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Jade Pitchett’s career journey was not a simple one. They studied social work and got a bachelors and masters degree in the subject. After their masters, they were ready to be in the field, having education, and some work experience under their belt. But Pitchett couldn’t find a job to work directly with her community in Toronto after sending out resume after resume.
Pitchett eventually found a job at the ArQuives Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives, in the world of libraries, museums, archives, and special collections. Though it wasn’t directly the kind of social work they were looking for, Pitchett says they “ended up learning a lot and getting to engage with my passion for queer history. It was unexpected but was deeply valuable.
“The biggest advice I can give is don’t get stuck on what your life’s purpose is to be. Instead find what brings you purpose in the moment and enjoy the journey,” says Pitchett. “Through all my work there has been a consistent purpose being to make the lives of equity-deserving groups in Canada better though the way of achieving it has consistently changed.”
Similar to Pitchett, many other young people working in social impact have faced similar twists and turns in their career journey which led them to their current work. Career transitions can be difficult and intimidating — especially for young people in the workplace who are trying to find their professional footing while seeking out their own, personal passion.
But at the same time, many of Future of Good’s 2022 Young Impact Leaders noted that their own career transitions have made them grow personally and professionally and allowed them to feel more confident in the impact of their work. We asked the youth leaders from our 2022 annual list what advice they would give other young people in the social impact world who are considering or going through a big career transition now — here’s what they said.
Fight the imposter syndrome, don’t underestimate the skills you already have
“Rarely does someone come into a role with all the experience they need, so being able to make the most of your transferable skills while proactively focusing on developing other areas of expertise will help you minimize any feelings of imposter syndrome,” says Eva Taylor, director of social impact at Hootsuite.
Taylor herself transitioned roles within her current workplace and moved into a different department. She went from a role that was responsible for marketing, operations, and social impact to a role focused solely on social impact and environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
And during this transition period, though there were some road bumps, Taylor says she leaned into her strategy and planning skills to help her launch new programs and focus on giving, matching and volunteering. Connecting her previous skills to her new role helped me feel more confident in the early months in her new role, she says.
Before joining OpenMedia full time as a digital equity advocate, Erin Knight worked with a financial institution on a project involving customer relationship management (CRM) software. Though she didn’t think these two experiences had any overlapping skills, it turns out they did.
“I didn’t think the skills I developed teaching financial advisors how to use the bank’s CRM would help me run digital campaigns to bring affordable, accessible Internet to all — but they do, every day,” says Knight. “And by bringing those uncommon skills and different ways of thinking to your new role, it can help you stand out as a capable, versatile, and highly valuable member of the team.”
Listen to what is piquing your interest in the moment
“When I left my policy job in the federal government to begin my current role at the Enchanté Network, I definitely had many (sometimes conflicting) feelings,” says Tyler Boyce, executive director at Enchanté Network. “But I had a calling to serve in a different way.”
Looking back, Boyce says that he is grateful to his past self for heeding that call. To anyone going through a big career transition, Boyce says it’s helpful to take a step back and reflect on their own skills, and which parts of society are in most need of those skills.
“The north star of work should be to improve the conditions for a world that will continue to exist long after us. If we each lend our skills with that goal in mind, then there is no wrong move – only transformative collective action,” says Boyce.
Riley Winters, who works as a policy advisor at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), studied archaeology and anthropology in university. Her work mainly involved field work and research, and while she found it fascinating, it didn’t entirely fulfill her.
She then went on to get a certificate in Indigenous studies and was deeply impacted by what she learned.“The injustices that Indigenous peoples face both historically and today were amplified,” says Winters, and she felt “very passionate to help advance the rights of Inuit and those in my community, so that is why I entered the world of policy, to make change.”
The experience was eye opening and new for Riley, She says she found a lot of gratification in the work, knowing she was “working towards transformative objectives to better the lives of Inuit.”
Don’t fake it till you make it — ask for the help you need
Prior to joining the Canadian Women’s Foundation as a senior director of community initiatives, Keetha Mercer had never worked in philanthropy before. She says it was a huge transition and adjustment from the smaller non-profits that she was used to up until then.
Knowing nothing about the world of philanthropy, and the mechanics of granting, Mercer says she had a lot to learn. She said she also had to go through a shift in mindset that came with her “new relationships with power” on the philanthropy side and be careful about her approach with organizations.
For her, Mercer says it was important to take time and think about the kind of person she wanted to be in that role. It also helped her to find allies and mentors within the organizations that she could learn from, ask questions, and share frustrations.
For instance, Mercer says she had no idea how to read financial statements and needed to be trained on that — which she seeked help on. At the same time, she did have a ton of experience in consensus-based decision making already which was super helpful in the committee decision making processes within her new role.
“Don’t fake it until you make it — it’s better to be upfront that you don’t know everything so you can figure out where you can get the information you need,” says Mercer.
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