Many would-be career changers ask: how do you successfully convey that your past experience and skills set is transferable to a new industry?
Many would-be career changers ask: how do you successfully convey that your past experience and skills set is transferable to a new industry?
How to translate the details is the crux of the career changer’s mission. You have worked in an area with a specific set of protocols and a unique language, and you now need to position this in a way that someone else accustomed to a different set of protocols and a different language will understand. Your ability to do this determines if you will be able to change careers and at what salary and title.
Start with the basic word translation. We all have seen the funny ways big companies get into trouble when they market outside their home country and get the ad slogan translated wrong. So we realize that translating is more than just getting the right words. However, it’s a good start, so go line by line in your resume, cover letter and networking pitch and pull out any words or phrases that specifically reference your initial area. Then replace them with words or phrases that reference the new area or are at least generic. So “mortgage loans” which are very banking-specific might become “transactions” which is much more general.
Capture the essence, not the protocols. You can’t wordsmith everything of course, and you don’t want to omit that you securitized financial products if that was a big part of your job. But many would-be career changers drown their new prospects in very technical descriptions of their work environments and responsibilities, instead of highlighting what they achieved and what they did functionally in a way that the new prospect can appreciate. I am currently coaching a reporter transitioning to PR. She needs to highlight her media experience generally, not reporting specifically because PR people relate to media not reporting. She needs to talk about researching, developing and promoting stories and profiles because that is the essence of what she did, even if her colleagues would say she is covering beats.
Actively make the leap. Don’t make the prospective employer have to translate at all. After you tell them about your work with, say, mortgages, give a specific example of what you could do in a hospital or insurance setting (if that’s where you want to go). Use their language and their protocols as you detail what you might bring to the table. You will change before their eyes from a mortgage person to a healthcare person. You will seem like their peer, and they will then be comfortable and excited to hire you.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
