How to Adjust Your Resume When Making a Career Change?

Making a professional resume is one of the most important steps when entering the job market. A good resume allows your employer to notice your worthiness, see all of your achievements and job experience, and get to know your work ethic. However, not everyone stays in their career from the start till the end. What to do in case of a career change?

How to adjust your resume when making a career change?

Making a professional resume is one of the most important steps when entering the job market. A good resume allows your employer to notice your worthiness, see all of your achievements and job experience, and get to know your work ethic. However, not everyone stays in their career from the start till the end. What to do in case of a career change?

In case of a career change, it’s important to, first of all, acknowledge that you will have a false start. Competing applicants are likely to have more (relevant) professional experience. Therefore, you will need to try and make up for that, by excelling in other areas.

1. Number 1 rule for making a resume – always adapt it to your career

The same rules go for adjusting your resume during a career change. Instead of making an essay of your resume, keep it short and concise. When listing the schools you have attended, don’t start the list with your elementary school – your employer does not care where you learned how to read and write!

Only write down positions that will be meaningful to the specific job you’re looking to apply for. The same goes for work experience, as well as skills and qualifications. Try to imagine yourself as the boss and think about what you would find desirable in a candidate.

2. Focus on transferable skills

When adapting your resume for a new career path, focus on transferable skills. Think of all of the things you have learned in your previous job that will be useful in your next one.  For instance, someone making a career change from hotel business to nursing, is better off naming his interpersonal or customer skills, rather than his knowledge of hotel management software.

As always, tailor your resume carefully to every job you’re going to apply for – and never use the same resume for more than one job offer! If you feel that your current resume is not relevant at all, you might consider swapping it for a skill-based resume.

If you want to be able to easily manage your resumes and applications, we recommend using a premium resume service such as CVmaker.com.

3. Persistence is key

When creating your first resume, it is only natural you will make mistakes. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t land an interview the first time you apply. Instead, think of why your resume wasn’t accepted. Chances are, you might have structured your resume in the wrong way. Many young adults who are new to the job market and have no previous experience in looking for a job simply list all of their educational experiences, previous jobs, and all of the skills they can think of.

4. Get rid of outdated or otherwise irrelevant information

As your career path changes, some of your older skills and qualifications may no longer be relevant. On the other hand, some of your skills and experiences that have not been useful in your previous job might now turn out to come in handy. Carefully read through your resume and get rid of any irrelevant information. Additionally, make a list of things that you have thought about putting in the resume, but haven’t in the end – those might come in handy now!

5. Explain why you decided to change your career

If you have been working as an IT technician for 10 years, it might look suspicious to your employer if you were to suddenly apply for a position as a journalist. As an addition to your resume, it might be a good idea to provide some brief information in the resume statement where you explain your motivations behind the career change. This way, you demonstrate your potential employer you’ve thought this career move through, instead of making it on a whim.

6. Add achievements to your resume

By adding achievements to your resume, you demonstrate a winner’s mindset and high level of motivation. Every employer wants to have employees that are motivated and goal-oriented. These are good examples of the earlier mentioned transferable skills.

7. Effectively format your resume

Needless to say, if you want to make a good first impression, you must use a professional resume template. However, it’s also important to format the lay-out effectively, meaning that you want to arrange the most relevant information high-up on your resume. You don’t want the employer to have to go looking for the required skills, for instance. He must be able to see you’re the right candidate for the job, straight away.

Conclusion

Making a career change can be difficult as competing candidates are likely to have more relevant professional experience. Therefore, you will need to put extra effort into constructing your resume for a career change. To get noticed, your resume will need to stand out from other candidates.

By carefully applying the tips in this article, you can significantly improve your chances of succeeding to get invited to a job interview. Use them to your best advantage!