How do you change careers when you’ve spent years becoming good at one thing, and you’re terrified your experience won’t transfer?
In this episode of From a Woman to a Leader, Limor Bergman Gross sits down with Or Harel, who left the military after 13 years, including a role no woman had held before, to start over at 31.
Since then, she’s co-founded two startups and built a career in product, marketing, and research.
If you’re thinking about leaving a career you’re good at, wondering whether your skills actually transfer, or telling yourself it’s too late to begin a new chapter, this conversation will change how you see the experience you already have.
We talk about how to take an honest inventory of your skills, why "I’m starting from zero" is almost never true, the underrated power of knowing how to ask the right questions, and what really holds women back from making a change.
About Or Harel:
Or Harel is a researcher and product and marketing specialist who spent 13 years in military intelligence before moving into tech and entrepreneurship. She’s co-founded two startups and cares deeply about helping women recognize the value of the experience they already carry.
Connect with Or: https://www.linkedin.com/in/or-harel-281182196/
The NGO Or volunteers with (supporting women leaving the military): https://asur.co.il/en/home/
Chapters:
00:00 Leaving a career you’re good at
01:53 Welcome (recorded at Google for Startups, Tel Aviv)
02:39 13 years in the military
03:45 Committing at 24 to a role no woman had held
05:08 "What’s the connection to your gender?" — her father’s mindset
08:24 Deciding to leave at 31 and start over
10:25 Studying to find her next role and meeting her co-founder
14:18 The startup that became a 4.5-year journey
17:31 Finding her zone: product, marketing, and research
21:25 Translating military skills to civilian life
23:57 The art of asking questions
26:20 What holds women back from making the leap
28:56 Finding your circle of support
30:41 Closing
Connect with Limor:
Podcast: https://limorbergman.com/podcast/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/limorbergman/
Substack: https://limorbergman.substack.com
Searches this episode answers: how to change careers without starting over, transferring skills to a new career, leaving the military for a civilian job, career change in your 30s, how to know your skills still count, women in career transition, second career after a long career.
