Using a regular and traditional resume structure while making a career switch may often lead to the new employer being confused and/or outright rejected.
Here are 6 steps to follow to communicate career change effectively on your resume, even when you do not have direct experience in your new target field:
🔼 Use a combination resume format – because it allows you to prioritize your relevant & transferable skills over your non-relevant experience, addressing the main challenge of changing careers.
🔼 Include a resume summary with an objective – because it is at the top of the resume and quickly summarizes your relevant skills and qualifications and states your career change objective, saving time for the employer.
🔼Add a skills section – because it is your most prominent section and contains industry-appropriate keywords relevant to the new career. Highlight the skills that will help you break into your new career or industry.
🔼Showcase certifications/courses – because this will show employers that even though you may not have hands-on experience in the field you’re pursuing, you’ve taken steps to gain the fundamentals, upskill & get certified.
🔼Revise your professional experience – because you can use wordplay to add brief bullet points to each entry to highlight transferable skills that are relevant to your new career.
🔼Include projects/internships – because this will show employers hands-on experience you’ve had with the relevant job skills you listed in your skills section for the new career.
🔼Update your education, training & workshops – because your major and minor may be more relevant to your original field, but you still may have taken several classes that are relevant to your new career, you can indicate that it in this section.
Follow me for more jobseeker & resume writing insights…
✍️ Connect with me to get a professionally built career change Resume and Cover Letter & get your LinkedIn Profile Optimised.