Writing a good career change resume or powerful LinkedIn profile to transition careers can sometimes be perceived as a daunting and somewhat stressful task; however, with a few of the right ingredients, recreating your resume to support your career change does not have to be a stressful process. Below you will find some professional resume tips from a career expert to help point you in the right direction:

• Adapting your skill set to the employer’s needs is a great strategy for career changers to communicate their value in a powerful way. I have always been a strong believer in reinventing yourself.

• As you begin to prepare your professional resume, identify three to five transferable skills that are a match between you and the target job. Transferable skills are those skills that may reflect your talent in various areas such as building effective relationships, handling information or data, or working with software, machines, computers, projects, animals, and buildings, etc.

• Employment sites such as realmatch.com can help you to match your qualifications with the employer’s required skills. The example below involves someone who currently works in education; however, 10 years ago he was in a project management position.

Hypothetical Example:

Situation:

You are a Teacher who is interested in transitioning into a Project Management position.

Action: Incorporate a bullet that includes transferable verbiage based on your qualifications and the job requirements.

Sample Resume Bullet:  

Flawlessly executed a $100,000 academic project; successfully managed project lifecycle, budget, scope, milestones, and key deliverables.

Transferable Skills: In this example, managing the project lifecycle, scope, milestones and key deliverables are transferable skills that are typically required in project management positions regardless of the industry.

• For each job on your professionally written resume, if possible, prepare 3-4 achievement-oriented bullets that include a metric communicating how you contributed to your employer. Keep in mind that an achievement-based resume is more effective than a responsibility-driven resume. An achievement-based resume builds on your transferable skills by focusing on accomplishments and achievements, while a responsibility-driven resume focuses on your job duties.

• Percentages work extremely well in showcasing your effectiveness. 

• Each bullet in every job should be written to “tell your story” while you were employed with a particular company.

• Heavy emphasis should be placed on content and format when writing your resume—keeping in mind the format may change as your job strategy and career goals change. Both your career and professional resume should be in a continually evolving process.

• The format you choose may consist of a functional, chronological, or combination resume style. 

Additional Tips:

• Volunteering is a great way to gain valuable experience and explore some opportunities—while simultaneously offering something valuable to your community.

• Internships are also trending upward. They not only serve as a great networking resource, but they also provide an avenue for learning a new set of skills—particularly if you are planning on pursuing a career in the field of your internship.

• If you are in a position to return to school, take advantage of this opportunity to learn new skills or pick up a new trade.

• Attend 2-3 professional networking meetings each week to exchange ideas, learn job search strategies and trends, and explore your possibilities.

• Add or update your social media toolbox—particularly LinkedIn—to reflect your new career interests and personal brand.

Whether you are writing a career change executive resume, IT Director resume, entry-level, professional resume, or for any other desired industry….

Good luck in your career endeavors!