As we approach the New Year, you might be considering a career change or a career direction change. The change may be within your industry or it may be a career change that is completely unrelated to your current job. If you are considering making a change part of your 2006 plans, you should consider your resume now and what tools you will need to accomplish your goals.
First, you need to look at your goals to decide if you will need one resume or more than one. Usually, if you are making a career change toward something that is related to your employment experience, having just one resume prepared will work just fine for you. However, if you are considering several goals that are quite different from each other, more than one resume will be needed.
Making a career change that is still within the same industry is one of the easier changes to accomplish. The resume will reflect your industry knowledge, your experience working with related concepts, and your track record of success. The resume format will be more traditional, containing solid employment history information coupled with demonstrated accomplishments in your industry. It is also important to show in the same-industry resume a record of being able to adapt and learn concepts that are quickly applied. More than likely you will not be starting all over from the beginning in this career change and will be looking at a lateral move that offers different or better opportunities. This is made easier by showing your success in the past working within the industry.
The resume for the complete career direction change is more difficult. You need to know what the employer in the targeted career field is seeking but be able to relate your career history to those needs. Finding ways to relate differing industries in a way that will make you a viable candidate can be a challenge but it can be done. A professional resume writer is trained in looking for similarities between industries and finding accomplishments and skills in one that can be transferred to the other.
For example, I composed a resume for a gentleman who was moving from being an airport worker to being a network technician. He had schooling in his new direction but no experience. In his previous industry, he had been ramp supervisor for a major airline at a major hub airport. It had been his job to coordinate and choreograph all activities related to luggage/cargo onload-offload and to make sure that fueling and restocking of aircraft was accomplished. He had an excellent record in his work that we were able to translate into the needed work skills as a network technician. He managed multiple projects that were time-sensitive simultaneously. He had an excellent safety record as did the crews he supervised so he had the trust and cooperation of both workers and management. He had a head for security issues and had proven he could think out-of-the-box on unusual security issues that arose.
We brought all this into his resume and he landed a job very quickly based on his past work experience. His new employer commented that he could train him in the network skills he was still lacking but that he needed a leader to step in and take control of the IT department; leadership skills were harder to find that network skills. His career direction change was a success and he is now a Vice President of IT for a major international cargo carrier.
One resume size does not necessarily fit all needs, especially if you are conducting a career change. Most people realize this but they don't know what to do about it. That's where we can help.