough to even get a foot in the door but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
There are four main things I did (and still continue to work on) to give myself a chance at getting into a new career. Now some of this was marketing-specific but I’d argue the more important ones aren’t industry-specific or can be applied to any industry.
Work on what the industry entails
The first one is I started to work on things that the industry I wanted to go into contained. For me, this was being more creative outside of school and eventually outside of my supply chain career.
Right off the bat, I started with just posting more on social media, and more specifically, LinkedIn. This gave me the opportunity to get my name out there and also showcase some of the skills that I’ve attained and the growth over the months/years that I’ve had publishing content.
As I continued to dive into content, I started to learn how to video edit and photo edit as I needed to step my game up. The best thing about that is it was an area I found interesting and would have done without the pressure of switching careers.
Now, this first piece isn’t one that directly correlates to other industries but if you’re looking to get into, let’s say, purchasing, well you can start to understand the different terms like FOB destination and FOB origin or you can start to create spreadsheets that track inventory levels and when you’re at your minimum order quantity. Just start putting together pieces of work that help showcase your continued growth in skills needed for the industry you’re looking to get into.
Self-study
The second thing I did was I dug more into courses and YouTube at night so that I could gain the education that I didn’t get through school on my own time.
First, this is a very cheap alternative to going back to school. Now that is certainly an option that people might recommend but in this day and age, people hiring are less worried about you having a specific degree.
You can just as easily go and get certifications, take online courses that you can showcase, or take an unpaid internship that shows you have some credentials without cutting the big check of tuition.
There are certainly some trade-offs but going the less expensive route, of course, saves you money but it also allows you to start applying what you learn right away and is less of a true time commitment since you can either get hired while learning or stop if you so please.
This is a pretty well-known tip already and one that helps showcase that you at least have some education but what I see people miss is they don’t go into the specific niche areas. In my case, I could’ve gotten just a general marketing certification and slapped it on my resume but that wouldn’t show that I have any knowledge of a specific area. Instead, I got email marketing certifications and SEO certifications to showcase that these are the areas I’m looking to move into.
The thing with this is it only helps when you take it seriously. You are your own teacher and give yourself your own due dates, so if you stretch this out or don’t truly invest in it, it won’t pay you back as much as you might want.
Work on soft skills
The third thing I did was I leaned into (and sharpened) my soft skills. This goes without speaking but working on your soft skills will pay you back even if you never make it into a new career, it might even help with some of your personal relationships if you want to improve those.
Going into interviews, this was the main area I leaned into and wanted to showcase while talking with the person across the screen because it can make you stand out from a crowd of people who have similar or even better skills but lack in this area.
A few that I focused on that maybe you can double down on are my problem-solving skills (by talking about how I’m learning without a tradition education and building a resume that other applicants likely don’t have), proving my ability to take on more than what my roles in the past entailed (I did this by showcasing that as an intern I originally was just there for data entry but grew to the point that I was filling in for the logistics specialist), and mainly I tried to highlight my communication skills (by bringing my A game to every interview even if it was a role on the top of my list and also asking for feedback from any interview I had).
These are all pieces that can be applied to any industry, just used examples that you have from your past to put a spotlight on them but you have to be honest. Take it from someone who has sat in on interviews for hiring, it is extremely easy to know when someone isn’t telling the truth.
If I tried to talk about how I took more on as an intern but didn’t have specific examples of what I did when filling in for the logistics specialist, well you can guess that they wouldn’t take me seriously.
Ask for feedback (and references)
Now the last thing I did to work on making my transition into a new career, was I asked for feedback on my personal work that I was doing outside of my career and if they’d be willing to back me if need be, aka a reference.
This can be a tough thing to swallow at times because the feedback you get, especially early on when you’re just learning the new industry you’re likely not as skilled as you might think you are.
I remember early on I created my personal website to showcase a lot of my creative work (which is something I also recommend for anyone trying to get into a new industry, I had a lot of folks give me props for taking the time to create a personal website) anyways back to what I was saying, I remember getting some pretty harsh feedback on how not so great my website was and not going to lie at first I just left it as it was.
I thought it was great and needed no adjustments but after some reconsideration, I made the edits and was ultimately pleased with what it turned into.
You have to actually be open to hearing feedback if you’re going to ask for it otherwise it won’t help at all and is a waste of your time and the other person’s time.
For recommendations, something I’m not a fan of asking for but maybe that’s just me, the only thing I would say is to be picky with who you ask and make sure that you ask. I’ve heard of stories where someone put a name down as a reference only to have that person be called not knowing they were listed.
It’s awkward and unprofessional in my opinion. All you have to do is ask and most people will be 100% down for being a reference for you.
Now to wrap up quickly, there are a few things I want to close out with.
First, if you truly want to make a shift in your career you have to fully dive into what that process will take. If you’re flaking on the courses you’re taking or not putting anything you’re learning into action, it’ll be pretty tough to land interviews.
Commit to taking your nights and weekends to take courses, talk with people in the industry, and create content or case studies without the expectation that something will come right away.
Now with building that expectation, continue to work on building your self-esteem even when interviews are coming your way or going extremely well.
I remember giving myself props for even getting into the conversation at companies, especially coming from no traditional marketing experience, I felt it was a win to be anywhere near the door.
And lastly, give yourself time. This transition will not happen overnight (as much as I wish it would’ve, trust me, I was very impatient during this process). For me, it took about 4 months, and from what I know this is a pretty short timeline for changing careers. You have to be willing to go a year of putting in work to eventually get the chance you’re looking for. Now, this can be pretty daunting but continue to build yourself up and do your best to not be discouraged when it doesn’t pan out exactly how you want. From one career changer to another, believe in yourself, you’ve got this.
