Career Pivot Success Stories

This is one I’ll always be proud of. My final article for Forbes! and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out! I ended on the strongest possible note by doing what has always mattered most to me... using visibility to open doors for others and celebrate their successes. Through the City of London Corporation’s #TurnToTech initiative, I had the privilege of highlighting five extraordinary women who prove, beyond doubt, that careers are no longer linear; and don't need to be. These women didn’t follow a “traditional” route into technology. What they did have were transferable skills, courage, curiosity, and support; and that changed everything. ✨ Joanna Hawro — from global finance to SaaS implementation leadership ✨ Katrina Young — designing a tech career entirely on her own terms ✨ 🔐Alicia Osinibi MBCS Osinibi — pivoting from the classroom into cybersecurity ✨ Laura Wilson — rebooting a tech career after a career break ✨ Tasmia Niazi — from night shifts to engineering leadership Their stories challenge outdated hiring assumptions and prove that: 👉 Transferable skills are the real superpower 👉 Upskilling works when paired with belief and opportunity 👉 Visibility and community change what people believe is possible As someone who has spent years writing about inclusion, careers, and the future of work, it feels especially poignant to close my Forbes chapter by celebrating women who are redefining what a tech career looks like. If you’re considering a career pivot, hiring into tech, or questioning whether you “fit” then this article is for you. Going out on a high and deeply grateful to everyone who trusted me with their story. #InclusionIncludesYOU #WalkTheTalk #OpenDoorsForCareers

I made 3 career changes in 5 years of my life! When I first thought about pivoting my career, I assumed I needed a perfect plan, a list of dream projects, an ideal work environment, and all my non-negotiables crystal clear. But sach kahoon? Real life had other plans. A pivot is messy. Uncertain. And most of the time, it begins with chhote chhote kadam into the unknown. Here’s something interesting. People, on average, change careers 3 to 4 times in their lifetime. Yet so many delay it, waiting for “full clarity.” The truth? 85% of jobs come through networking, not through endless self-reflection or months of rigid planning. Take Apoorva Mukhija, better known as Rebel Kid. After earning a B.Tech and working as a Sales Engineer at Dell, she felt confined by the typical tech career path. Instead of settling, she embraced her creative side, quietly building a content creator career alongside her job. Her deliberate shift paid off. Today, Rebel Kid has over 4 million Instagram followers and partnerships with 150+ global brands including Netflix and Amazon. Her personal brand is valued at an estimated Rs 41 crore. Apoorva’s story proves how authenticity and strategic risk can redefine what success looks like. Then there’s Anubhav Singh Bassi, who started out in law and UPSC preparation before comedy called him in 2017. From searching for open mic nights online to creating viral YouTube videos that amassed over 76 million views, Bassi’s rise was fueled by persistence despite early uncertainty. Today, he tours internationally, delivers TED Talks, and has acted alongside Ranbir Kapoor. His journey shows that a pivot isn’t always instant. Sometimes it is about patience, consistent effort, and grabbing the right opportunity when it comes. What these stories teach us: Leverage your existing skills. Apoorva’s analytical background helped her problem-solving as a creator. Bassi’s law training improved his storytelling precision. Make thoughtful, gradual shifts. Both balanced their previous professions while exploring new paths, turning side hustles into full-time careers. Build and engage networks. Connections and community played key roles in opening doors and scaling their influence. Redefine success on your own terms. They both found greater autonomy and fulfillment by following their authentic voices. If you’re contemplating a career pivot, remember, it’s not about having everything figured out. It’s about starting where you are, taking small deliberate steps, and trusting that the journey will unfold.

What does 21 years of career pivots, detours, and reinvention look like? Like this.👇🏾 🔴 2005: Reservoir Engineering Technical Assistant | Got to sit alongside brilliant engineers in the North Sea oil & gas industry. The foundation years. 🔴 2006: Production Engineer | This is where I really grew up professionally. Four years. Deep technical roots. 🔴 2010: Technical Sales Manager | same company in oil & gas, but a new lens — commercial, client-facing, team leader, strategic. 🟠 2011: Senior Web Analyst | The first big pivot. Engineering to marketing with the same employer. This one coincided with my MBA. It seemed like a detour to many. 🟠 2013: Senior Marketing Manager | new employer and firmly out of engineering. Now leading on marketing, strategy, and brand — still in technical sectors. 🟠 2015: Senior Marketing Advisor | Moved to a software company. The lessons from every previous role clicked here. Led groundbreaking projects. Wrote a bestseller on social media advocacy. 🔵 2016: Founder, Marketing Consultancy | Went self-employed. Backed myself for the first time. Pivoted for the second time. 🔵 2018: Co-founder | Merged, expanded, and built something bigger and award-winning, covering marketing, sales, and business development. 🟡 2024: CEO | Leading a medium-sized charity that alleviates poverty and hardship. The most meaningful role yet, and my third pivot. No blueprint, no straight lines yet there’s a lot in between the lines: persistence, obstacles, and trusting (sometimes reluctantly) the process. If your career feels messy right now, it’s good. You’ll find growth there. #YOstories #CareerTips

I used to run toward disasters. Now I build the tech that helps manage them. 🚨 The transition from Emergency Manager to Product Manager wasn't in any career guidebook. But that's exactly why it worked. Here's what I learned about pivoting careers when there's no obvious path: 1. Find Your Bridge 🌉 Your current role has transferable skills. In EM, I coordinated responses and solved complex problems under pressure. Sound familiar, Product Managers? 2. Be Strategically Curious 🤔 Don't just ask for a job - get curious about the problems. I spent months understanding pain points in EM tech before even mentioning product management. 3. Build Internal Champions 🤝 The best opportunities rarely come through formal applications. I built relationships across teams, showing genuine interest in their challenges. 4. Create Value Before Asking for Value 📈 I started sharing insights about user needs from my EM experience. By the time a product role opened up, I had already demonstrated value. 5. Embrace the Learning Curve 📚 Your unique background is an asset, not a liability. My EM experience helps me build better tech because I've lived the user's reality. 💭 What unique background are you bringing (or want to bring) to product management? #productmanagement #product #emergencymanagement #technology #innovation

“You’re too late to switch careers now.” If you’re still hearing this, you’re listening to people who’ve never dared to pivot. Every week, I meet candidates who believe career pivots are for the lucky, the well-connected, or the endlessly brave. The truth? Career pivots are for those who know how to translate their value. Let me tell you about my student — a finance analyst who wanted to break into a data science role. She didn’t have the perfect resume. She didn’t have “traditional” credentials. But she had the right strategy which helped her land her dream job of 13 LPA in data science. Here’s how we made the impossible possible: 1️⃣ We Mapped Skills, Not Job Titles We moved beyond job titles and highlighted the relevant, transferable skills she developed: ➡ Data visualization in Excel = Tableau dashboards ➡ Financial modeling = Predictive analytics ➡ Stakeholder presentations = Data storytelling We drew clear connections between her past achievements and the demands of her new target field, proving she already had much of the expertise needed. 2️⃣ Told a Story of Growth, not Escape Instead of apologizing for her pivot, she owned her journey: “After streamlining reporting processes for two years, I became obsessed with uncovering data insights at scale, which led me to master Python, SQL, and ML models for real business challenges.” 3️⃣ Built a Bridge with Projects On her resume and LinkedIn, we stacked her portfolio with hands-on proof: ➡ Kaggle challenges ➡ Volunteer projects for a local NGO ➡ A data dashboard analyzing customer churn for a side business She highlighted impact, not just participation. 4️⃣ Networked with Precision She stopped spamming “open to work” and instead: ➡ Attended data meetups and hackathons ➡ Sent targeted LinkedIn messages: “Hi [Name], I saw your team at Capgemini recently launched a new analytics suite. I ran a similar project, would love to hear your insights!” This opened doors to referrals before jobs even hit the portals. 5️⃣ Reframed Her CV and Interview Pitch ➡ Instead of using generic finance descriptions, she drew a direct line to data science skills and their real business value. For example, rather than simply stating, “Prepared monthly financial reports,” her resume read: “Developed automated reporting dashboards with Excel VBA and Power BI, cutting data processing time by 40% and equipping leadership with real-time analytics for faster decisions.” ➡ In her interview pitch, she didn’t just say she was “good with numbers.” She gave a precise, relevant narrative: “When my team struggled with manual forecasting, I designed a predictive model in Python that improved revenue forecast accuracy by 25%, enabling us to optimize inventory and save costs. That solution is still used today.” #careerpivot #dreamjob #growth #interviewtips #transferableskills #careerswitch

I landed a role at a $600B investment firm. No finance degree. No MBA. No Ivy League background. And no one told me to apply. Here’s what actually happened. After years in corporate sustainability — manufacturing, chemicals, answering investor ESG questionnaires — I kept noticing the same thing: Investors had mountains of ESG data. But they didn’t know what was financially material. Which initiatives reduced real risk? Which created long-term value? Which were just compliance theater? I had lived inside operations. I knew what actually moved the needle. So instead of chasing more credentials, I started sharing that perspective publicly. Not frameworks. Not jargon. Just what works inside real companies. Over time, the right people started paying attention. The role wasn’t even posted yet. Career pivots don’t happen because you collect more letters after your name. They happen when you: • Identify an emerging gap • Realize your background gives you unfair insight • Demonstrate that value before someone hires you Most people try to pivot by becoming more qualified. The real leverage is in becoming more specific. What gap are you uniquely positioned to fill?

You don't have to quit your job to reinvent your career. I know my content might suggest otherwise — I talk about leaving banking, saying no to big tech, building on the side. But not every path looks like mine, and I want to keep this corner of the internet nuanced. Let me introduce you to Ed Essey. He's a Senior Director at Microsoft who's been there for 20 years and grew his Instagram to 100K+ last year within a few months. We initially connected because he said my story resonated with him. I was surprised — on paper, we couldn't be more different. I'm a "job hopper" who's bounced between banking and tech. Ed built his entire career at one company. But here's what he did inside Microsoft: → Worked on early products like InfoPath and Office Server → Moved into parallel computing in DevDiv → Taught design thinking to 22,000 engineers over 200 days → Built cross-functional influence across the org Every time he got an external offer, he went to his manager and said "I want to work on different problems." And his manager shaped his role around that. He didn't need outside leverage. He just articulated what he wanted to learn and why it mattered to the business. The teaching stint is what resonated most with me. He was terrified of public speaking but said yes anyway. That year completely rewired his confidence and gave him the foundation for later building his personal brand outside the company. Internal pivots don't get the same attention as external ones because they feel less exciting. They're harder to execute but can be more powerful. You don't always have to blow everything up to grow. Sometimes the opportunity is already where you are. If you're thinking about switching things up without leaving your job, I asked Ed to break down how he navigated internal pivots throughout his career in my newsletter this week: https://lnkd.in/eviQgRVv

Marsha was in her 50s and hoping to make a career pivot. "Have I got chance?" she asked me. I'll tell you what I told her: Ageism in the job market is real. But, if you are prepared, you can overcome the obstacles. It had been years since she'd applied or interviewed for a job. We worked together on her resume, LinkedIn, networking, and interviewing to package her for the job she wanted. When she called to say she'd gotten an offer for a great new job in pharma, with a 30% pay increase, I was jumping up & down!! I want to be clear that this was not easy. It took a lot of focus. Here is the multi-pronged approach we worked on together: 🎯 Resume Strategy: ↳ Focus on impact ("Delivered $2M in savings" vs "25 years of experience") ↳ Go back no more than 15 years  ↳ Highlight current technical skills, leave off old ones ↳ Take the graduation year off all degrees ↳ Contact info should include only city, state (no street address) ↳ Ditch the AOL, and hotmail email addresses; they date you 🌐Networking Strategy: ↳ Reconnect with former colleagues & give them an update ↳ Practice talking about your skills and abilities ↳ Speak to others who've successfully overcome the age barrier ↳ Make sure your LinkedIn profile follows best practices ↳ Work toward 500+ connections ↳ Post and comment on LinkedIn weekly 🏢 Employer Strategy: ↳ Target 40-50 companies with age-diverse cultures ↳ Talk to people in similar roles & ask about key skills ↳ Ask HR/recruiters about their hiring process ↳ Follow each employer on social media to learn priorities 💡 Interview Strategy: ↳ Lead with energy and genuine interest ↳ Show you've done your research with deep preparation ↳ Be ready with stories that include cross-generational work ↳ Share examples of your adaptability and growth mindset ↳ Talk about new skills you've built and show you're on top of trends ↳ Communicate your experience working with diverse people 🤵🏼Personal Strategy: ↳ Take additional courses & certifications to keep your skills fresh ↳ Stay current in your field with podcasts and social media ↳ Make reasonable adjustments to your appearance ↳ Clothes should fit well and be current, but not "trendy" ↳ Avoid language that "dates" you (ask a trusted younger friend) Remember: You're not "overqualified" You have battle-tested wisdom. That, along with these strategies, will set you up as a strong candidate! ♻ Repost to help people who are facing ageism in their job search 🔔 Follow Sarah Baker Andrus for more strategic career insights

Ever felt like you were standing at a cliff, knowing you had to jump but terrified of what lay below? That’s exactly what it felt like back in October 2022 when I pivoted into consulting. I had spent years building expertise in automotive design, plant operations, and maintenance, and leaving that comfort zone wasn’t easy. I spent time at Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. , Maruti Suzuki India Limited and Jindal Stainless , learning the automotive and manufacturing sector inside out; from the shop floor to the design studio. But along the way, I discovered my growing fascination with data analytics and consulting. I realized that behind every production metric, every design iteration, and every operational bottleneck lay data waiting to tell a story. Today, I see myself as a technology-agnostic professional; someone who doesn’t chase tools for the sake of tools, but focuses on business outcomes above all else. Whether it’s a dashboard, a model, or a strategy deck, the goal is always the same: solving the right problem, the right way. Still, doubts lingered during the transition: 1) “Will my technical background be enough?” 2) “Can I shift industries this late?” 3) “What if I fail?” But what I learned is that pivots aren’t about abandoning your past they’re about carrying your strengths forward. In consulting, I discovered: ✅ My experience solving complex problems, now powered by data, became my biggest asset. ✅ My ability to blend domain expertise with analytics helped clients unlock clarity. ✅ My curiosity turned ambiguity into opportunity. What made the transition smoother was: 1) Learning to frame problems with a data-first, outcome-driven mindset. 2) Talking to professionals who had made similar shifts. 3) And reminding myself that growth begins at the edge of discomfort. ✨ If you’re considering a pivot, remember: Your past doesn’t hold you back; it propels you forward. 🪴 Image : Little green reminder that growth often starts outside your comfort zone. 📣 Have you ever made a big career pivot? What helped you the most? #CareerPivot #Consulting #DataAnalytics #BusinessOutcomes #StorytellingWithData #Linkedinpostingchallenge

I got hired Google without ever submitting an application. Here’s the real strategy no one tells you about. At 20, I never imagined I’d work in tech... let alone Google. I was a first-gen immigrant woman starting my career in HR… in Northwest Arkansas, not Silicon Valley. No tech pedigree. No fancy referrals. Just a $45K offer from Cargill and a dream to maybe, someday get back to California. But here’s what no one tells you: the best career moves don’t always start with applying. They start with relationships, referrals, and reputation. Here’s how I actually got hired at Google and how you can reverse-engineer your career path with these 5 reminders: 1. Overdeliver early on: At Cargill, I left an impression on an interviewer who I never even worked with. So much so that when she left Cargill for Pepsi, she referred me to Pepsi without telling me. 2. Say your goals out loud: When I interviewed at Pepsi, I told the hiring manager I eventually wanted to move to California. She didn’t flinch. Instead, she mentored me, sponsored my promotions, and helped me get there. 3. Referrals travel: The SAME leader who interviewed me at Cargill and referred me to Pepsi, was the one who hired me again in the Bay Area. These early career advocates are powerful if you nurture those relationships *authentically* and by letting your work speak for you. 4. Be bold with outreach: When I wanted to pivot to tech in 2015, I applied to lots of roles. Google rejected me. Facebook ghosted. But at Twitter, I messaged the hiring manager on LinkedIn AFTER they had already picked another finalist. That move earned me a last-minute interview AND the offer. 5. Let your LinkedIn speak for you: 2 years after that, a Google recruiter reached out to me proactively for a role I never applied for. My LinkedIn told the story my résumé didn’t need to. 📌 So no, I didn’t apply to Google. I built a body of work that got me seen. I built reputation with leaders who remembered me. And I put myself in rooms I wasn’t “supposed” to be in. 💡 If you’re a woman of color, an immigrant, or the first in your family to do anything, don’t just play the game you're told you can play. Make up the rules of the game yourself. Build your reputation, your referrals, and relationships. Because when you take matters in your own hands, that's when true magic and Google offers come in! :)