Are you thinking of changing careers in 2009 in fear of your own industry's downturn? Before you commit to a new industry, please extensively research. According to Miriam Salpeter, Career Builder forecast a less gloomy job market than expected (check out her post "Best jobs for 2009"). She further references other great sources for career enhancement / job searching. One of the many things in her post that made me truly hopeful is the prediction that Green jobs will be in the rise! Great news for job seekers and the environment. Alright!
About Updating Your Resume for a Career Change
The following instructions will help you edit your resume for a career change:
1. Remove all the words (verbs, nouns, and phrases) that brand you in your current career. Of course, be careful not to remove too many nouns or your sentences will make no sense at all. Keep in mind that because resume writing is telegraphic, you don't need complete sentences and so sentence fragments are acceptable (so don't worry about the wiggly green lines in your MS Word doc.); however, you still must make sense. If you find you need to keep some verbs/nouns in, replace them with words less relevant to the industry you are trying to get away from. The ideal situation would be to use words that are closer in relevancy to your new career goal. But if you are new to this industry, this will be somewhat difficult to do; in that case, use more general nouns.
2. Create a Qualifications Highlight, Summary, or Strengths section. Before you get into your work history, since all your work history will be outside of this new target career, create a Highlight section so that you can list vibrant, action-oriented, and convincing sentences as to why you would be a great candidate for this new job. To create this section, reflect on why have you pursued this new career. Is there experience in your past that has prompted you to seek this career change? What skills are transferable into this new industry?
I love to create Qualifications Highlight sections because it allows me to bring my clients' most qualifying information to the forefront, even if that experience happened a long time ago.Take a look at this nursing resume sample and see how key qualifications were introduced immediately: http://www.creatingprints.com/Resume-service/Review-Resume.html
3. Be brief about your non-relevant experience.The more you elaborate on achievements and experience not related to your new career, the further away from the ideal candidate for a career change you will become! Still, infuse your resume with achievements--just put a spin on it so your new boss can envision you working for them!
4. Be creative. Use a graphic, logo, design, style, fonts that will help create that new image. I am strong believer in creative, yet professional resumes. All my clients receive something visually dynamic. Occasionally, I will have a client who wants no color or graphics on the resume -- yet, I still create something a bit on the modern side. Of course, content is king! And, I am not suggesting that the format replace the message. All I am saying is that dressing up counts. Take a look at this resume I created for a student with no experience in non-profit http://www.creatingprints.com/Non-profit-student-resume.html
I know times are a bit scary and challenging -- the most honest advice I offer you is that you must be resourceful, creative, persistent, prepared, and try and keep a positive outlook. Below I have linked back to a few post from last year that will provide a bit more helpful information. If you have any questions, please call me at 407-802-4962 or email me at rvargas@creatingprints.com
Keep Your Cool While You Job Search
Don't Miss Out on Job Opportunities...
Regards,
Rosa E. Vargas
Certified Resume Writer
