Career Changer

Changing careers can sometimes be viewed as a daunting and somewhat stressful task, however with a few of the right ingredients, re-creating your resume to support your career change does not have to be a stressful process. Below are a few suggestions to hopefully point you in the right direction.

1) Career Changer with Experience in the Target Job:

I have always been a strong believer in the power of reinventing yourself. Within most of our careers there are often three to four jobs within that “family” that have transferrable skills common to both positions.

As you begin to prepare your resume, identify 3-5 transferable skills that are a match between you and the target job. Transferable skills are those skills that you have used in your present job that may apply to the new job.

Employment sites such as realmatch.com can help to match your qualifications with the employers required skills. Keeping in mind a career change can involve someone who currently works for example in education; however 10 years ago they were in a project management position.

Hypothetical Example:

• Situation:
  You are a Teacher who is interested in transitioning into a Project Management position.
• Action: Incorporate a bullet that includes transferable verbiage based on your qualifications and the job requirements.
• Sample Resume Bullet:
  Flawlessly executed a $100,000 academic project; successfully managed project lifecycle, budget, scope, milestones, and key deliverables.
• Transferable Skills: In this example, managing the project lifecycle, scope, milestones and key deliverables are transferable skills that are typically required in project management positions regardless of the industry.

For each job on your resume, prepare 3-4 achievement oriented bullets that include a few metrics communicating your accomplishments. Keep in mind that an achievement based resume is more impactful than text-based resumes. An achievement-based resume builds on your transferable skills by focusing on accomplishments and achievements, while a text-based resume focuses on your duties and responsibilities.

Percentages work extremely well in showcasing your effectiveness. If possible draft each bullet so that the numeric achievement is positioned towards the beginning of the sentence within a particular bullet. Human Resources departments are receiving hundreds of resumes daily and this strategy helps to place key information in high impact areas.

Each bullet in every job should be written to “tell your story” while employed with a particular company.

Heavy emphasis should be placed on content and format when re-writing your resume. Keeping in mind the format may change as your job strategy and career goals change. Both your career and resume should be a continuously evolving process.

The format you choose may consist of a combination, functional for chronological resume style.

2) Career Changer without Experience in the Target Job

Volunteering is a great way to gain valuable experience and explore your opportunities, while also giving back to your community.

Internships are also trending upward. They not only serve as a great networking resource, internships also provide an avenue for learning a new set of skills, particularly if you are planning on pursuing a career in the field of your internship.

If you are in a position to return to school, take advantage of this opportunity to learn new skills or pick up a new trade.

Attend 2-3 professional networking meetings each week to exchange ideas, learn job search strategies and trends, and explore your possibilities.

Add or update your social media toolbox i.e., LinkedIn, Squidoo, Ning, Twitter etc. to reflect your new career interests and personal branding strategies.

Guest Expert:

Joyce Harold is founder and president of Resumes by Joyce, a company that specializes in resume writing and career consulting services for clients throughout the U.S. Resumes by Joyce specialize in helping clients identify their unique transferable skills to support career changes and promotions. All staff writers are Certified Professional Resume Writer’s offering a combined 30 years of human resources management experience.

Joyce graduated Magna Cum Laude with a dual Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Human Resources Management.

Guest Expert

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