S9E3: Mastering the Art of Career Pivoting feat. Nikita Siddamsettiwar

This season of the Eccles Business Buzz podcast continues by highlighting alums from the David Eccles School of Business and the meaningful impact their degrees have had on their lives and careers. In this episode, we welcome guest-host Annesley Womble, who talks with Nikita Siddamsettiwar, a 2020 Finance graduate of the Eccles School of Business and a Senior Business Architect, Compete for AI Business Process at Microsoft.Nikita shares her journey from initially aiming for a career in investment banking to pivoting into corporate finance and landing a role at Microsoft. She discusses the importance of being open to new experiences, leveraging networking, and constantly adapting to change, especially in challenging times like after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nikita's story demonstrates the value of taking informed risks, the benefits of a supportive alumni network, and her continuous quest for growth, including her current and future aspirations in AI and startup environments.Eccles Business Buzz is a production of the David Eccles School of Business and is produced by University.fm.Eccles Business Buzz is proud to be selected by FeedSpot as one of the Top 70 Business School podcasts on the web. Learn more at https://podcast.feedspot.com/us_business_school_podcasts. Episode Quotes:Nikita on her biggest mindset shift[10:54] The biggest mindset shift that I've had to tell myself is that what you do right now does not define what you're doing in five years. I genuinely thought that because I was majoring in finance, and because everyone was doing banking, equity research, you know, investment management, that that's the path that I had to choose and, what I was doing in college was going to dictate my entire career. And I quickly took that mindset and changed it, and did that in my career at Microsoft as well. So I was like, if I leave finance and, let's say I do a job in engineering, I realize I don't like it, I have already made such great connections in finance, and I'm confident in myself that I can go back.Real leaders don’t stay in one lane, they explore every side of the business[11:55] One of the biggest pieces of advice one of my mentors at Microsoft told me is that really successful leaders, at least at Microsoft, have truly taken a role or a stint in every part of the organization, whether that's horizontally or vertically. So when I say vertically, I'm talking about different products or different solutions. And at global companies, each product works as a completely different part of the business. They have different rhythms of business. Or horizontally, where I could either do engineering, or I could do strategy, or I could do marketing, or I could do finance. So that was like something that really stuck to me.Conquering the fear of stepping into the unknown[13:39] What advice would you give to young professionals who feel stuck or afraid to make that change because they feel like they’re totally getting rid of that foundation and stepping into the unknown?[15:32] If you have a good leader, they will make sure that they're progressing your career. And so find those champions in your company, or I've done this on LinkedIn and I've reached out to people outside of my company and been very transparent like, ‘Hey, you can see that I'm in a finance role right now through LinkedIn, but I'm really curious to see how a role in product management would work. Like, could we chat? If so, I would love to talk to you about my concerns about leaving finance’ And I find people who have done very similar career paths as me, and there's so many people who have pivoted. And so I think reach out to people and be very transparent about why you're doing it and do it inside your company and outside of the company.How the alumni network helped Nikita and others navigate career pivots[21:07] What this alumni chapter really gives me is, one, a network that says, "Hey, we're all from the University of Utah. We all kind of had a similar education, and that's something that we can relate to regardless of what field we're in." And so second, let's just say I'm trying to do another pivot and I'm trying to go to a different company or try something new. I find if someone reaches out to me and they're from the University of Utah, I'm way more likely to trust them and their expertise, even though I haven't actually worked with them. And so, I mean, I've reached out to our alumni so many times when trying to maybe see if I want to work at a different company or maybe see if I want to go into a different field like engineering or something. And they were the most helpful. And so selfishly, that's what I gained from this chapter.Show Links:Nikita Siddamsettiwar | LinkedInDavid Eccles School of Business (@ubusiness) | InstagramUndergraduate Scholars ProgramsRising Business LeadersEccles Alumni Network (@ecclesalumni) | Instagram Eccles Experience Magazine