{"id":123,"date":"2014-01-09T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-01-09T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.minotaurdesign.com\/blog\/?p=123"},"modified":"2014-01-09T13:13:06","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T13:13:06","slug":"changing-lanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.minotaurdesign.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/09\/changing-lanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Lanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the course of your life, unless you have inherited your family\u2019s Piggly Wiggly<\/a> fortune, you will have held a number jobs. Maybe you started out in your teens by bagging groceries, or perhaps you filled up that piggy bank by babysitting or mowing lawns. That first job hopefully taught you some valuable lessons about life.<\/p>\n

You probably learned that time is money, that you have to work hard in order to do well and keep that job, that learning new skills can be challenging but also rewarding, and that new skills make you better equipped for other jobs in the future. I hope you\u2019ve realized that relationships are instrumental in your success in a role, and that the relationships you build in one job may prove to be a factor in roles you\u2019ll hold down the road.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, you will have at some point realized you no longer wanted to keep doing the same job. Depending on your circumstances, you may or may not have been able to act on that impulse immediately\u2014many of us certainly have tales of a dramatic exit from a job we\u2019ve held! Hopefully, you gave some thought to your decision to leave the job, but–regardless–you did eventually move on to something else.<\/p>\n

Think for a moment about what led you to move on in each job you\u2019ve held over the years. Can you pick up any patterns in your thinking or in the circumstances that triggered your desire to move to the next gig?<\/p>\n

This kind of introspection can be illuminating in that it can help you consciously account for the factors that could lead you to stay in a role as it exists, make changes to the role so that you continue to reap rewards in the current position, or determine it is again time to look for that next great adventure.<\/p>\n

A few types of job changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

One type of job change can be thought of as linear progression. You start out waiting tables, move up to shift manager, tend bar, manage a store, manage a region of stores, and then run the company. This kind of change tends to value domain knowledge highly: how WE do things in THIS restaurant. It also values generalist knowledge: THIS is how you bus tables, how you handle a customer who\u2019s had too much to drink, and how you report (or don\u2019t report) tips.<\/p>\n

Another type of change is when you keep the same role but change companies or divisions. You can be a graphic designer, an insurance salesperson, or a registered nurse just about anywhere because the skills you must possess and the tasks you must be capable of performing well are going to be quite similar anywhere you go. Generalist knowledge is valued here, but more important is subject matter expertise. If you\u2019ve been a nurse for 20 years and have worked in six hospitals across three countries\u2014chances are you\u2019ve seen it all, you\u2019re hard to rattle, and you can do a good percentage of your tasks by instinct while focusing your active attention on more complex challenges.<\/p>\n

The last type I\u2019ll mention is what we\u2019re going to focus on today: moving in your career from one archetypal role to another. For example, starting your career as a librarian and then becoming a chemist, followed by a stint as a stunt car driver. This type of change can be very challenging, but very rewarding as well.<\/p>\n

One quick note: This can happen within a single organization or it can happen when you leave one company and join another. There will be some differences in how you evaluate the pros and cons of a transition versus an exit, but I believe my experience holds true in both cases.<\/p>\n

The more similarities and overlap between these roles, the more your existing knowledge will be useful in the new role, but if you look closely you\u2019ll find there are many skills and realms of knowledge that ARE actually transferrable between widely divergent roles. The real magic happens when you can bring a fresh perspective to the table when tackling challenges in the new role.<\/p>\n

I’ll address the following questions based on my experiences in moving from role to role:<\/p>\n