Marketing yourself for a career change
Dear Sam: I've been reading your column for some time and have been trying to market myself for a career transition. In recent weeks, with your focus on getting the job you want versus the job you have, it made me reevaluate what else I can do to do just that. For the past 16 years I have enjoyed a career in the hospitality and service industry, but now with a family and increased time commitments, the unsociable hours of the hotel and restaurant business have taken their toll. It's hard to go to work before my children get off the bus from school, get home at 2am only to go back to work at 9am the next morning, and miss many more important things in my family's life. I feel inspired now to make a change but I need your help. How on earth do I present my background to market myself for the type of job I want, not the type of job I have had? I am very interested in working for a school (so I can have the same hours as my children), a non-profit doing something in marketing or communications (so I can give back to the community), or really anything that involves working with people and communicating with customers - but with sociable hours! How do I even start to put together a résumé? I have heard that functional résumés are not a great tool in a job search, but are there situations where you have to use this approach? I don't have a spotty work history, I have solid experience at each of my three employers, and I have amassed some great achievements, so I feel like I have something to offer, I just don't know how to put that on paper. Help! - Jenny in Columbus
Dear Jenny: I applaud your drive and commitment to make the change you feel is right for your family. There are a few approaches you can take to create a résumé when you are in a career transition situation. Let me explain two and present an example of each.
In the first strategy you would use what is called a combination résumé. In this type of résumé you begin, as in all résumés, with a strong qualifications summary selling what you have done in the light of what you now want to do. So, in other words, don't reiterate the jobs you have had, instead translate your skills and achievements in a manner in which the targeted hiring manager would understand. Next, in a Career Highlights (or similarly named section) present your related or transferable skills. As you can see from the first example, this client had a background in the financial industry in the areas of quality and project management, but wanted to transition into a writing, editing, or publishing role. Therefore in the qualifications summary and career highlights section we focused on project management, strategic communications, deadline management, and creativity skills.
In the second example, you will see a purely functional résumé. This strategy was used as the client had a background in dentistry and was seeking to enter the manufacturing field. Clearly these are two distinctly different jobs, so it was more important to translate everything he had done in his career in a manner related to the manufacturing industry. It was not important to highlight the daily functions a dentist performs, as this would essentially have disqualified him from the opportunity as a hiring manager may even think he applied for the position by mistake. Instead, through the qualifications summary and career highlights section we focused on his ability to manage manufacturing and fabrication processes (albeit of dental molds), achieve productivity and quality goals, oversee inventory and daily operations, and his ability to use computer-aided technology and precision tools.
Based on the description of your past career and current goals, I believe a combination résumé would be the best solution. Be sure to showcase your achievements in the career highlights section, explaining these in terms of how they have built strong communication, relationship building, process management, and team leadership skills. Use job postings of interest as an initial guide to what you might need to focus on in your résumé. With both of these clients, we took time to research opportunities of interest so I knew exactly how to position them in order to maximize the effectiveness of their job searches. I certainly wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals and hope 2007 brings the time with your family that you seek.
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please write to dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's résumé writing firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442.
Dear Jenny: I applaud your drive and commitment to make the change you feel is right for your family. There are a few approaches you can take to create a résumé when you are in a career transition situation. Let me explain two and present an example of each.
In the first strategy you would use what is called a combination résumé. In this type of résumé you begin, as in all résumés, with a strong qualifications summary selling what you have done in the light of what you now want to do. So, in other words, don't reiterate the jobs you have had, instead translate your skills and achievements in a manner in which the targeted hiring manager would understand. Next, in a Career Highlights (or similarly named section) present your related or transferable skills. As you can see from the first example, this client had a background in the financial industry in the areas of quality and project management, but wanted to transition into a writing, editing, or publishing role. Therefore in the qualifications summary and career highlights section we focused on project management, strategic communications, deadline management, and creativity skills.
In the second example, you will see a purely functional résumé. This strategy was used as the client had a background in dentistry and was seeking to enter the manufacturing field. Clearly these are two distinctly different jobs, so it was more important to translate everything he had done in his career in a manner related to the manufacturing industry. It was not important to highlight the daily functions a dentist performs, as this would essentially have disqualified him from the opportunity as a hiring manager may even think he applied for the position by mistake. Instead, through the qualifications summary and career highlights section we focused on his ability to manage manufacturing and fabrication processes (albeit of dental molds), achieve productivity and quality goals, oversee inventory and daily operations, and his ability to use computer-aided technology and precision tools.
Based on the description of your past career and current goals, I believe a combination résumé would be the best solution. Be sure to showcase your achievements in the career highlights section, explaining these in terms of how they have built strong communication, relationship building, process management, and team leadership skills. Use job postings of interest as an initial guide to what you might need to focus on in your résumé. With both of these clients, we took time to research opportunities of interest so I knew exactly how to position them in order to maximize the effectiveness of their job searches. I certainly wish you the best of luck in achieving your goals and hope 2007 brings the time with your family that you seek.
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please write to dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's résumé writing firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442.
posted by Dear Sam at Friday, January 12, 2007
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