Switching careers at any age can be an arduous experience, especially if you lack the appropriate employment history. It becomes more difficult to change occupations as you age into your forties and fifties.
If you are considering leaping into a new career path such as property and real estate, or looking for temporary roles to ease the transition, keep reading.
Our recruitment specialists share everything there is to know on how to successfully switch career paths and make the change as seamless as possible, including recommendations to rearrange your resume format.
Five Career Change Pointers to Consider
Deep-dive into your Career Motivations
According to Jane Jackson, a Sydney-based career management coach, there are many factors to mull over when planning your career transition. If you are a job seeker that needs to build on their skills section or further their education, it might be beneficial to take some time away from the workforce to strengthen these areas. It is also important to reflect on your current skills and experience, strengths and motivations, she says.
Divide them into ‘motivators’ and ‘demotivators’.
“Some people are motivated by a short commute. Other people, what motivates them is flexibility and choosing their own work hours,” Jackson asserts.
De-motivators can be anything from lack of recognition in the workplace to missing a sense of purpose.
This is the crucial first step that can help any aged job seeker a clearer sense of the values that drive them and what they are looking for in a rewarding work situation.
Review your Interest, Core Values & Skills
As straightforward as this seems, this step is of the utmost importance when it comes to preparing for a career change.
Not only will it help you evaluate your current job satisfaction but it can also outline where you stand in terms of work experience and where you have achieved success in your professional career. Depending on your employment history, your successes could have been in collaborative group projects, volunteer work or from attending training seminars outside of the office. Reviewing these essential details can narrow down on what interests you, which options are available to you and the roles that best align with your motivations and career trajectory.
Build a Transition Strategy
It is inadvisable to dive head on into job searching and interviews without developing a concise yet realistic strategy for the transition period.
According to Helen Holan, an esteemed leadership coach based in Perth, she outlines that “For some people, having one foot in each camp is difficult, so for them maybe it is more beneficial to take a leap“.
By this point, you would have done extensive research and narrowed your career change to a specific occupation. Creating a clear action plan during this stressful transition period will allow you to define goals and milestones which ‘shortens’ that leap into a new profession.
Consider elements such as certification, skill development and opportunities that can help you get closer to work within this specific field. Write down the steps that you plan to take and a timeline of completion.
As Holan says, “we have to do the work to pave the way for success.”
Go Through a Rebrand
Before applying to open positions, it might be worth undergoing a personal rebranding. If you are looking for a career change, it is essential to make use of resources such as an updated resume, cover letter and social profiles to create a personal brand which appeals to potential employers. This step is crucial as your existing experience may not align with your desired future goals.
Analyse your past experiences and see which positions make you a better candidate for new roles. From there, make a personal statement about why you, as a job seeker, are the most logical fit. Use this theme throughout your cover letter, resume and business networking sites.
How to write a Resume when Switching Careers
Once you have established a clearer transition plan into your new career, it is time to deep dive on how to create a resume for this change. We outline essential four tips on the best way to write a career change resume.
Upgrade your Resume Format
It might be time to forgo the traditional resume format with one that places equal emphasis on essential work experience and expertise. This format is the best way to demonstrate that you possess the right transferable skills, even if you have never had the job title previously. This resume format will never be without:
- A clear contact information section
- A resume objective or summary
- A skills/expertise summary
- Relevant work experience section
- Skills section
- Certification
- Education
- Projects
This format is ideal for job seekers with some employment gaps, making a career change and applying to creative and corporate positions.
Re-Organise your Contact Information
We consider your contact information as the most significant part of your resume. No matter how impressive your employment history, it is not going to matter if you misspell your name, contact number and email address and the recruitment officer cannot contact you.
Ensure that you thoroughly check the following in this section:
- First name, last name.
- Phone number – With country code if you are considering applying outside of the country.
- Email address – Ensure that your email is professional such as [FirstName.LastName@gmail.com].
- Location – Looking for remote employment, including your location can help you negotiate for off-shore positions.
- Title – Either your current professional title or your new desired one.
Impress Recruiters with a Resume Summary or a Resume Objective
Make your career change resume stand out by writing a resume objective or summary. Implementing either of the two can perform as a preview to your employment history and strengths.
- Resume Summary: Demonstrates your best accomplishments that are relevant to the open position that you are applying for.
- Resume Objective: Highlights how your current skills are relevant and can transfer to the new position.
As a rule of thumb, a resume summary is ideal if you are moving into a related field and have some transferable skills. If you are considering working in a completely unrelated field, then go for a resume objective.
Show of your Work Experience Section with a Skills Summary
As mentioned previously, it is integral to include either a resume summary or a resume objective to outline any transferable skills for your upcoming career change. However, this is only the introduction.
You can impress hiring representatives through a comprehensive skills summary section above your job history- a must-have for any career change. It puts more emphasis on your skill-set including soft skills as opposed to your employment history. This can make you appear more qualified as a candidate in the eyes of the recruiters.
For example, possess skills in coding? They include it as so:
“Experience in HTML, CSS, JS:”
- Built an online personal portfolio and resume website using HTML, CSS, JS.
- Built an app from scratch using Angular 8, designed UI with Sketch.
No matter their age or career background, we provide expert advice to ensure any jobseeker receives the best support during every stage of their career journey. Here at Gough Recruitment, our specialist recruiters put in all their efforts to ensure job seekers are matched with the right career opportunities.
Get in contact with Gough Recruitment today and discover how you can kickstart your career change.