Beyond the murky middle: 5 career pivot tips

November's Navigator of the Month on discovering where you want to go, and selling your skills to get there

That itch to do something different? Don’t ignore it, says Laura Krantz McNeill.

After many years reporting, Krantz McNeill started looking for a change. She moved into product and is currently the senior editor for subscriber products at the Chronicle of Higher Education. Last week, she shared her advice on successfully making a career pivot as part of our Navigator Q&A series.

“This new work that I do in product is so fulfilling and interesting. I'm glad that I was a reporter, but I kind of feel like this is what I was always supposed to be doing,” she said.

“That wasn't clear in the murky middle part, where I was reading job descriptions and doing online courses and applying and getting rejected and struggling to figure out how to even make the case that somebody should hire me. But now it's clear.”

Below are five key takeaways from our conversation with Krantz McNeill. I love how she offers concrete, specific tips for discovering what types of jobs you want to pursue, using your existing network to support a shift and selling your experience and ability to the hiring manager.

Supporting subscribers, be sure to register for our upcoming Q&A chats to ask your career questions of other professionals. And remember, if you’re not currently getting paid, you don’t have to pay for access — message me at exploreyourriver@gmail.com.

• January: Leaping over the waterfall with Marita Pérez Díaz, web applications engineer at the American Press Institute, on leaving her journalism identity behind to move into tech.