A baHRC session companion · Tammy Rainey, JobNet 2.0
Tammy Rainey's Session Slide by Slide
The full content of Tammy's June 10 session, rendered as readable prose. A courtesy resource for the attendees, published the next business day by baHRC.
A note on what's here
Tammy's session, faithfully written down.
This is the substance of Tammy Rainey's June 10 session, rendered as readable prose. The personal stories Tammy told, the live audience reads she did, and the things only a live speaker can do are not here. Those belong to the room. Everything that travels well in text is below.
If you attended, jump via the nav above to revisit a specific moment. If you found this through the baHRC calendar after the session ran, read straight through. Each section ends with a link to the companion page that goes deeper on the idea Tammy introduced.
Slide 2 of 15
The Reality Check
Four numbers set the table for everything that follows. They are not the dramatic numbers of a crisis. They are the quiet numbers of a baseline. The baseline is: many people are thinking about this, very few are where they want to be, most cannot see what they already have, and the market has changed to favor the ones who learn how to be read for what they actually are.
69% of American workers have changed careers or seriously considered it in the past year. FlexJobs, 2025.
Only 9% of workers say they're doing their dream job. GO Banking Rates.
57% of workers can't identify their transferable skills with confidence. National Survey of Displaced Workers.
81% of employers now use skills-based hiring, up from 56% in 2022. MSH Workforce Data, 2024.
The first stat says you are not alone. The second says most people aren't where they want to be. The third says the biggest obstacle is knowing what you already have. The fourth says the market is ready for you, more than it ever has been.
A note on skills-based hiring, since it matters more than it sounds. It means employers evaluate candidates based on demonstrated skills and competencies rather than using a degree or job title as a proxy for ability. Instead of filtering for "must have a bachelor's degree" or "must have held the title of X," the employer asks: can this person actually do the work? It benefits career pivotors because their transferable skills become visible and credible even without a traditional linear career path in that field.
Sources for every stat on this page are at /validation/, each link double-checked and paywall-free.
Slide 3 of 15
A Note Before We Dive In
Everything in this session is dual-purpose. Use it for yourself. Use it to help the people around you.
As HR professionals, you're already in the business of helping people navigate their careers. Today gives you more tools, for your own move and for the moves you'll be asked to advise on. The frameworks below work in both directions.
The deeper guidance on helping others is at /coach/.
Slide 4 of 15
What Is a Pivot, Actually?
Six types of pivots, from smallest to biggest change. Find yourself on this list before you do anything else. The size of the pivot determines the strategy, and most people misread the size of their own pivot, usually in the direction of believing it's bigger than it is.
1. Change how you work. Corporate, consultant, fractional, or your own firm. Same field, different employment structure.
2. Move within your field. TA to HRBP. HRBP to Compensation. Stepping back from manager to IC. This category includes pivot by subtraction: stepping back intentionally is still a valid and increasingly common move. Name the stigma and dismiss it.
3. Same field, new industry. Biotech to retail to manufacturing. Your expertise travels.
4. Change countries. New geography, new market, new regulatory landscape, new culture.
5. Change careers entirely. Engineer to HR. Recruiter to product designer. The biggest reset.
6. Re-enter the workforce. Caregiver back to wage earner. Your skills didn't disappear. They just stopped broadcasting for a while.
Whether you pivot by choice or you're forced to pivot, you have choices on how you pivot. The mode-specific dynamics for each are at /mode/.
Slide 5 of 15
Wait... Should You Actually Pivot?
If you have the luxury of a choice, do an honest gut-check first. The pivot is real work. Some of what looks like a need to pivot is actually a need to fix something where you already are. Four questions to sit with before you decide.
Factor in job security. Your situation and the economic climate both matter. A pivot you choose from stability is a different project than a pivot you choose without it.
Could one conversation fix it? Is there one thing you hate that your manager could change? One thing missing that could be added? Have you asked? The conversation may not solve it. But you should know whether you've actually tried before you decide the answer is to leave.
Are the required skills realistic for you? "I might not be able to become an Olympic gymnast, but I could be the VP of HR for a gymnastics school." Aim at the version of the move that uses what you have, not the version that requires you to become a different person.
Some people pivot back. That's not failure. It's data. A pivot is a test, not a life sentence. Knowing in advance that the door swings both ways takes some of the catastrophizing out of the decision.
Slide 6 of 15
Pivoting Is Emotional
Wherever you are in the process, whether this is by choice or not, you will feel some of these. Naming them in advance is half the work of moving through them.
Before. Fear of leaving.
Fear of starting over and losing status. Fear of financial instability. The sunk-cost trap, where the years already invested make leaving feel like waste. Permission-seeking, where you wait for someone to tell you it's okay. The persistent worry about what people will think.
During. The in-between.
Imposter syndrome. Identity attachment, where "I AM an HR person" becomes the obstacle to becoming something else. The comparison trap, where you watch peers advance in the old field while you start over in a new one. The loss of being the expert in the room.
After. Surprises on the other side.
Some people pivot back. That's not failure. The new field is not always as imagined. You may grieve the old career or the old status even as you build something new.
The emotions are not signs you made the wrong move. They are signs you made a real move. Move through them. Do not relitigate the decision every time one shows up.
Slide 7 of 15
Not Starting From Zero
A pivot in mid-career or late-career is not a return to intern-level. You may take one step back to move into a new lane. Do not take ten.
Skills-based hiring is now the norm for 81% of employers. Your track record travels with you. Your hard-won business judgment, your professional credibility, and your people skills are fully portable. The thing you bring to a new field is not "willingness to start over." It is "this much accumulated capability, translated."
The question isn't what you're leaving behind. It's how you translate what you already have.
Stage-specific guidance (mid-career and late-career nuances) is at /stage/.
Slide 8 of 15
What You Already Own
These go with you. Every job. Every industry. Every pivot. Not HR skills. Not accounting skills. Not attorney skills. Business skills. You don't start over on these.
Communication. Being on time. Strategic thinking. Negotiation. Accountability. Change management. Leadership. Project management. Decision-making under pressure. Management. Prioritizing. Seeing the big picture. Running a meeting. Managing ambiguity. Building relationships. Hitting deadlines. Influencing without authority. Coaching others. Setting expectations. Conflict resolution. People management. Following through. Managing up. Working under a budget.
Twenty-four. And that's just one cut at it. If you can do most of these, you have the foundation. The new field has its vocabulary. You already have the substance.
Slide 9 of 15
The Game Plan
Eleven practical tools for making your move, organized in three groups of roughly four. Each tool is a one-liner here, deep-dived in /tools/.
Slide 10 of 15
The Game Plan, Tools 1-4
Tool 1. Do a skills inventory first.
Before you search, map what you have. 57% of workers can't name their transferable skills. You are in HR, so you have an advantage here. Use it on yourself.
Tool 2. Find the halfway role.
What do you call it? What does the new field call it? The halfway role is the bridge job that translates what you have into what the new field reads. Payroll to comp. Recruiter to HRBP. The lateral move that buys you fluency.
Tool 3. Find a translation ally.
Someone already in the target field who can review your story, your resume, and your pitch. They'll catch language that doesn't land. The translation ally is the cheapest way to avoid the most expensive mistakes.
Tool 4. Tell your story in the new language.
Same person. Different focus. New vocabulary. A contingent workforce program manager and a corporate HR generalist may be the same person describing the same work in two languages: clients, total spend, suppliers managed, sales in one tongue, ER, org dev, strategy, DEI, culture, total rewards, immigration in the other.
Slide 11 of 15
The Game Plan, Tools 5-8
Tool 5. Field test before you leap.
Freelance. Volunteer. Shadow. Informational interview. Don't take 8 years of med school to find out you faint at the sight of blood. The Energize Test at /energize/ is a 5-question diagnostic that helps you read whether the new field is actually energizing or just attractive.
Tool 6. Know what training is required.
Certification? Degree? Licensure? Factor this in before you commit. It affects your timeline and your budget.
Tool 7. Build a learning timeline.
If new skills are required, how long realistically? Build it into your plan. Surprise timelines derail pivots.
Tool 8. Reframe your timeline.
Most pivots take 18 to 24 months, not 6. Expecting 6 months and getting 18 feels like failure. Expecting 18 months and getting 12 feels like winning. The expectation is the work.
Slide 12 of 15
The Game Plan, Tools 9-11
Tool 9. Update your digital presence early.
LinkedIn should reflect where you're going, not just where you've been. Don't wait until you're ready to search. This is the most leveraged piece of work in the pivot, because in 2026 a machine reads your digital presence before a human ever sees you. The full deep dive on this is at /signal/.
Tool 10. Know your comp reset point.
What will you accept financially, and for how long? Know this number before you're in the room. Don't wing it. A pivot often involves a temporary comp dip; deciding what you can absorb in advance protects you from negotiating from panic.
Tool 11. Network INTO the new field.
Not just to find a job. To start learning the field. Five questions to ask others already in the role: What's your favorite part? Least favorite? How did you get here? What do you wish you'd known? Would you do it again? This is research, not job hunting. Join baHRC or the equivalent in the new field. Attend religiously. Ask questions. Listen more than you talk.
Slide 13 of 15
Can You Help Someone Else?
You are an HR professional. You are also a career coach, at minimum to your own family. Four moves you can make for someone in their own pivot.
Be a translation ally. Review someone's resume through the lens of the new field they're targeting. Tell them what lands and what doesn't.
Help them name their skills. 57% of people can't identify their transferable skills. You can help them see what they can't see themselves.
Make the introduction. Connect them with someone already in the field. A warm intro opens doors that can be hard to knock on alone.
Set realistic expectations. Tell them 18 to 24 months is normal. Tell them the emotions are normal. Tell them pivoting back is an option, not a failure.
Four numbers that close out the case for moving when moving is the right call. These are not the numbers of struggle. These are the numbers of follow-through.
82% of workers over 45 who made a switch reported success in their new role. Workinsiders.
88% of career changers say they are happier since making their move. Indeed's Career Change Report.
77% match or exceed their prior salary within 2 years of switching. Bureau of Labor data.
80% report higher job satisfaction after the pivot. Apollo Technical.
The math says: the people who do it, generally do not regret it. The fear of regret is bigger than the post-decision reality of it.
All sources double-checked and paywall-free at /validation/.
Slide 15 of 15
What's Next
The strategy half is done. The second session in the series brought the people who have done it.
Recalculating: Detour Stories
Lessons from those who took a different road. September 16, 2026. OneDigital, Cupertino. In person. Moderated by TehShan Lee. Its session companion is live →
Stay connected via the baHRC calendar; every session companion is posted there.
Where to go next
The rest of the companion
This page is the faithful recap. The other pages are the deep dives that the live session couldn't reach in 30 minutes.