Preparing Your Resume For A Career Change

One of the best things about having a career is that you can change it if and when you want to. You might feel tied to a career, and that might keep you from pursuing another one. Know that you aren’t tethered to one career. Therefore, if you want to make a smooth career change then you need to update your resume so that it highlights you as an individual while also showing how your previously learned skills can transfer over to a new career and job. The below tips will assist you as you update your resume for the next career change.

Start Strong with an Objective Statement

An objective statement goes at the top of your resume.  An objective statement does a couple of things for your resume. One, it essentially acts as the hook to get your reader’s attention. Two, it states your career goals so the reader knows what you value most in a job or at a company. Three, the objective statement should list your top 2-3 skills. It’s recommended that you match your top skills with the skills listed in the job description. However, don’t state what you don’t have, that will come to haunt you later. Lastly, keep your objective statement short at 2 to 3 sentences in length.

Highlight Your Education Section 

If you are directly out of college or high school then you most likely don’t have a ton of real-world work experience. To counteract this lack of experience, highlight experiences from your educational journey. For example, discuss semester-long projects you completed, or send in a portfolio of assignments that have some relevance to the job you are applying for. If you have experience using certain software, then discuss that and discuss the project you completed using said software. 

Don’t Have the Hard-Skills, Then Highlight Your Characteristics

If you are looking to change careers you most-likely don’t quite yet have the hard-skills the job application requires. Hard-skills are more technical or learned skills. Knowledge of software or knowing certain machinery are two examples. Therefore, to counteract not having these hard-skills, make sure to showcase your soft-skills. Soft-skills are traits you have or characteristics. Some of them are innate while others are learned. Skills such as teamwork, creativity, or attention to detail are soft skills. 

Regardless of what career change you are making, it’s important to prove that you have these transferable skills and to highlight the soft skills you inherently have or learned from previous jobs. For more information on how to reinvent your career see JobHero’s article here.