How to get your resume ready for a career change.



Your resume needs to be updated and focus on the relevant skills set.

Photo credit: Enisha Digital
Maybe you feel unfulfilled at your current job or you have a new passion to try something different. Whatever the reason, you have decided to pursue a career that matches your new interests that you have developed over time. Scott Dinsmore on his TED talk says that the impossibilities we have in our head are just milestones waiting to be accomplished if we push beyond those limits. Venturing to a different line of work may offer benefits for a better work and life balance. Your resume needs to be updated and focus on the relevant skills set.
Resume style
Use a resume format that is ideal for changing careers. Since you don’t have much experience in the new field then you can use a hybrid resume style. This is a combination of the functional and chronological format. What it means is that your skills are higher up in the resume followed by your work experience is lower. You still need to include an account of your work experience for clarity to your potential employers.
Objectives
This appears at the beginning of your resume. You begin by quickly summarizing your skills and the relevance in relation to the new industry. To have a strong resume objective you need to be brief and specific. For example, “Professional accounting with over 5 years’ experience seeking to transfer skills to finance industry…”
Skills
Demonstrate your value by describing in details the hard and soft skills that you have acquired in your career journey. This section follows your objectives. The skills mentioned need to relate to the job description. It could be leadership, team work or communication skills. The goal is to convince the hiring manager that you qualify to fit the position.
Education
Provide brief bullet points after each educational listing to indicate what skills you developed. If you pursued education aside from your college degree like a certificate of attendance or participation, it is also relevant to put it in your resume.
Employment history
Change the focus to the abilities you’ve used or gained in your previous career. The employer in your new field will focus less on you having little experience and more on what you can offer. Look at an example of a teacher who has changed fields to apply for a data associate working on a voice-operated human interface device. Instead of focusing on the academic aspects of teaching, they can center on the communication skills that teaching entails like effective oral and written communication.
Interesting read
Share this article with your friends and family




Selinah | December 14, 2020 07:32
"the impossibilities we have in our head are just milestones waiting to be accomplished if we push beyond those limits" this is a nice quote and my new mantra. I will definitely try the new hybrid CV writing style and hope for the best career change
Julius | December 13, 2020 06:40
Great work
KIRIAMA | December 10, 2020 14:44
Nice one. Thank you.
MALACHI | December 09, 2020 16:03
The article is lit
Miriam | November 13, 2020 18:07
I think that you are changing lives
Florence | November 05, 2020 08:31
Well explained boss
KAWEMBE | October 24, 2020 17:50
POWERFUL
Mayamiko Mpemba | October 10, 2020 13:08
Well Don MR
Wezzie | September 29, 2020 10:10
so wonderful
Terer | September 28, 2020 06:34
Yes very good news for people who are interested in changing careers
Terer | September 28, 2020 06:32
Yes very piece of advice.Thanks
Byamukama | September 26, 2020 11:28
How can l get a clean CV because whener l apply no feedback
Hyrene | September 26, 2020 09:56
The tips are alright keep it up for more encouragement actually the time has come whereby specialization is no longer vital.
Mandela | September 25, 2020 18:29
wonderful guide! thanks guys for this.....
LOISE | September 25, 2020 10:52
very interesting piece of advice