Here’s How 2 Women Made Successful Career Changes With Their Company’s Support

Digital consulting company Publicis Sapient is an empowering place to work. The company views diversity and inclusion as critical and strategic advantages toward the success of their business and people.

“We believe that an equitably inclusive culture creates opportunities and outcomes that cannot be otherwise achieved,” the company says. “Teams representing diverse backgrounds, experiences, disciplines and crafts foster a sense of belonging that enables human potential, leading to more innovation and creativity, which directly benefit our clients and their customers, who they aspire to impact.”

And, not only do Publicis Sapient employees come from diverse backgrounds, many of them have switched careers entirely. Changing careers when moving to Publicis Sapient is a painless process because the company supports you every step of the way.

2 stories of how Publicis Sapient helped women switch careers.

When the opportunity to hone her newly formed strategic skillset came up with Publicis Sapient, Nwanyinma Nnodum, an engineer turned strategist, knew that making the move was the right choice.

“I started my career in big pharma, first as a vaccine process development engineer and then as a procurement specialist for external manufacturing,” she says. “After seven years, I left for business school then transitioned to consulting, seeking to build my business acumen and work on the problems closest to the C-suite. After having a chance to do just that but in various industries and disciplines, I sought new opportunities to join my newly honed strategic skillset with my love and domain expertise in healthcare and pharma.”

When a recruiter approached her, she was intrigued by the Publicis Sapient model of “digital business transformation powered by best-in-class strategy, experience and engineering."

“I jumped into the interview process and was excited by the impact and tangibility of what Publicis Sapient was delivering to its clients and the entrepreneurial spirit of the management consulting team,” she explains. “Publicis Sapient’s pipeline of healthcare and pharma work was also attractive because I knew this was the type of work I wanted to continue pursuing.”

Publicis Sapient then delivered on the promise it made to her during her interview process, which was a chance to work in healthcare and pharma.

“My first project was a great ‘Power of One’ example where a diverse team across Publicis Sapient supported a pharma client in standing up digital commercial capabilities for the launch of a new vaccine,” she explains. “It’s satisfying to sincerely say my future here is bright, and I love what I get to do.”

She’s not alone in her bright future either. She works alongside tons of other women who also love what they get to do, like Tiffany Chang. Chang was also ready for a career change when she made the decision to leave her traditional corporate role of four years to pursue her current consultant role at Publicis Sapient.

“Switching jobs is always intimidating and many considerations are factored in,” she says. “Will it help your career? Will you expand your skill set? Is the pay better? A little over a year ago, these were all considerations I had when deciding to leave my former role and start the recruitment process.”

When she started interviewing at Publicis Sapient, she learned that her role would be dedicated to an oil and gas client. At the time, she had no experience in the oil and gas industry, which concerned her. She questioned whether or not she’d actually be able to contribute value to the team.

“In addition, another change for me was to be working as a consultant to the client,” she says. “This shift in roles is an adjustment as you are presumably signing up for the ‘consultant lifestyle,’ which, from my other consulting friends, sounded very unglamorous. It puts strains on your relationships with family and friends, and people are often overworked and overstressed. Was that the lifestyle I wanted?”

Over time, however, Publicis Sapient alleviated her worries. The company made the transition a seamless one.

“What stood out to me the most throughout my interview process was how seriously Publicis Sapient takes their core values and that permeated through everyone I spoke with,” she says. “If you have a learning mindset, then you can pick up any additional skills or knowledge along the way. My interviewer at the time also echoed the same sentiment: that it would be a learning curve, but they were open to hiring people with no oil and gas background because of the business acumen and skill sets that are transferable to any industry.”

She also learned that she had the opportunity to choose her own career at Publicis Sapient.

“To have that type of freedom and power of choice ultimately influenced my decision to join Publicis Sapient,” she says, noting that she’s now been with the company for over a year. “I still feel like it was the right move to change industries and become a consultant.”

Expanding her knowledge of industries and skills has been exciting for her. And her fear of being overworked and, ultimately, overstressed never came to fruition. She’s learned that burnout can happen in any career and with any company, but setting clear expectations and firm boundaries from the start is key. Plus, with unlimited PTO at Publicis Sapient, she has the time to recharge whenever she needs it.

In fact, Publicis Sapient offers employees a number of attractive benefits — from attractive parental leave and childcare perks to comprehensive healthcare insurance and 401(k) matching. 

Want to learn more about Publicis Sapient? Check out this article on transformative leadership featuring another Publicis Sapient employee. You can also view jobs at the company (they’re hiring!) via the link below. 

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