Realistically, how long will it take me to actually change careers?

Illustrative — not a real business

A search within the same industry and function, just moving companies, often takes three to six months from a clear start to an accepted offer. A genuine career pivot — a new industry, function, or both — realistically runs six to twelve months, sometimes longer, because it typically requires more networking to overcome the lack of direct experience on paper, and often some additional upskilling along the way. What extends it: a narrow geographic requirement, a highly specialized target role, or general market conditions in that particular industry at that moment. What shortens it: how aggressively and consistently someone actually works the process, since the coaching only accelerates what the client executes on. Most searches feel discouragingly slow in the first four to six weeks before real traction — interviews, warm introductions — starts to build, which is worth knowing going in so that early quiet period does not feel like failure. These are genuine averages with real variation on both sides — someone can land in six weeks or take a year, and we will tell you honestly where your specific situation seems to sit once we understand your target and constraints.