Changing industries can be challenging. Changing careers even more so as you are going up against others with years in the role and/or industry.
With some well-crafted career documents (your resume and LinkedIn profile) and a great network willing to help you out, the challenges need not be insurmountable. Here’s six steps to assemble the tools you’ll need for a successful career change:
#1 DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Reach out to your network, research online and speak with people in your target field to understand the issues facing them. The most important thing to identify? The skills they value most in terms of issue resolution.
#2 SELF-REFLECT
Reflect on your experience, education, training and even volunteer experience. Consider how these can help mitigate issues uncovered during the homework phase.
#3 HEADLINE REBOOT
You will need to rewrite your resume and LinkedIn profile as part of your career change launch. The first step? A headline focused on targeting your aspirational role.
#4 SUMMARY REBRAND
Write a brief branding paragraph to include at the top of your resume that shows the reader how you are well suited for the targeted role. For inspiration, look to job postings of interest and weave language with details about your achievements.
When rebranding your LinkedIn Summary, use what you’ve written in the resume as your foundation and build upon it by including examples/highlights as well as a list of skills relevant to your experience and your targeted role.
#5 INDUSTRY-FOCUSED ACHIEVEMENTS
Outline your achievements and rank them in order of relevance based on what is valued in your target industry. Because numbers speak volumes across all industries work to measure or quantify your achievements wherever possible.
Place the most relevant achievement at the top and the second most relevant at the bottom to optimize your chances of it being read by a skim, online reader who tends to skip over the bullets placed in the middle during the first round of reading.
#6 NETWORK RE-ENGAGEMENT
Once your documents are ready to go, it’s time to ask your network for help. An advocate on the inside can potentially place you in front of a decision maker, where you can present your case. This is hands down your best shot at making a great impression and getting someone to take a chance on you.
Twice the Work but Worth the While
When writing a resume for a career reinvention, you have twice as much work to do as your lack of spot-on experience places you at a disadvantage against the competition and when judged by Applicant Tracking Screening (ATS) software.
With well-crafted documents and an advocate in your corner, however, you’re in the best position possible to succeed with your career transition.