Switching Careers

What do you want to be when you grow up? That’s the question LINDA WHITED helps people answer when they find their current career has lost its allure. Whited is the founder of the career coaching firm Time to Be Career Savvy, and she specializes in helping people transition into work that is meaningful and aligns with their values.

“People’s preferences need to be clear,” Whited says. “They have to find what is right for them at the right point in time.”

Whited brings a wealth of experience to her role. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and certification in career counseling from the National Career Development Association. In her more than ten years in the field, she has served as a career coach at Wake Forest University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science and the IMPACT Group in Wilmington.

In 2020, Whited opened Time to Be Career Savvy, which allowed her to implement her career transition process. She provides guidance in career exploration, job search strategies, writing resumes and cover letters, personal branding, interviewing techniques, and job offer evaluations. Most of her clients are mid-level professionals who want to change careers or the industry they are working in. 

As a career counselor, Whited is part cheerleader, part counselor, and part detective. She helps clients overcome the demons that hold them back from pursuing a new career, whether it’s a lack of self-awareness, self-confidence, knowledge, or connections, and develop strategies to achieve their career goal.

“People who are looking to change careers often hit barriers and roadblocks,” Whited says. “I help them determine what resources they have and what they need to pursue their dream career.”

Whited begins by asking a ton of questions. Two of her favorites are, “What are you running from, and do you know what you are running to?” Next, she helps them find their true north: her clients identify what they enjoy, their strengths, and what makes work meaningful, and then assists them to parlay those elements into jobs and careers for which there is market demand.

Whited also assists clients in positioning themselves, so they appeal to recruiters and human resources personnel on paper and in interviews. Another essential part of Whited’s services is that she often connects her clients to people who can sponsor or mentor them as they pursue their new position.

Whited’s role has become more crucial with the current plethora of unfilled positions.

“The economy has created a lot of job openings,” she says. “When that happens, people see that they have choices about where they want to show up every day. It lets people do a heart check more frequently. Rather than waiting five or ten years to leave a company, they decide they can do so more quickly.”

Whited says that nearly 85% of her clients make a change in their career path fairly quickly. By working with her, they make a career decision and move confidently in the direction they have chosen.

“As a coach, I guide them so they find accurate information about their career path, and I help ensure they don’t shoot themselves in the foot or get rejected as they go forward,” she says.

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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