How Pivot Helped This English Major Find A Career Path (Part 1)
Like a lot of new adults, after reaching the end of my preordained school path and stumbling into the nonlinear “real” world, I got lost.
Declaring a college major had been hard enough. Now I had to declare a career—that one element of adulthood that felt so much more permanent and self-defining than anything I’d ever done in school. With only a bachelor’s degree in English, a few post-graduation days of frenzied job research, and just enough courage to resist retreating to a creative writing MFA, I took a few tentative steps toward a safe, decent-paying career as a paralegal.
Luckily for me, just a few months after landing a job at a legal services company, I met Isabella Johnston. I attended a networking event looking for a way into an actual law firm. Isabella, excited by the possibility of taking on a writing intern, offered me something much better: that first realization that I could do what I truly loved. I could write and edit for a living.
I strayed off path and made countless false starts, but interning with Isabella at Pivot Business Consulting was the best career decision I’ve ever made. No hyperbole.
Instead of working in a profession where I had no real passion, I’m working part time as a freelance writer, and landing my first paying clients.
Here are the top three ways Pivot helped me pivot in the right career direction.
1. It Made Me Think More Deeply About My Career Goals
By my senior year of college, my career plan looked something like this:
Write a novel
Get an internship because professors said I should
Go to grad school to avoid finding job
So during my final semester of college, I interned with the university literary magazine. There, I failed to apply anything to my near nonexistent career aspirations. I had fun, I earned high marks, and I graduated without gaining much value from my experience.
In contrast, while interning under Isabella, one of the first things I had to do, after an assessment project and interview, was fill out a detailed goal worksheet. And unlike my frenzied research post-graduation, this time, Isabella was there to discuss my goals and guide me through the process of what my interests were, what entry level jobs fit my interests, and what skills I’d need to land one. Having an experienced professional sit down with me and give feedback not only helped me make sounder decisions—it helped me feel calmer and more confident about those decisions.
