6 Tips for Writing a Powerful Career Change Resume

1. Identify Your Transferrable Skills

Get to know your new industry! Read job descriptions and industry news to gain a
sense of the skills that employers require. (Review this list of employment skills sorted
by job.) Print out your current resume with your job history to date, and write a list of all
the skills you've gained and used throughout your career. Some of these may be listed on
your resume directly, but others may not.

Then, list out the skills commonly required in your new industry and look for matches.

Think creatively: Say you're moving from sales to teaching. What are things these roles
have in common? Well, both jobs require the ability to hold the attention of the room,
give a strong presentation, and convey potentially complex knowledge in easy to
understand and remember language.

And don't forget that you can include non-professional experience on your resume,
too. Are you on your condo's board? Do you organize bake sales for the PTA? Volunteer
work, and potentially even hobbies (your Etsy store, your weekly style post on
Instagram), can all be mined for evidence of your skills and experience. Just be careful
not to overreach: A following of 300 people on Twitter does not make you a social media
expert. But, it is reasonable to say that you have social media knowledge, have built a
Twitter following, and engaged with industry thought leaders. (Learn more about how to
include volunteer experience on your resume.)

2. Write a Resume Objective

Use your resume objective, which appears on the top of your resume, to highlight what
type of job you're seeking. The objective just like the rest of your resume is all
about you. But the true purpose of the objective is to sell hiring managers on your
candidacy. (That's also true for the whole document!)

In your objective, connect the dots for hiring managers you can use this space to make
it clear how your former career has provided you with the skills you need in your new
field, and for this job in particular.

3. Determine Which Resume Format Works Best for You

A chronological resume which lists experience from most recent to eldest may be
the most commonly used resume format, but that doesn't mean it's the only option out
there.
A functional resume is often the best choice for someone switching careers, since it puts
the focus squarely on your skills and experience (rather than where you worked, and
when). This type of resume helps highlights the most relevant parts of your work.

If you are transitioning from sales to teaching, to continue our example from above, a
functional resume allows you to showcase your relevant presentation abilities, instead of
listing out sales jobs, which wouldn't feel meaningful to a school district.

A combination resume which mixes the functional format with the chronological one
is also a good option if you're shifting careers.

4. Add a Skills Section

When hiring managers scan through your resume, they might not see familiar job titles or
responsibilities from their industry. So whichever resume format you choose, use the
skills section to highlight that you have the soft and hard skills required for this job
here's more information to help you know what to include in your resume skills section.

5. Leave Off Unnecessary Information

Your resume does not have to exhaustively list every position held, task completed, and
programs used. Think of your resume as a greatest hits album: Include only the highlights
that will help your resume seem relevant to hiring managers in your new field. This can
be particularly important if you're switching job levels, as well as shifting careers.

6. Watch for Jargon

New career industry, new jargon! When you work in a field for a while, jargon becomes
second nature. If you're in publishing, the CMS is the Chicago Manual of Style, if you
work online, it's your Content Management System, and if you're in healthcare, it's the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The point is, while jargon can help you seem
like an insider in your original field, it can confuse and alienate hiring manager in your
new field.

Explain job titles, programs, and job-related tasks and achievements in clear language
that anyone can understand. Better yet, translate those skills and responsibilities into your
new field's insider-language and shorthand.

10 Steps to a Successful Career Change

1. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a journal of your daily reactions to your
job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your current job do you like
and dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work, your company
culture or the people with whom you work?

2. Assess your interests, values and skills. Review past successful roles, volunteer
work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills. Determine whether your
core values and skills are addressed through your current career. There are free online
tools you can use to help assess career alternatives.

3. Consider alternative careers. Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by researching

career options, and discussing your core values and skills with friends, family, and
networking contacts.

If youre having difficulty coming up with ideas, consider meeting with a career
counselor for professional advice.

4. Check out job options. Conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several

fields to identify a few targets for in-depth research. You can find a wealth of information
online simply by Googling the jobs that interest you.

5. Get personal. Find out as much as much as you can about those fields and reach out to
personal contacts in those sectors for informational interviews. A good source of contacts
for informational interviewers is your college alumni career network. LinkedIn is another
great resource for finding contacts in specific career fields of interest.

6. Set up a job shadow (or two). Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to
observe work first hand. Spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days job shadowing
people who have jobs that interest you. Your college career office is a good place to find
alumni volunteers who are willing to host job shadowers. Heres more information on job
shadowing and how it works.

7. Try it out. Identify volunteer and freelance activities related to your target field to test
your interest e.g. if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA
newsletter. If you're interested in working with animals, volunteer at your local shelter.

8. Take a class. Investigate educational opportunities that would bridge your background
to your new field. Consider taking an evening course at a local college or an online
course. Spend some time at one day or weekend seminars.

Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.

9. Upgrade your skills. Look for ways to develop new skills in your current job which
would pave the way for a change e.g. offer to write a grant proposal if grant writing is
valued in your new field. If your company offers in-house training, sign up for as many
classes as you can.

10. Consider a new job in the same industry. Consider alternative roles within your
current industry which would utilize the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you
are a store manager for a large retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and
weekend hours, consider a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry. Or if
you are a programmer who doesn't want to program, consider technical sales or project
management.

hat are career values? Career values are one of the most important factors to consider
when deciding on a job or career. Our career values represent the beliefs we have about
what is important in our work.

What Do You Want From a Job?

Are you looking for prestige, creativity, flexible hours, independence, high income,
people contact, advancement or some other satisfaction from your work life? Values
vary greatly from person to person, so it is essential to understand the unique make-up of
your value system.

Career Satisfaction

Some career theorists believe that how well a job or career satisfies our values should be
the most important consideration when evaluating options. These theorists posit that
work which is consistent with our values will be more meaningful, and we will be more
likely to invest our energies to master the roles and achieve success.

Most career experts recommend considering personality traits, interests and abilities in
conjunction with values when making career choices.

How to Assess Your Career Values

Whats most important to you? Review the examples of work values below and rate their
importance to you on a scale of 1 - 10. Then examine some of the highest rated values
and choose 6 - 10 that should have the greatest weight when considering career and
alternatives.

Examples of Career Values

A-E
 Adventure
Autonomy
Avoiding Stress
Building Things
Camaraderie
Casual Work Environment

Challenge
Changing the World
Collaborating with Others
Competition
Creating New Things
Creativity
Diversity
Employee Benefits
Exposure to Beauty

F-O

Fast Pace
Fun
Helping Others
High Income
High Level of Interaction with People
Income Based on Productivity
Influencing Others
Intellectually Demanding Work
Job Security

Location
Moral/Spiritual Fulfillment
Opportunity for Advancement
Opportunity to Lead
Opportunity to Learn New Things
Outlet for Creativity

P-Z

Physical Activity
Pleasant Work Environment
Power
Prestige
Recognition
 Risk Taking
Routine Work
Seeing Tangible Results from Work Completed
Sharing Ideas or Information
Socialization
Solving Problems
Status as an Expert
Structure
Supportive Management
Team Membership
Time Freedom
Travel
Variety of Tasks
Working Alone
Working Outside
Work/Life Balance
If youve succeeded in getting an interview for a job in your new desired career,
congratulations! Thats a sure sign that youve crafted a career change cover
letter and resume that successfully conveys that you're a qualified applicant, and
your previous experience is relevant to your new career. During your interview,
continue to hammer that message home. Here are six tips to help you have a
successful career change interview.
6 Tips for Career Change Interviews
1. Play Up Similar Skills
Heres the good news about switching careers: Its not a hard reset. You won't
need to work your way up from an entry-level position all over again. During your
original career, you gained valuable experience and knowledge that youll bring to
any new role. In fact, your former field may have more in common with your new
industry than you thought.
Before your interview, list out the skills you used in previous jobs that'll be
relevant in your new career. Review the job description, and consider where you
have applicable experience. Here's how to match your qualifications with the job
description. During the interview, sell these transferable skills, giving lots of
specific examples. Soft skills, in particular, often carry over from one career to the
next.
Also look for ways the two careers have overall similarities. If youve managed a
construction crew, for instance, youll want to put the focus on your management
skills (delivering on time, communicating projects, etc.) during interviews (and
not on your construction know-how).
Or, if youre moving from retail to food services, you can focus on your strong
customer service background.
2. Have a Plan for Gaining New Skills
 While soft skills can often transfer, you may not have some of the hard
skills or job-specific skills needed in the new role. This will likely come up in your
interview, so make sure you can address how you'll ramp up and gain this
experience, whether by taking a class, finding a mentor, or researching online.

You can also consider implementing plans to gain knowledge and expertise even
before you have the job. For instance, if your new field requires a basic knowledge
of HTML or the ability to copy edit documents, you can enroll in a class. Then, if
it comes up in the interview, you can say youre already taking a class to improve
your knowledge, which will make you seem proactive and invested in your new
path.
One cautionary note: It's better to be straightforward about areas where you do not
have experience than to be vague or obfuscate. And never, ever be dishonest
that'll only lead to unpleasant revelations when you do get the job. Keep in mind:
No job candidate will have all the skills and experience required for a job. So it's
fine to have some gaps.
3. Showcase Your Flexibility
Not everyone deals with change well. Companies will only take a chance on some
new to the field if they're confident the candidate can adapt to new workflows,
priorities, and responsibilities. During the interview, make it clear that
youre comfortable with change by showcasing moments when youve dealt with
unexpected adjustments, such as a new boss, changes in your job description, or
even just moments when youve handled problems on the fly.
4. Point Out Any Advantages of Your Old Career Path
It could very well be the case that your previous career offers benefits to your new
career in the form of insider information or a helpful network of connections. For
instance, if you switch from a client-side role to a vendor role, youll be able to
share insights with your new employer on what exactly clients are looking for. If
youve moved from content to publicity, you might be able to share a contact list
of writers and editors to promote a product, or might have insight into what
pitches will be best received.
5. Be Prepared to Explain Why Youre Changing Careers
Theres no question that youll be asked during the interview process why you are
shifting careers. Try to frame your move as being logical develop a narrative
that conveys why youre making this move.
Your goal is to convey that you are not flighty, and will not seek to switch careers
again. Employers are eager to hire candidates who will stick around.
Put the emphasis again on the qualities that are similar between the roles, and
share what makes you feel excited and enthusiastic about your new career. Be
careful to avoid being overly negative about your previous career. It's fine to say
that an industry is shrinking or you feel there's a lack of available opportunities,
but don't harp on the negative aspects.
 6. Be Aware and Adjust for Culture Changes
The appropriate interview outfit for a corporate job and a start-up company are
very dissimilar, and the same is true for fashion and banking, teaching and sales,
and so on. The differences in what's considered appropriate arent only outfit-
based: Different industries can have vastly different cultures and communication
styles. Start-ups, for instance, often have a flat organizational structure, with
feedback welcome from everyone, while more corporate industries may have a
top-down structure. If the environment in your new industry will be very different,
try to show that youll fit in by walking the walk and talking the talk during your
interview. (Here's the best interview attire for every type of job interview.)