I recently
started working with two clients both who have been out of college and
working for a bit of time, and both are looking to make a career change.
Although they are in different careers and one carries the stigma of a
job-hopper, these two share one thing—why they want to make a change.
Both realized, after working hard to establish themselves in their
careers, that the work was no longer fulfilling and that the career is
just not for them.
Making a career change—both the decision to take such a big step, as well as the process for finding a new career— is a very important life choice, but also one done successfully by people every day. Here are ways to help you manage your career change.
Transferable skills
Mary has spent the first part of her career as a teacher. She described her skills focusing on the things she did—developing lesson plans, entering grades, keeping track of students’ progress. These are simply tasks she performed. While teachers do have a job description and a set of skills that may seem unique to education, many of these abilities are actually transferable to other careers. Mary needed to rethink the way she saw her skills. For example:
Sam, on the other hand, is in sales. In just three and a half years, he has had four sales positions. The type of sales positions he’s held just aren’t a good fit for him. After a lot of work, Sam knows he wants to move into an account service position in an advertising agency and like Mary, needed to rethink the way he thought about his skills. More importantly for Sam, he needed to stop apologizing for or justifying his experience. In sales, Sam is responsible for all parts of the sales cycle from prospecting for new customers, to product knowledge, closing and exceeding customer expectations. This has taught Sam what it means to manage customer relationships. The situations in which he learned these skills might be different from someone who has spent their career in advertising, but the skills are the same nonetheless. Instead of justifying, Sam is learning to focus on emphasizing his abilities in ways that are relevant to the position he wants.
Be honest
For Sam, it’s important he’s honest about changing jobs. On his resumé, he can include a reason for leaving next to each position, with a succinct explanation like “company closed,” “layoff due to downsizing,” “reorganization,” or “relocated to new city.”
One of the jobs Sam stayed at for only a matter of months. We decided to eliminate it from his resumé. Leaving a particularly short-lived job off his work history shouldn’t hurt him, as long as he is honest about the experience if asked in an interview. By addressing the job-hopping upfront, you’ll make it less of an issue.
Promote skills and accomplishments
When it comes to making a career switch, you will need to rethink the way you lay out your resume. You still need to use a chronological resumé (although a skills-based or functional resumé is preferable when making a career change.) Here’s why. Most companies rely on applicant tracking software (ATS) programmed to pick up data only from a chronologically formatted resumé, and hiring personnel are accustomed to reading this type of resumé. However, when you use your resumé real estate effectively, know how to frame your accomplishments, and use keywords and power words you shift the focus from jobs you’ve held to skills you’ve mastered demonstrating the value you bring to the organization, even if you haven’t worked directly in that field yet.
Make sure to send your resumé along with a well-crafted cover letter that highlights your transferable skills in a way that speaks to the specific value you can bring to the potential employer and demonstrates your knowledge of the company and position.
If you cannot persuade hiring managers to look past the career you are in now, network.
There are times, primarily for those who have the appearance of a job-hopper, when no amount of resumé editing will help you change careers. Instead of applying online and hoping to hear back from employers, focus your efforts on conducting informational interviews and other networking activity. A personal connection is more likely to persuade an employer of your transferable skills.
Your aim is really to bring the focus away from you being a risk to hire. By demonstrating your skills, achievements and experience as opposed to tasks performed or what is missing, you can land a new job in a new career.
Making a career change—both the decision to take such a big step, as well as the process for finding a new career— is a very important life choice, but also one done successfully by people every day. Here are ways to help you manage your career change.
Transferable skills
Mary has spent the first part of her career as a teacher. She described her skills focusing on the things she did—developing lesson plans, entering grades, keeping track of students’ progress. These are simply tasks she performed. While teachers do have a job description and a set of skills that may seem unique to education, many of these abilities are actually transferable to other careers. Mary needed to rethink the way she saw her skills. For example:
- Developing lesson plans translates to planning and organization skills.
- Working with the principal and other teachers to develop a curriculum translates to working collaborative to develop best practices.
- Maintaining an orderly classroom translates to strong interpersonal skills
Sam, on the other hand, is in sales. In just three and a half years, he has had four sales positions. The type of sales positions he’s held just aren’t a good fit for him. After a lot of work, Sam knows he wants to move into an account service position in an advertising agency and like Mary, needed to rethink the way he thought about his skills. More importantly for Sam, he needed to stop apologizing for or justifying his experience. In sales, Sam is responsible for all parts of the sales cycle from prospecting for new customers, to product knowledge, closing and exceeding customer expectations. This has taught Sam what it means to manage customer relationships. The situations in which he learned these skills might be different from someone who has spent their career in advertising, but the skills are the same nonetheless. Instead of justifying, Sam is learning to focus on emphasizing his abilities in ways that are relevant to the position he wants.
Be honest
For Sam, it’s important he’s honest about changing jobs. On his resumé, he can include a reason for leaving next to each position, with a succinct explanation like “company closed,” “layoff due to downsizing,” “reorganization,” or “relocated to new city.”
One of the jobs Sam stayed at for only a matter of months. We decided to eliminate it from his resumé. Leaving a particularly short-lived job off his work history shouldn’t hurt him, as long as he is honest about the experience if asked in an interview. By addressing the job-hopping upfront, you’ll make it less of an issue.
Promote skills and accomplishments
When it comes to making a career switch, you will need to rethink the way you lay out your resume. You still need to use a chronological resumé (although a skills-based or functional resumé is preferable when making a career change.) Here’s why. Most companies rely on applicant tracking software (ATS) programmed to pick up data only from a chronologically formatted resumé, and hiring personnel are accustomed to reading this type of resumé. However, when you use your resumé real estate effectively, know how to frame your accomplishments, and use keywords and power words you shift the focus from jobs you’ve held to skills you’ve mastered demonstrating the value you bring to the organization, even if you haven’t worked directly in that field yet.
- The top third section of your resumé is the most important valuable real estate. It lets the reader know who you are and the value you offer, and for the company’s ATS, it’s packed with appropriate keywords.
- For each job you’ve held, focus on what you achieved not the tasks performed.
Make sure to send your resumé along with a well-crafted cover letter that highlights your transferable skills in a way that speaks to the specific value you can bring to the potential employer and demonstrates your knowledge of the company and position.
- Your cover letter should include 3-bulleted accomplishments from your career that are relevant to the new career you are pursuing.
- Use a positive tone to explain your career change or job-hopping in one comprehensive sentence such as "My passion for working directly with customers has drawn me to a variety of experiences, from selling market research syndicated data to selling technology products and providing technical support to companies."
If you cannot persuade hiring managers to look past the career you are in now, network.
There are times, primarily for those who have the appearance of a job-hopper, when no amount of resumé editing will help you change careers. Instead of applying online and hoping to hear back from employers, focus your efforts on conducting informational interviews and other networking activity. A personal connection is more likely to persuade an employer of your transferable skills.
Your aim is really to bring the focus away from you being a risk to hire. By demonstrating your skills, achievements and experience as opposed to tasks performed or what is missing, you can land a new job in a new career.
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