5 steps to transition into customer success from education

So, you want to transition into customer success? If you’ve worked in education, you’ll find a lot of overlap in the skills required for these positions.

But once you’ve decided to transfer into customer success, what steps should you take to ensure you’re entering the role in the best possible way?

We’re going to take you through the following five steps:

Identify transferable skills
Research the industry
Network
Research role variations
Get hands-on experience

Let’s get going.

Identify transferable skills

The first step will be to get as much clarity on the skills needed for the customer success role and identify which ones you already have in your toolkit.

There is a surprisingly large crossover between education and customer success, and the transition between the two is fairly common. Educational positions do a lot to set up some of the more complex skills required of a customer success manager, so you’ll be able to rule out the skills you already have and focus on the ones you need to make your transition a success.

We’ve even written a whole article on these kinds of skills! 👇

Research the industry

As with any industry, customer success has its own nuances, quirks, and ways of working.

You’ll want to have even just a basic understanding of what to expect before applying for any positions. Absorb as much information as possible, whether through books, podcasts, blogs, or more.

One of the best ways to do this is to listen to people currently in the industry. There are a few ways to go about this.

Ask directly. Use LinkedIn, Reddit, or other forums (like the CSC Slack Community) to talk to people already in the industry. Most people will be very willing to take the time to chat with you and answer any questions you might have. This is their passion, so take the opportunity to learn as much as possible.
Sign up for courses. Be it short skill courses on LinkedIn or more comprehensive ones (like those we’re known for!)

Network

The fantastic thing about conducting research is that it automatically begins connecting you to others within the industry. Your network is already beginning to form!

Talking with others via LinkedIn or on forums means you’re already integrating yourself into the conversations going on.

Attend events. Face-to-face interactions are a fantastic resource that is becoming less common in the current digital age, but it’s events like this that’ll give you a truly authentic feel of the industry as it currently is.
Attend virtual events or webinars. Even if there aren’t any customer success events in your area, there are always virtual events going on in the industry. CSC has regular webinars where a single CS professional will talk about a specific topic. We also have full-on virtual events, where you’ll have a whole day's worth of talks and Q and A’s to be a part of.

Looking for an event in your area? Our global event calendar shows all upcoming and future events over the next year.

One thing to do more of, once you’re familiar with the industry as a whole, is to work on presenting yourself.

Think about how your profile on LinkedIn showcases your strengths, how it highlights your interest and passion for the customer success industry, and how you’re working toward a future transition.

Julie Raeder, Customer Success Manager at SendSafely, talked through her own transition into customer success and recommends using a story to showcase your strengths:

“Your LinkedIn profile should act as your resume. People view it when you network with them and engage with their posts. Make it POP. Make it YOU […] Write an engaging about section. Use this section to tell your story and pique people’s interest. The first few lines of my LinkedIn summary act as the “hook,” driving people to click to “see more.” But don’t stop there! They should be compelled to read every line. By the end of your about section, they should understand your story but want to know more.”

Research role variations

There isn’t just one kind of customer success role. To name just a few, customer success includes titles like:

Customer Success Manager (CSM)
Customer Success Representative (CSR)
Customer Success Analyst
Customer Education Specialist
Customer Success Operations Manager
Customer Success Specialist
Customer Success Coordinator
Customer Onboarding Manager

Just to name a few. And on top of this, each of these roles will change depending on the type of business they’re working with. It’ll be influenced by things like:

Type of product (physical, SaaS)
Type of customer (B2B, B2C)
Size of business (start-up, enterprise)
Rate of business growth

Now that’s a lot of factors to consider, so do your research on as many as you can, and then pick the ones that seem right for you. Start with just one or two to become really familiar with, and then go from there.

Hands-on experience

Experience is the key to the game. While getting credits and certifications is vital to this transition, you’ll want to back up all you’ve learned with some hands-on experience.

Moving into a completely new industry is a challenge because of the nature of having to essentially ‘re-spec’ your skills and experiences to cater toward this new role.

So, in order to get your foot in the door for paid work, take a little bit of time to assume volunteer or freelance roles. Even just a two-week internship can go a long way to giving you the credibility you need to begin applying for these roles.

So there you have it! The five key steps to making the transition into customer success as smooth as possible.

As we mentioned, a great place to start is to talk to others already in the industry, and luckily for you, CSC has a community of thousands of customer success professionals who are all ready to help you.

Join the CSC Slack Community

5 steps to transition into Customer Success from Education