When you reach a certain level in your executive career, you start to … well, coast a bit sometimes. Be honest, now. Have you decided – actively or not – that you already know enough, and don’t need to continue improving your skill set?
Call it a feeling of invincibility. It has its advantages in the business world, but it can have its drawbacks, too. Particularly when you start thinking about changing careers, and especially when you start thinking about moving into a different industry. And particularly when it comes to making an unexpected job transition, as is happening more frequently these days.
Look at the people already doing the work you want to do. The ones who aren’t there yet, but want to be. Not all of them are pursuing continuing education to make themselves better candidates for the management positions they’re after. But a lot of them are. And that’s an extra point or two they’ll have on you when you start sending out your resume to recruiters and headhunters and the like.
Don’t sit on your laurels. It’s one of the most dangerous things you can do these days.
Need a little present-moment way to look at it? Think of the people working around you. How much could they benefit from your increased knowledge? How much could your company improve? And then (to make it all about you again), how much better would your resume look when you’ve helped your team and your company make great strides?
Education isn’t just a lark. If you have a company that helps pay for continuing education (most do), you know they don’t think it’s a lark. They know it’ll only help their bottom line by keeping their people sharp. It’ll help your bottom line, too.
And as we’re all learning in the world of work (or, as we may need to learn over and over again), if you’re not moving forward, keeping up, getting ahead – or whatever phrase you choose to use – you’re not just standing still as a result.
Fact is, you’re falling behind, or the rest of the world is moving ahead of you. Either way you look at it, the glass is half-empty for you, and getting emptier.
So enough mixing of metaphors. If you haven’t gone through that course catalog yet, now’s as good a time as any to start. Go for it!

There are times in everyone’s career that you feel like running away and starting all over again, and I’m here to say that you can do it!
I’ve reinvented my career five times including being a disc jockey in radio, public relations director in professional sports, community relations director in television, regional marketing manager in finance, and now I’m a global technical project manager in high tech.
If you’d like to change careers but worried that your salary would decrease, take comfort in knowing that each time I changed careers I received a pay increase!
Reinventing your career means repackaging your skills, qualifications and accomplishments so that you can transition into a new job role, company or industry. Here are five steps to help you transition into a new career more quickly, easily and maybe even with a higher salary!
1. Where’s your passion? The first step is to identify where you want to go. In which industry would you like to work? Advertising? Finance? Health Care? When I wanted to stop being a disc jockey, I knew that I wanted to go into television. And after a successful career in television, I then set my sights on getting into Corporate America. I wasn’t sure what kind of job role I wanted (or could get!), but the first step was determining the industry where I wanted to work.
If you’re not sure where you want to go (just that where you are now is definitely the wrong place!) then read trade magazines, industry publications and classified ads in your local newspaper. Visit a bookstore and browse through books and magazines to see what grabs your attention. The key is to figure out what lights your fire and inspires you.
2. What are your transferable skills? These are skills that transition from industry to industry, or from job role to job role. Examples include: managing projects, teams, clients or budgets, as well as negotiating contracts, or proposing and implementing ideas that generate money, save money, or help the company be more competitive.
Other transferable skills include personal characteristics such as demonstrating leadership or risk taking, training or mentoring team members, being goal driven, results oriented, a problem solver, or having the ability to influence senior managers. These are great skills to have, and they transfer from industry to industry. All kinds of industries and companies value employees with these types of skills and characteristics.
3. Matching your transferable skills to job roles. Read job descriptions posted on-line at CareerJournal, CareerBuilder and Monster, as well as the classified ads in industry magazines, trade journals, and local newspapers. If you want to work for a specific company then check out their website’s on-line job postings. Learn the skills and qualifications required for various job roles.
Match your transferable skills to those jobs you want to go after. If there’s a gap between the required skills and the skills that you currently have, then look for ways to gain that experience such as taking on an extended assignment in your current job, freelancing, consulting, or even volunteering.
Also, attend industry conferences, trade shows, business networking events and association meetings. Talk to people who work in the industry to learn about their career path, responsibilities, and advice for how to break into the business.
4. Blow up your resume. The first thing I always did before I transitioned into a new career was blow up my resume. Trying to piece together a resume that highlighted the skills I used to get my last job with the skills I need to land my next job is like trying to weld together Lexus parts on a BMW. It doesn’t work. You need a brand new resume.
Showcase only those jobs, responsibilities and successes that relate to the job you want. The hiring manager doesn’t care about every job you’ve ever had. They just want to know, Can you do their job? You may also want to get a professional resume critique to help you customize your resume and identify your transferable skills.
5. Attitude is the key ingredient! I’ve found that getting a new job really boils down to two things: confidence and passion. I’ve never walked into an interview having met all of the job requirements. In fact, for the television interview, I lacked the two biggest requirements which were a minimum of two years experience in television, and a tape to show my TV work.
To compensate, I focused on my transferable skills which were being highly creative and a solid copywriter. That got my foot in the door for the interview. But to get the job offer and beat out the other 4 job candidates, I was passionate about the company and the job! I also told the hiring manager that I absolutely knew that I could do the job!
There’s a kind of quiet confidence that we all have down deep inside. A confidence that comes from knowing what we’re capable of doing. When you transition into a new job role or a new company, you need to show the hiring manager that you have confidence in yourself and know that you’ll be successful in the job. When it comes to reinventing your career, it’s not just your talent but your attitude that counts!

Copyright (c) 2009 Dorothy Tannahill Moran

The buzz right now is that everyone is holding on to their current jobs with a death grip due to the grim economy. The overarching belief is that there are no jobs out there and for the ones that do exist, there are too many people applying. Let’s say some of that is true. What is also true is that there are job openings. People move, get promoted or something continues to pull people out of their jobs every day. There are jobs. Maybe not as many and maybe the competition for the ones that come available are stiff BUT there are jobs that need to be filled. One thing is also true; you won’t get any of them if you don’t try.

If you have arrived at a point where you think it is time to make your next strategic career move, you should not let the state of the economy stop you. Don’t create barriers where there are none. The challenge will be greater than in previous years but if you’re prepared for those challenges, go for it.

Let’s look at what some of these challenges might be:

Job Posting Site’ You hear stories of 200 people applying for one job at a local nursery for a nursery stock tender. In this environment, you can count on stiff competition for any posted job. The key here is “posted job”. While it is one way to find out what openings exist, you and millions are looking at that same posting. Looking for a job this way is the lowest priority in a job search because it is the way millions of others are searching and applying. It is hard to land a new position this way due to the volume of other applicants and it is hard to stand out in a big crowd. It can be done and you should pursue it, you just need to calibrate your expectations appropriately.

Recruiters- You also need some insight into the life of a recruiter. They receive thousands of resumes each day. They will often use their computer software to sort out all kinds of criteria to help narrow down the huge pile that has come in. This is a buyer’s market also. They don’t need to talk to you, give informational interviews or much of anything they used to do a few years ago. Right now, they want to process the paper as quickly as possible, narrow it down to a few that look hot and screen them. With tight budgets, geographic consideration is also a big selection criterion. They may not want to fly applicants or relocate new hires, so be aware that geography is now playing a role in how an applicant is being screened.

The perfect match – Because the use of resume’ handling software has become so prevalent these days, there is such a thing as the perfect match. If a hiring manager has determined 9 key skills and experience, the software will prioritize the resume’s that have the highest number of matches. With a large volume, it is now possible to have resume’s selected that hit 100% of the criteria, thus leaving out perfectly good candidates who are “close”.

This is starting to sound like an increasingly impossible set of barriers. This environment is challenging for sure but not impossible if your plan takes these things into account. Let’s look at the key actions a person can take.

Make use of your contact and network – More than 80% of all job openings never make it to any kind of posting. Only the seriously hard to fill positions go out publicly for the most part. That means you must find those positions through the use of “who you know”. This has been and continues to be the number one way to find an ideal spot. It’s good because to some degree, it’s prescreened for you. Your network will be reluctant to send you into a snakepit workplace. They would have to face you later and simply don’t want to feel guilty. Also, they will refer when they feel confident with both sides, you and the other being a good fit. Don’t feel bad if some people you know simply don’t refer, they probably are the same ones that don’t fix up their friends with blind dates. Some people just don’t want to do it. BUT, some do!

Expand your network – if a career move is on the horizon, it’s time to cast the net a bit broader. Figure out some groups you can hook up with that will be rich in potential job contacts. Look in Meetup on the internet, tons of great groups. Also, look into social networking like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, easy and convenient.

Look in unique places- on an airplane, coffee shops or church.

Plan your resume’ – It is no longer possible to have just one all purpose resume’. Because of resume’ search software, you must create resume’s rich in key words. So if there is a few different related positions, create a different one for each position.

Set your expectations – Once you make a decision to move, it is a bit like stopping a freight train. You want to move right now. In this environment, you need to be a marathon runner. You need to pace yourself and set your expectations appropriately that this will take a while. You need to plan for a few dips and bumps which means you need to push through them and keep your eye on the goal.

Don’t let the economic environment stop you from pursuing your dream job. There are millions of jobs and people are hiring every day. Your job is to understand the hiring situation, put your plan together and start working on it, today.

Are you bored with your current job and considering whether or not it’s time to move on? You’ve thought through the benefits and challenges. And, finally, you’ve made a decision to move forward and change careers.

Now what?

Making a move to a new career can be incredibly exciting, but it can also be frightening. That’s understandable, since you’re moving toward the unknown and away from the stability of your current position. It may be good to know that there are steps you can take so that the transition is as comfortable and smooth as possible. Just follow this three-part formula:

1) Do your research.

Your new career is going to require new skills, new knowledge, and a strong understanding of a new industry. Do all the necessary reading and research on that industry to prepare yourself. Do some online checking, contact colleagues and friends in the area you’ll be transitioning into, read trade or specialty publications, and so on. Utilize all the resources at your disposal in order to develop a solid base of knowledge for your new career.

2) Bring relevant skills with you.

There is likely to be a lot of crossover even though you’re changing careers and transitioning into a new industry. But many people make the mistake of completely clearing the slate and not recognizing the places where their old skills can help them in their new jobs. For example, let’s consider that you’ve opened your own bakery and left your job at a bank. Well, just because your new job is creative, don’t let yourself swing too far over to the artistic side without bringing along some of your business savvy. Remember that all jobs require a balance of creativity and professionalismyou can invest your profits wisely by using your head to create a cost-saving budget.

Even if you’re making a less dramatic shiftsay, from public relations to advertisingyou will still need to show perspective employers that being new to the field doesn’t mean you’re not bringing desirable qualities to the table. This idea that skill sets overlap from industry to industry is an important one to keep in mind as you shift careers because it will provide a sense of emotional continuity.

3) Don’t change everything all at once.

You’re setting yourself up for emotional frenzy if you quit your current job, buy a dog, break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, move to a new town, and purchase a new home all in the span of one month. Make life easier for yourself, and make change more palatable, by taking small steps, and take them one at a time. Try to maintain as much continuity as you can while making the big change of shifting careers.

Copyright (c) 2009 Dorothy Tannahill Moran

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people talk about “updating their resume” when thinking about making a career change. If you are one of those people out there putting the polish on your resume’ as you are about to launch a job search for a new career- STOP. Your resume’ is not the place where you start your work on a career change. If you are simply looking for the same or similar position in another company, go ahead. There is a big difference between looking for a job and making a career change. Sure, at some point the process is the same and you will need to have a spiffy resume’ but it’s not the place to get started in making a career shift.

When contemplating a career shift, you are in need of something that looks like a research project. You need to do the work to help point you in a different direction. Picking a career is as hard to do at 40 as it is at 18. The world is your oyster which is a great thing but how do you find the one with the pearl? The good news is: if you are older than 18 you have more work and life experience that will give you important insight into the process and decision making.

So, where do you start? There are multiple actions you can take initially and they primarily involve self examination. Among the first steps:

- Tests or assessments – These are good to give you more information about yourself. These assessments will give you insight on things like interests, strengths and work orientation. If you pursue these, you have to know up front that they alone will not give you the “One Big Answer” about your future career. In fact, they may in many ways tell you things you already know about yourself. So why take them? Because it will give you a starting place, it will help distill down information about you that you need to have as you embark on making a decision about a career. With any research project, you collect data from numerous sources to help create the conclusion. Among but not limited on assessments: Meyers-Briggs, Strength Finder, VISTA cards, Color Q and Holland. Many of these are in books and online.

- Self assessment – This is where you really self examine. What kinds of things do you like to do? Where do you currently excel? What do you gravitate to outside of your current job? What did you dream of doing when you were younger? Are there people you know who have fun sounding jobs? Are there causes you believe in?

- More self assessment – Start looking for feedback. When your performance has been assessed, what strengths and weakness to you exhibit? If you were to ask a circle of friends and relatives, what kind of work do they think you would be good at? You’d be surprised at how insightful this exercise can be. They aren’t encumbered with your history yet they know you and often have some great suggestions based on what they know about you.

- Job search – many libraries and websites have all kinds of job titles. Some titles will make almost no sense but most of them will. Start looking these over to see what might jump out at you as something interesting. You can also go to job search websites and get a vast quantity of job titles and job content to help in this step. What is it about the ones you selected that sound worthwhile?

- Compile and research – with your mounting list of insights you can now start synthesizing into some logical groupings. These groupings are becoming what will ultimately be your new career because the baseline is from things in your research that have attracted you in some way. Don’t worry about “real” titles, but put logical elements together. You want to avoid putting basketball and surgery together, it makes no sense. You could put problem solving, math skills and detail orientation together. An important action in this step is to eliminate things. If you naturally are interested in specific job titles or elements, then focus on those. Your goal in this step is to create groupings or jobs that will become your future career.

- Network and research – With your newly minted jobs (mind you that you may still not have official job titles), you now need to talk to people and do more research to finalize what you are looking for. In this last and final step before working on your resume’, you need to understand where this work is, titles it might be called, and any further qualifications you might need to land a job. You will know when this step is completed when you have a clear picture on what career you want to pursue. The other great thing about this step is it has just given you great input on where to start your job search, once you are ready to get started.

Hopefully, you’ll see that when making a career change, you need to do some heavy lifting to move you toward something meaningful. It is way more than simply updating your resume’. Many people don’t know what steps to take and muddle their way through life not happy with their career/job. The actions aren’t hard or difficult and the outcome is well worth the effort.

A career change can be an exciting and fun step to take. Most people have more than 2 or 3 careers in their lifetime. Since you spend so much time in your life working, it’s worth the time and effort to find something you will love.

Copyright (c) 2009 Dorothy Tannahill Moran

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people talk about “updating their resume” when thinking about making a career change. If you are one of those people out there putting the polish on your resume’ as you are about to launch a job search for a new career- STOP. Your resume’ is not the place where you start your work on a career change. If you are simply looking for the same or similar position in another company, go ahead. There is a big difference between looking for a job and making a career change. Sure, at some point the process is the same and you will need to have a spiffy resume’ but it’s not the place to get started in making a career shift.

When contemplating a career shift, you are in need of something that looks like a research project. You need to do the work to help point you in a different direction. Picking a career is as hard to do at 40 as it is at 18. The world is your oyster which is a great thing but how do you find the one with the pearl? The good news is: if you are older than 18 you have more work and life experience that will give you important insight into the process and decision making.

So, where do you start? There are multiple actions you can take initially and they primarily involve self examination. Among the first steps:

- Tests or assessments – These are good to give you more information about yourself. These assessments will give you insight on things like interests, strengths and work orientation. If you pursue these, you have to know up front that they alone will not give you the “One Big Answer” about your future career. In fact, they may in many ways tell you things you already know about yourself. So why take them? Because it will give you a starting place, it will help distill down information about you that you need to have as you embark on making a decision about a career. With any research project, you collect data from numerous sources to help create the conclusion. Among but not limited on assessments: Meyers-Briggs, Strength Finder, VISTA cards, Color Q and Holland. Many of these are in books and online.

- Self assessment – This is where you really self examine. What kinds of things do you like to do? Where do you currently excel? What do you gravitate to outside of your current job? What did you dream of doing when you were younger? Are there people you know who have fun sounding jobs? Are there causes you believe in?

- More self assessment – Start looking for feedback. When your performance has been assessed, what strengths and weakness to you exhibit? If you were to ask a circle of friends and relatives, what kind of work do they think you would be good at? You’d be surprised at how insightful this exercise can be. They aren’t encumbered with your history yet they know you and often have some great suggestions based on what they know about you.

- Job search – many libraries and websites have all kinds of job titles. Some titles will make almost no sense but most of them will. Start looking these over to see what might jump out at you as something interesting. You can also go to job search websites and get a vast quantity of job titles and job content to help in this step. What is it about the ones you selected that sound worthwhile?

- Compile and research – with your mounting list of insights you can now start synthesizing into some logical groupings. These groupings are becoming what will ultimately be your new career because the baseline is from things in your research that have attracted you in some way. Don’t worry about “real” titles, but put logical elements together. You want to avoid putting basketball and surgery together, it makes no sense. You could put problem solving, math skills and detail orientation together. An important action in this step is to eliminate things. If you naturally are interested in specific job titles or elements, then focus on those. Your goal in this step is to create groupings or jobs that will become your future career.

- Network and research – With your newly minted jobs (mind you that you may still not have official job titles), you now need to talk to people and do more research to finalize what you are looking for. In this last and final step before working on your resume’, you need to understand where this work is, titles it might be called, and any further qualifications you might need to land a job. You will know when this step is completed when you have a clear picture on what career you want to pursue. The other great thing about this step is it has just given you great input on where to start your job search, once you are ready to get started.

Hopefully, you’ll see that when making a career change, you need to do some heavy lifting to move you toward something meaningful. It is way more than simply updating your resume’. Many people don’t know what steps to take and muddle their way through life not happy with their career/job. The actions aren’t hard or difficult and the outcome is well worth the effort.

A career change can be an exciting and fun step to take. Most people have more than 2 or 3 careers in their lifetime. Since you spend so much time in your life working, it’s worth the time and effort to find something you will love.

Changing careers can be one of the hardest things that a person does. You are going from what you know to something completely different. However, switching careers can be extremely rewarding as well. Perhaps you have always wanted to be an educator, but continued on in business, receiving promotion after promotion, until you lost sight of your dream. But now you are ready to get back on track and follow through with your desired career path. The first step is creating a whole new resume that highlights your education, relevant experience, and transferable skills.

If while in school you completed a degree in education, you are already one step ahead of the game. Though you might not have hands-on experience in a classroom, you have a solid foundation of the fundamentals and understand how to teach. On the other hand, you may have completed a degree in business, and have no post-secondary education relating directly to teaching. If this is the case, do not feel discouraged. There is still a good chance that you have done something in your life that relates to education, even if it is not apparent. Think back to any additional duties you have performed or roles you have played that involved instruction or training. For instance, maybe you trained colleagues in a new computer program or developed and presented internal workshops for your company. These tasks required planning and instructional skills that are key for becoming an educator. Make sure that you highlight any of these additional responsibilities under each job position. Use a bullet point format to make them really stand out.

In addition to teaching colleagues in the workplace, there are other positions that you may have held that require similar skills or characteristics including: parent volunteer, after-school tutor, adult educator, coach, big brother or big sister, etc. All of these positions focus on working with youth and/or students. Assess and list the responsibilities you had with each role. Evaluate what kind of skills you were able to develop as a result of these opportunities such as: communication, interpersonal, problem solving, organizational, leadership, etc. Summarize these skills in the introductory paragraph of your resume and extract core competencies that you can list in a separate section for areas of expertise. These newly recognized skills and competencies can also be written into your cover letter.

After your resume’s introductory paragraph that outlines your commitment, goals, traits, and skills, and following your areas of expertise/core competencies, include the section (either “education and credentials” or “professional experience”) that is the most applicable to your desired career. For example, if you have more relevant education than experience, list education and credentials first. However, if your post-secondary education was geared toward a different field, yet you have at least some related hands-on experience that correlates with the job your are applying for, then list the experience first. If you do not have relevant education or experience, put the education and credentials section first, and try to strengthen your introductory paragraph instead.

If you are worried about writing a career changing resume, do not hesitate to contact a professional resume writer. They are trained in handling all types of resumes and extracting relevant experience and skill sets.

Candace Davies, Owner of A+ Resumes for Teachers is a Global Career Management Professional dedicated to assisting educators worldwide leverage their strengths, accomplishments, and unique selling points to capture their dream career. Her team has successfully assisted 3500+ education professionals by transforming their talents into concise documents that secure numerous interviews, leading to excellent job offers through the interview preparation service. Advancing your career is A+ Resumes for Teachers business and they enjoy it as much as you enjoy shaping the minds of tomorrow. Candace is a dually certified as a Professional Resume Writer, Certified Interview Coach, Certified Employment Interview Professional, Associate Certified Career Coach, and Electronic Career Coach. Please visit her website at http://www.resumes-for-teachers.com or send an email to candoco@telus.net

If your job is leaving you feeling bored, frustrated, uninspired, or burned out, you’re probably wondering what else is out there. Where can you find a career that makes you excited to get to work each day? Does your dream job really exist? It may seem overwhelming to try to find that perfect career, especially if you’re feeling stuck in your current one, but if you start small and do some hard thinking, you’ll find that a satisfying career is not so far out of reach.

1. Start positive. If you’re dissatisfied with your current job, it may be hard to identify the elements you like about it. Most people, though, enjoy at least a few aspects of even the dreariest job. You may hate your boss but love your colleagues. Or maybe you believe in the cause you’re working for, despite the dismal pay. Make a list of the things you like about your current job—these are your first clues about what to look for in a new one.

2. Think big. Now’s the time to make a wish list. What characteristics would make a job perfect for you? Would it be flexible hours, a cooperative team, more responsibility? Maybe you’d like a chance to work in a creative or artistic setting, or the opportunity to show your leadership potential. Don’t worry about whether these things are realistic or whether there’s a job out there that fits the bill (not just yet!). Make a list of all the factors that you’re looking for in a dream career.

3. Brainstorm. Compile a list of every job, no matter how farfetched, that you’ve ever thought you might like or be good at. Don’t censor yourself; once you’ve got a good list going, you’ll start to see patterns. Look for common factors in the jobs you’ve listed. Maybe your fantasy careers are all active, fast-paced physical jobs (like firefighter, forest ranger, and FBI agent), or they might involve caring for and helping others (nurse, teacher, counselor).

4. Test yourself. There are dozens of career tests on the market designed to help you discover your ideal career. While these tests range in quality, from novelty tests on free sites to scientifically validated tests provided only by psychologists, there are many excellent resources online. Look for a website that provides well-researched career assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Strong Interest Inventory, which will provide you with comprehensive information on appropriate careers for your personality type and interests.

5. Do some research. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a great resource for career searchers. Visit their website at bls.gov and click on the Occupational Outlook Handbook to view salary ranges, educational requirements, job descriptions, and growth projections for hundreds of careers.

6. Check with an expert. A career coach can help you further identify the elements of a career that will bring you lasting satisfaction. A knowledgeable coach can also suggest careers similar to ones you’ve come up with yourself, and help you decide which careers best fit your goals.

7. Start where you are. If it’s not practical for you to completely retrain for a new career right now, think again about what’s missing from your current job. Is there a different position within your current company that provides more of what you need? Could you keep your job title, but find a new company with a better work environment? You might even ask your boss about making changes in your regular responsibilities that would allow you to do more of what you enjoy. Changing careers is a major goal, and if you can start by taking gradual steps towards doing what you really want, you’ll find that your efforts pay off quickly in greater satisfaction with your work.

Ultimately I hate writing about mistakes because I always feel like I am the bearer of bad news. I don’t like things that insult people or that make them feel bad for doing things that they were sincere about but just went about in the wrong way.
But, the truth is…
We make some really crazy mistakes, especially when it comes to our careers, and for some reason, career changers are the worst offenders.
Maybe it is because they have that anxious, almost desperate quality about them (I can say that because I have been one!). When you make the decision to switch careers, it is a big deal. (1) You are in a hurry to get out of your current situation. You feel frustrated or fet up or just tired of whatever it is you have been doing. (2) You’ve finally figured out what’s next for you in life. Maybe you chose your first career to make your parents happy or because it seemed like the most lucrative option when you were 20. And now you have outgrown it. Or maybe you’ve been extremely successful and are just looking for a new challenge. Either way, now that you have figured it out, you can’t wait to get started! (3) You’re getting older, still have bills to pay, and a certain lifestyle to uphold, so you are just anxious to get this thing resolved.
All that excitement and nervous energy is a good thing, but if you aren’t careful, it can lead to some costly mistakes. Here are some of the worst ones I have come across when working with career changers:
• Giving Up Too Early. We live in a society that simply cannot wait for anything. We’ve made up our mind, and it has to happen now! All job seekers want the job search process to go as quickly as possible. It is a painful process at times, and that is definitely an understandable reaction. However, when it comes to career changers, in particular, we need to learn how to wait. A job search for a career changer can take twice as long as one for someone looking in their field. But, again, we don’t like to wait. And as soon as things don’t seem to go our way as quickly we would like, we quit. I understand, you have mouths to feed, right? Well, that should have been taken into consideration in the first place. There is a cost to pay for going after your dreams. That doesn’t mean you don’t pursue them, but you must do so understanding the market you are in and the sacrifices it might require.
• Wasting Time with Recruiters. Here is a concept that seems to elude most job seekers. Recruiters are looking for the best, ideal candidate to present to their employers (because that is how the recruiter gets paid). If you are a career changer, that is NOT you. You are just getting your feet wet. You aren’t going to have the years of insider experience and the top credentials.
• Submitting a Functional Resume. Without going into too much detail about the functional resume, let me just say that unless you are right out of college, the functional resume is not the tool for you. I could tear my hair out at all the bad advice out there that has many seekers stuck on using a functional resume. They seem to think they can hide things from potential employers this way. The problem, of course, is that potential employers are not stupid. And they like what they like. And they like chronological resumes! Employers want to see what you have been doing, where, in what context, and what achievements you have had. Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare a profile section at the top of the resume that highlights some of your transferable skills, but at the end of the day, you need to line up your accomplishments with your work experience. And you know what, that’s OK. Be proud of your past career and use it to show how it leads to where you are today. That is your best selling feature. Let’s face it…a career change is an uphill battle, but it is better to deal with it head on than to hide from it.
By now I think we have pretty much covered the fact that a career changer’s job search is likely going to be longer and slower than most candidates’ searches. But it is certainly not an impossible task, and it can be extremely rewarding at the end of the day. So don’t be afraid to make that change. Just make it with your eyes wide open.