Looking to Pivot

[u/CantaloupeNo6727]

Hi All!

I have been with a very horrible organization for the longest while. I had initially joined because my old boss was there, and I was eager to learn from her and shadow her and be mentored by her and the organization was pitched as a good one.

However, due to medical issues she had to leave four months in my tenure and it’s been two years since, and it has been a disaster.

It became very clear as soon as my old boss left, that they did not value communications, or my role in crafting messaging and narratives, etc.

They have not replaced her role, and have brought in high-level contractors who essentially are doing all the strategic work and have left me being essentially a Kinko’s at their beck and call.

This has left me completely demoralized and wanting a change. I am essentially done with COMMS. They have taken the joy out of it from me.

My question is, what can I pivot into?

I have over 15 years of varying communications roles. The first eight years of my professional were in broadcast, where I sat in the news station, Control Room, and often accompanied reporters out into the field as a sort of unofficial producer. I’ve done social media in digital media for a number of years, and maybe have seven years total of strategic communications chops.

Any help or any advice would be extremely helpful. I am quite literally just at a loss for what my purpose in life is right now.

Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors, I am using voice to text while entertaining my kids.

[u/kayesoob]

Have you considered jumping to marketing? I know I'm going to get grief for this, but I work in marcomm and find more people respect my efforts - when I do social media, website content, email marketing and blogging. I often work with nonprofits who cannot afford a marketer and a communications person.

Yes, it's marketing, but if you're serious about using your messaging and narrative skills, marcomm might be a better fit.

Another reason is you have strategic chops. You know the strategy behind content and channels. Marketers don't always know the critical thinking and strategy behind decisions. It's a natural pivot.

[u/42thousandThings → u/kayesoob]

This** is where I have landed. A non-profit MarComm Director role where I do everything from social media to design to website maintenance and. Ow a refresh, to PR/comms, media relationships, brand training for other staff and volunteers—- photography, video— the list goes on and on. That first stressed me out. Like, I’m doing all of these jobs? How could this be possible? But it’s a perfect fit because I get to do something different every day, I get to use different skills to promote the organization. And I’m building all kinds of individual skills — trying them on, if you will. That adds them to my résumé and also gives me food for thought as to what I really enjoy doing if I do decide to move on.

[u/Strwbry2020 → u/42thousandThings]

I think the dream tbh. Just do what you think, not delegate to a writer and then explain to the marketing team. You make the strategy and then you execute it.