A career transition can look different from person to person due to an individual’s priorities, ambitions, needs, or personal beliefs. It can also be due to a company’s operational standards, sales initiatives, or mission that the employee may feel that they don’t align with anymore. In its purest form, career transition is a state of moving from one business to another but can also be an act of transitioning industries or even transitioning positions within your current employer.
As a good leader, it’s always hard to hear when an employee wants to make a transition in their career. At the same time a good leader is drawn to people who want to learn and grow and have develop their careers. Yet, if we do our job successfully as a leader, we hope we have empowered our team members to develop in their position and grow into something they will talk about in the future (for all the right reasons).
There are leaders I have learned a great deal from in the past and that I still talk about today. There are also clients I have worked with that I have personally learned and grown from because of the passion they have for their employees and the career transitions their team members have made.
Lessons Learned from Situational Transitions
If someone is looking to transition away from your company, whether you are happy about their leaving or not, there is a reason for the transition. Understanding that reason may help your business and your ability to hold talent in the future.
Many leaders think about the impact employee transitions can have on their business, which is something important to understand and reflect on. However, you need all the facts and insight from the event to fully understand the impact. It is important that you sit down with the employee who is leaving and ask questions (exit interview).
What caused them to look for a new position or career path? What compelled them to take a new role and transition away from your company? As part of their exit interview, ask them what the organization can do differently for future hires or individuals in their role. Once you have gathered your research, make time to reflect on your findings.
If you are routinely hearing the same (or similar) feedback, there might be a need to make a shift in your organization. As an HR Leader it is your job to conduct the interviews, gather the information, and find a way to deliver that feedback to the correct audience.
There are times when it is important that all leadership hears the feedback and discuss ways to improve.
If it relates to one leader, then it might be that leader and their manager in the room to discuss what improvements can be made. It is a struggle to provide this feedback and share it with team members who have been identified in an exit interview, but it is what you do with that information, the continued research and investigation of employees who are still members of the team, that is most important.
A Season of Transition
Traditionally, there are seasonal patterns in career transition — those times throughout any given year where career transitions are higher than other times. Seasonal changes in work and life can often prompt career transitions or shifts professional focus. This is evident in several ways:
There is the summer transition when interns and fresh graduates are searching the market for opportunities. How you engage with these people can define how their transition evolves. Their journey often looks and feels different than from someone who is further along in their career. It’s also important to note that what they are looking for in their first job might also be different from someone with more work history.
Here are several other circumstances that may encourage more career transition activity:
- Natural cycles of change: Lydia Lee, a career transition expert, discusses how our lives and businesses experience “unique sequences of phases and transformations” similar to the earth’s seasonal cycles. These natural rhythms can prompt people to reassess their careers and consider transitions.
- Academic calendar influence: The article mentions “off-to-college students,” which suggests that the end of summer and beginning of fall is a time when many young people transition into new educational or career paths.
- Work patterns aligned with seasons: Gensler’s article proposes a model of “seasonal work,” where work behaviors and office attendance fluctuate throughout the year. This concept suggests that certain seasons may be more conducive to career transitions or shifts in work focus.
- Life stages and career stages: Research indicates that what employees want and need from their jobs will change based on their life and career stages, rather than generational differences. These stages often align with seasonal life changes, such as having children or becoming empty nesters.
- New Year resolutions and goal setting: While not explicitly mentioned in the search results, the transition from one year to the next (typically winter) is often a time when people reflect on their careers and set new professional goals.
A typical corresponding factor to these seasonal career transition activities appears to be significant life changes or milestones. For example:
- Children starting school or leaving for college
- Changes in family responsibilities
- Changes in family dynamics — marriage, birth, death
- Completion of educational programs
- Shifts in personal goals and priorities as one enters new life stages
These life changes often coincide with seasonal transitions, prompting individuals to reassess their careers and consider new opportunities or directions in their professional lives.
A lot can be learned from them. You need to educate yourself about this valuable workforce segment — asking questions as you interview them and as you bring them into your organization.
Identifying and Attracting Workforce in Transition
Identifying key people in transition and attracting them with the right message can be vital to the growth and health of your organization. How do you help pique their interest in your organization? What makes you stand out from other businesses? You can answer these questions and more by first asking your existing employees.
Some might join your team for the benefits, some might just like the basics of the job, while some might appreciate the development opportunity. All can be accurate but be honest with yourself about what someone in transition might be looking for.
Finding the Right Fit
There is always a way and a reason to interview people who fit your culture and would be a great fit with your organization. However, I have also seen the development of new roles that aren’t ‘needed’ in an organization at that moment fail; the new employee might feel it wasn’t the right fit for them after they joined. When this happens, there are times were multiple transitions for the employee to different jobs— trying to find the right place for them—and really trying to always stay true to the business needs of the organization at their core.
I have very honest conversations with my clients when we are evaluating their Organizational Charts around the next hire they need. We look at what is currently in place and what internal career transitions or promotions can look like.
Additionally, we look at new hires and onboarding standards so we can ensure the organization has what they need to ensure the best opportunity and space for employees to be successful.