Having a career niche is a great way to make a name for yourself within your industry. However, that doesn’t mean that wherever you start has to be where you stay.
Consider Chappell Roan’s newest single, “The Giver.” The pop princess has taken a page out of “Queen Bey” Beyoncé’s book by shifting into the country music genre. Less than two weeks after its debut, Roan’s song had topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and taken the fifth spot on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Roan is hardly the first singer to make such a switch. Last year, Beyoncé set the stage when she made the move to country music with her album Cowboy Carter. Not only was the album a roaring success, it won multiple Grammys, including Best Country Album and Beyoncé’s first Album of the Year award.
A career niche is essentially the smaller, more focused place within a career that you occupy as an employee or business owner. For example, being a “writer” is a career, but writing in a specific category like greeting cards would be a niche.
According to Patrice Williams-Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, “it’s good to have a niche because it’s a differentiator…. You want to be able to clearly communicate how you are different from the thousands of others.” Having a clear focus with a specific niche in the market can help you meet unique customer needs, build brand loyalty, decrease competition and increase your credibility.
Even so, niching down isn’t the only way to succeed. Often, it’s just the first step toward figuring out what you want your career to be.
There are plenty of examples of famous people who’ve made the switch out of their niche and reaped the benefits. For instance, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison is best known for being the first African American woman in space. However, Jemison actually began her career in medicine before she ever shot for the stars. Similarly, author A. A. Milne is best known as the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, but he started out writing humor and murder mysteries before finding his fit in children’s literature.
Some benefits of switching up your niche include:
Future-proofing your career: The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2027, two-fifths of workers’ current core skills will be disrupted by factors like advancing technology. Having experience beyond a specific niche makes it easier for you to adapt with the times and stay a top hiring prospect regardless of the change an industry undergoes.
Expanding earning potential: According to O.C. Tanner Institute’s 2023 Global Culture Report, 50% of employees said that their organization favored generalists, 59% said that their organization employs more generalists than specialists and 63% said that their organization hired more generalists than specialists in the last year.
Preparation for leadership: Whether you’re hoping to climb the corporate ladder or strike out on your own, it’s essential to understand the bigger picture before you can lead the way for your team. Getting out of your niche to explore related areas and how they connect can help you prepare for a future leadership role.
If you’re looking to make the move out of your current professional niche, here’s some helpful advice for how to get started.
Start with a solid foundation
Before you begin the process of expansion, make sure that you’re building on a solid foundation of knowledge of your existing category. Then, “scratch the surface to see what’s out there, as opposed to just being laser-focused,” Williams-Lindo says. “See what the options are, which ones feel good, which ones don’t [and] which ones you want to learn more about.”
Take stock of your core skills
From there, Williams-Lindo says it’s important to do a little introspection to figure out what your strengths are. She advises considering which skills you already use and excel at within your current niche and how you can apply them in a different way to new spaces. Consider what parts of your current niche you like best and are most proud of, as well as which skills you aren’t currently using that you’d like to use more.
Own the pivot
When done badly, breaking out of a niche can give the appearance that someone is aimless or unfocused. This will only be confirmed if you seem hesitant or uneasy about your newest foray into the unknown. Williams-Lindo suggests owning your pivot by making sure that every move is a deliberate, clear step on your journey. This doesn’t mean that you have to know every step along the way—but you should always be clear about the next step.
After all, the best way to combat claims that you lack direction is to show that you know exactly where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.
Establish credibility
Leverage your existing expertise when trying to build professional authority in a new space. Lean on your network and explore ways to present your past experiences as stepping stones toward your new area of focus. The key is to give enough information to make your clients and coworkers confident that you did the work to understand and thrive in your new area.
Experiment first
Williams-Lindo recommends experimenting in your new niche in small ways to make sure that it’s something you’re enjoying and that you can make into a viable part of your career. For a corporate employee, this might mean asking for a project out of your usual wheelhouse rather than jumping straight to applying for a job in a whole new area.
Be your own advocate
At the end of the day, everyone has to be their own best advocate. This can be especially true for those like country newcomers Beyoncé and Chappell Roan—a Black woman and a queer woman entering a space that is heavily dominated by those who are white and straight.
Last year, Beyoncé became the first Black woman to ever win a Grammy for Best Country Album. In her acceptance speech, she said, “I think sometimes ‘genre’ is a code word to keep us in our place as artists. And I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about and to stay persistent.”
Similarly, when asked about her own switch, Roan said, “I had to do it for myself… I just had to do myself justice.”
By breaking out of their genres—their niche, you could say—both not only got to explore a new area they loved, but also got to leave the door open for those who came after them.
You can change your mind
However you approach breaking out of your niche, Williams-Lindo notes that one of the most important things to remember is that you can change your mind. Maybe this is your new dream gig, or maybe it turns out it’s not for you. Either way, you won’t know until you try.
Photo from L Paul Mann/Shutterstock.com.
