Career Advice - desperately seeking a pivot
Hello!
I’m here to chat careers so if you don’t have anything to add besides “job market bad rn” then please move along because baby, I know.
I’m hoping yall can help me figure out what the hell I should do next—both in terms of what careers might actually be a good fit and also if anyone knows of specific opportunities that might have an opening where they think I might do well.
A lil about me: I have a bachelor’s degree in Communications (Journalism & Electronic Media) with a minor in Political Science, and I’ve spent the last \~15 years working in marketing, advertising, and business development in various capacities, both agency-side and in-house. Can do a bit of everything from marketing strategy to writing to design, etc. have served in a couple of marketing manager roles for context. And frankly, I’m so sick of it.
I don’t want marketing to be my primary career anymore. I’ve gotten to the point where I genuinely dislike doing it, which makes it difficult to convince myself that I should just find a “better” marketing job. I’m also having a bit of an existential crisis because I’ve started to feel like so much of what I do is completely pointless. I’m tired of coming up with the 3,728,365th different way to say “We’re a bank you can trust.”
One of the things I’ve realized is that I really don’t like how subjective so much of marketing is. My success can be entirely dependent on someone else’s opinion of whether they “like” an idea, a headline, a campaign, a color, a strategy, etc. I’d much rather do something where the work has a more concrete purpose, a tangible outcome, or where there’s an actual problem to solve. Lots of times marketing is being asked to solve a problem that’s well beyond marketing.
I know “just change careers!” sounds easy in theory, but starting completely over 15 years into your career is harder than people make it sound. Not only is it extremely hard to get a role in something you have no background in but there’s also usually a huge pay cut involved. I’m not looking to throw away everything I’ve learned and start at entry level if I can avoid it. But I will if I have to. However, I’d love to find something where my existing experience and skills actually transfer.
Some things I know about myself:
I love solving problems. Give me a complicated problem and I will become a dog with a bone until I figure it out.
I’m extremely resourceful and good at figuring out who/what/how to get something done or why something is happening.
I like strategy, but I don’t necessarily want to do “creative strategy” anymore (but will).
I’m very good at planning, organizing, coordinating, and managing a million moving pieces.
I’m a strong writer and communicator—actual communications, writing, editing, messaging, etc. I can make a TikTok if I absolutely have to, but I would very much like to never be responsible for one again.
I’m good at layout/design and have a strong eye for how information should be organized and presented.
I’m an ideas machine, but I don’t necessarily want to use that ability in a traditional “creative” capacity anymore. I’m honestly not sure how else to translate that skill.
I’m comfortable working with lots of different personalities/stakeholders and have experience both in-house and on the agency side.
I like being helpful and recently learned through my interns that I’m “the best mentor” which came as a huge surprise to me.
What I don’t want:
- Social media/content creator/influencer-type work
- Being judged primarily on subjective creative output
I’m pretty open-minded at this point. So I welcome any and all advice. I’d especially love to hear from people who have made a similar pivot after 10–20 years in marketing/communications/advertising. What did you move into? What skills transferred? Etc
And if anyone reading this works in a field where you think someone with my background could be a good fit, please DM me. I’m happy to chat and send my CV. At this point I’m basically standing in the middle of my career going “Surely there has to be something else I can do with my experience.” Please help🥲