From Higher Ed to Tech Exec: How Kim Harris Made the Leap

Real-Life Relaunch Story

Kim Harris, Director of People Operations at Poll Everywhere

“If you vary your skill sets within your current job and effectively tell your story, someone will eventually see your passion and give you that opportunity you’re searching for!”

Making the leap from a nonprofit institution to a for-profit company is possible, and Kim Harris is proof. She left a long career in higher education administration in 2019 to join a tech company, Poll Everywhere.

After a leadership change at Poll Everywhere in 2021, she officially took over as one of three executives in charge of the entire company.

Kim’s story shows how making a big industry leap is possible, but it takes initiative, patience and relationship-building. Read on for exactly how she did it.  

Q: Tell me about your career path. What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid, I wanted to either be a teacher or work at McDonald's – there was a McDonald's down the road from me, and I loved going there as a kid. I think the common thread here is that I’ve always loved helping others.

After college I went to Japan to teach English through the JET program. It was only supposed to be for a year, but I ended up staying for three. I met my partner there and we got married and moved to San Francisco. 

I really loved international education, and I wanted to get my master’s either in international education or in marriage and family therapy. I ended up going the international education route. I started working at the University of San Francisco so I didn’t have to pay full tuition. I ended up working in higher education for 11 years.

Q: How did you know it was time for a change?

I had left USF to be an academic advisor at UC Berkeley (Cal) for the College of Letters and Science. I had a very high case load of students and rarely saw the same student twice, so I wasn't making the connections with students like I had before. I didn’t have a lot of room for creativity. 

In higher ed, you have to stay and do your time until you get up to the next rung. I just didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to stay in higher ed forever. 

Q: How did you get your first job in tech?

I applied for jobs in both higher education and tech for years. I didn't have any tech experience, so I decided to apply for recruiting jobs within tech because it felt like the closest connection skill-wise. I got some interviews, but they were few and far between. I bombed them because I wasn't confident, and I also just didn't have direct experience.

Q: How did you get around not having any direct tech experience to land your first job?

I started looking at recruiting job descriptions and noting what skills they were looking for, and built that into my experience at Cal. I asked to lead the hiring committee for academic advisors.

I started doing a lot of informational interviews. I restructured my resume so that the language matched the tech world. 

I ended up meeting my first boss in tech through a post on Hire Club (a Facebook group). We really connected on a personal level. I think what she really saw was not just my technical skills, because I’d never been a recruiter at a tech company, but more of the soft skills. So, she took a chance on me. 

Q: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced during the transition?

The biggest learning curve for me was in the pandemic. No one knew what to expect and the landscape was changing constantly. These uncertainties weren’t just at my company, but the whole tech sector in general. In June 2020, just 11 months into the job, my boss left. 

Our CEO told me that I was going to lead people operations. 

It was like drinking from a fire hose. It was really hard. I had lots of self doubt, lots of imposter syndrome. I was catapulted into leadership. At my higher ed job, I had always wanted to do different things and lead programs and I got that, times ten. 

Q: Are you glad you made the change?

Absolutely. I have not looked back. I definitely miss the richness of connecting with a student and helping to make an impact in their life. But I now have the freedom and flexibility that I didn’t have in higher ed. If I see a need or a challenge at work, I have the ability to say, ‘This is what the research says, this is what I think we should do,’ and my executive team supports me. 

It's been a really great experience despite all the challenges. 

Q: What would you tell someone who's thinking about making the leap from higher ed or nonprofits into tech? 

First and foremost, don't waste time on applying to the big companies, like Meta, Adobe, Amazon, Netflix and Google. They probably won't want to hire someone who is brand new to the field. Go in first and really look at the companies that you align with, values-wise.

Second, is to look and think about what kind of job you want. I think the most accessible crossover functions are people related, like People Ops, Recruiting or Learning and Development. Customer Success is another one of those natural entry points. 

You’re also going to need some of the more hard skills to be competitive. Identify what functions you want to go into, and then read the job descriptions. What are the experiences that they're looking for? Then try to build that either in your current job or in some sort of outside program. Then, talk to people. It's still all about networking.

Q: Speaking of networking, what should people do to prepare before an informational interview?

Do research on the person so that you're not wasting time with those initial questions that can be answered online. I always like to ask people who I admire, ‘What are the biggest mistakes that you've made and the lessons you've learned?’ I think that's a really great way to get people to open up, because everyone's human.

Another question to ask is how they find meaning in their work. At the end of the day, that's the gold standard of what most of us want right now in our work. I think that’s especially the case for folks who are coming from higher ed and nonprofits. 

Q: Any other advice for people looking to change industries? 

I would say to really double down on those “soft skills” that are important in higher education and nonprofits. There are a lot of skills that people in nonprofits and higher education tend to have that are really desirable in tech.

For example, providing instances of solutions-based approaches to challenges, or how you’ve improved or streamlined processes that have not only impacted your team but maybe your organization are great.

In higher education, there’s so much focus on inequality and how to build more equitable experiences for everyone at the university. If you have any trainings you’ve built, examples of achievements, or skills that demonstrate your impact in creating more inclusive spaces, that would help you stand out as a candidate. These are all highly desirable skills that will help you market yourself. 

Lastly, I’d say to keep going even when you’re feeling low or keep getting declines. It can be really hard to change industries but the more jobs you apply to, and interviews you do - the better your stories become. If you vary your skill sets within your current job and effectively tell your story, someone will eventually see your passion and give you that opportunity you’re searching for!

Kim Harris is passionate about all things people. You can follow her insights and updates on LinkedIn.