How To Make An Internal Career Transition At Your Current Company

Clarity Signal™

When Jillian reached out, she wanted clarity on her next career step, along with a real plan to get there. She wanted to understand why she kept making certain career choices, why she gave into her own career fears, and what patterns were actually running the show. Her goal was simple to name and hard to reach: enough clarity and confidence to land work she genuinely enjoyed.

Here’s Jillian’s story, in her own words.

“I’m a Customer Success Manager in the tech world, and I was just perpetually unhappy at work, but I couldn’t figure out how to get out of it.”

“Before the job I have now, I had been in a role that I knew wasn’t working for me and got fired. Then I got the position I am in, which is excellent, but I still had these leftover feelings of uncertainty.”

“I had this very odd idea that I couldn’t let myself be happy in my job, because then I would never be able to leave. So mentally, I would come up with reasons to not do my best work, because I would get stuck in that job. Those limiting beliefs were what we had to work through first, before anything else.”

Narrowing Down Too Many Ideas

“I also had a hundred ideas of what I wanted to do but didn’t know which direction to take. So when I saw a post of Kori’s, I reached out just for an informational one-on-one, and right after we started talking, I knew this would help me.” (If a hundred ideas and no clear direction sounds familiar, this post gets into exactly that feeling.)

“Working with Kori, we figured out the three career paths, HR, entrepreneurship, and writing, that most aligned with me. After narrowing it down, I’m pleased to say that I’ll be moving into an HR role within my company! The CEO and I have had conversations about it, and the transition is happening over the next few months.”

“The other two paths we carved out, I can actively work into a side hustle while still employed.”

IN HER WORDS

“Narrowing it down to three focuses was huge for me because I had 100 different interests. Narrowing it down to three things was a revelation, and it’s helped me focus and move forward. It’s not a coincidence we got there, because we identified those skills and passions first.”

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs to Move Forward

“I realized how important it is to believe in your capabilities and acknowledge your strengths, instead of focusing on the things you don’t have yet, or the experience you don’t have. That’s something I was prone to doing myself.”

“I can see how my knowledge and skills are beneficial even when they don’t directly relate to the next thing I’m doing. Realizing this helped me get clear on the HR role. It comes back to overcoming the limiting beliefs and allowing myself to feel empowered.”

How Jillian Made an Internal Career Transition

“Getting to this place was about making an effort and giving myself a deadline. All of those little steps made a big difference and led me to the result of changing careers.”

“When I started this program, I knew the answer was out there. Maybe it would be a new company, a new career path, or a new role. But I couldn’t let myself settle. So when I decided on the HR path, we both saw a glaring opportunity to pursue it within my own company.”

“The company I work for is a growing startup, which is exciting, but startups don’t always have all the pieces together right from the beginning. I saw some HR things that could be implemented, and my coworker and I felt empowered to start the Culture Club.”

“It started small. We got some traction, and our CEO got involved and said, ‘This is great! We want this to go three times as fast and as big!’ It snowballed from there, and now it’s a big part of our company. We’re part of our company town hall meetings every week. After a few months of doing that, I was able to pitch to my CEO that I should move into a full-time HR role, because he’d seen what I could do at a high level. He got to experience what it was like to work with me.”

Conquering the Fear to Actually Make the Change

“Reflecting on before I said yes to the program, I hesitated because I thought I might not have the time to commit, and of course, the financial investment. It was 2020, and everything was scary. What if I invest in this and it doesn’t work? Then it’s all over, and I’m in the same situation, unhappy. But the program had structure, and that reassured me, because I’m someone who needs a system.”

“I’m glad I overcame my fears, because now I’m moving into my new role. I’m still interested in pursuing my other paths too, the idea of writing books, and entrepreneurship. My secret dream is to own a tiny bookstore somewhere, and have it be profitable through podcasts or vlogs or something. This year I’m working toward that side hustle goal, deciding between a podcast or a blog to start with.”

Jillian’s Words of Advice

“No one will change your situation or your life but you. This is a significant investment you can make in yourself. I had some mental blocks and needed someone’s help to work through them.”

“Once you can work through those, life and work become more manageable. If you want work to be a little easier and your career to make more sense, get the support you need. If you keep waiting for the lightning bolt, you may be waiting forever.”

Common Questions

How do you narrow down a career path when you have too many interests?
Jillian had a hundred different interests and no way to choose between them. Working through which skills and passions actually aligned narrowed that list down to three focused paths, one to pursue as a career, two to build as a side hustle.

Can you change careers without leaving your current company?
Yes. Jillian moved from Customer Success into a full-time HR role at the same startup, by starting a small internal initiative, building visible momentum, and eventually pitching leadership on the transition once they’d seen her work at that level.

What are limiting beliefs and how do they affect career decisions?
Limiting beliefs are the stories we tell ourselves that quietly cap what we go after, like Jillian’s fear that being too good at her job would trap her in it. Naming those beliefs directly was the first real step in her transition, before any tactical career planning happened.

Ready to Get Clear on Your Own Next Step?

If Jillian’s story resonates with you, book a free Career Alignment Audit™ and let’s work through what’s actually in the way.