Pivot Table for Women: Carry Your Skills Forward — Pittsburgh

Changing careers does not mean starting from zero. Bring the skills you already have - and learn from people who have made the move.
A career pivot can make experienced people describe themselves like beginners.
You may be entering a new industry.
Changing functions.
Returning after time away.
Moving from corporate work into a mission-driven organization.
Leaving one professional identity before the next one feels fully established.
Pivot Table starts somewhere different:
What do you already know how to do that still matters in the next chapter?
Twenty-four participants work in small tables with three Pivot Guides who have personal experience moving from one kind of work into another.
There is no job fair.
No recruiter panel.
No promise that someone in the room has your next job.
Instead, the morning focuses on two practical pieces of work:
identify the skills that travel with you
and
learn how to explain the pivot clearly.
Before leaving, each participant creates one 60-second reintroduction and chooses one action to complete within seven days.
WHO THIS EDITION CENTERS
This edition centers women who are considering, beginning, or recently completing a career change.
The programming is designed around the professional questions that can appear when an established identity, skill set, or body of experience has to be translated into a new context.
Guests are expected to respect that focus.
No identity documentation is required to participate.
WHAT COUNTS AS A PIVOT?
A pivot might mean:
• Moving into a different industry
• Changing professional function
• Returning to work after time away
• Moving from corporate to nonprofit or mission-driven work
• Entering technology from another field
• Moving from employment into independent professional work
• Repositioning experience after a major role change
You do not need to have completed the transition already.
THE PIVOT GUIDES
The event is designed around three Pivot Guides.
Each guide should have personal experience making a meaningful career or industry transition.
Their role is to:
• Share a short, practical version of their own pivot
• Facilitate a small table
• Help participants identify transferable skills
• Listen to 60-second pivot stories
• Provide clarity-focused feedback
Confirmed Pivot Guide names, career histories, and current professional affiliations will be published only after participation has been finalized and verified.
Second Chapter Table does not guarantee participation by a particular employer, recruiter, company, nonprofit, or professional organization.
ROUND 1 - WHAT ALREADY TRAVELS WITH YOU?
Career changers often begin by looking at what they do not have.
This round begins with what you already know.
Use the Transferable Skill Map:
WHAT I DID
What responsibility, project, or recurring work did you handle?
WHAT SKILL WAS UNDERNEATH IT?
Examples may include:
• Stakeholder management
• Research
• Analysis
• Writing
• Facilitation
• Project coordination
• Customer discovery
• Process improvement
• Negotiation
• Team leadership
• Problem solving
WHERE ELSE COULD THAT SKILL MATTER?
Translate the capability out of your old organization’s language and into a broader professional context.
The goal is to identify approximately three skills that can travel with you.
ROUND 2 - YOUR 60-SECOND PIVOT STORY
A career transition does not need to sound like an apology.
Use four parts:
BEFORE
What kind of work have you done?
THREAD
Which skill, problem, or professional interest connects your previous experience to the new direction?
NOW
What are you moving toward?
NEXT
What type of work, learning, project, or professional conversation makes sense next?
The goal is not a perfect elevator pitch.
The goal is a clear explanation another person can actually follow.
YOUR 60-SECOND REINTRODUCTION
Before the session ends, practice a short introduction that answers:
Who have I been professionally?
What travels with me?
Where am I moving now?
You may revise the wording after the event.
The workshop output is a useful working version.
YOUR SEVEN-DAY ACTION
Finish with one concrete action.
Examples might include:
• Rewrite your LinkedIn headline
• Translate three résumé bullets into transferable-skill language
• Request one informational conversation
• Identify five target roles
• Research one new-industry requirement
• Create one small portfolio example
• Follow up with one relevant professional contact
Choose something specific enough to complete within seven days.

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