Episode 88: What To Do When An Opportunity Won't Present Itself

We began this month exploring the theme of career transitions. In the first Build episode for this month, we talked about why even if we want to transition in our careers, we don’t and get stuck in a role. If you missed the last episode of Build you can check it out here. If you were wondering how to get unstuck, then today’s episode is for you! We’re continuing our conversation with Amy Sun who is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm. Amy began her career as a product manager, transitioned to a product manager and most recently became a venture capitalist. Having gone through a number of transitions herself, she’s learned to navigate them in a number of contexts. Even if you aren’t going through a transition yourself, it’s a valuable episode to tune into, because as a teammate, hiring manager, or leader you may find yourself working with someone who is going through it, and you’ll be equipped to help them out! As you tune into today’s episode you’ll learn: How to avoid being typecast into a role and be your own advocate How to figure out what companies are looking for within a role How long it can really take to go through a transition and how to keep your motivation up Why short trial periods can be helpful, and how to set expectations and criteria for grading performance How to get feedback and build awareness to improve How to transition between companies versus across roles within a company How to fill in skills gaps, build trust with peers, and present to leaders “The opportunity won’t just present itself one today. Believe that you want it. And then tell people you want it. Sometimes you’ll get push back. Even if you do, you have to continue to fight for it, if you believe that’s the path that you want to go down.” — Amy Sun, Partner at Sequoia Capital __   Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).