Career Change Resume:

If you are considering a shift in your career path, you should think about revamping your current resume into a “career change resume” that represents your intention.  

Revamping your resume to support a career change doesn’t have to be difficult, but you do want to strategically update it to highlight transferable skills, relevant accomplishments, and your readiness for the new role or field. 

Here are some actionable steps:

Use a Functional or Hybrid Resume Format

Most job seekers use the traditional chronological resume format. The benefit of the chronological resume style is that your career progression is emphasized. Therefore, hiring managers can easily see your experience within a specific career track. 

However, when you are shifting career tracks and therefore crafting a career change resume, you will want to leverage some of the characteristics of a functional resume format. A functional resume is also known as a skills-based resume and highlights your skills, capabilities, and overall qualifications over your work history. 

A functional resume organizes your skills into categories such as ‘Leadership,’ ‘Marketing,’ ‘Budgets and Negotiation,’ and ‘Technology.’ The benefit to using the functional format is that hiring managers can quickly assess your qualifications. The downside is that your work history is downplayed or not represented.

Therefore, the perfect approach when switching careers is to use a format that combines both the traditional chronological and functional formats. This resume format is known as the hybrid resume. Using the hybrid resume format is ideal for career changers because it allows you to emphasize transferable skills and achievements while still including a chronological work history. This format allows you to prioritize relevant skills because your direct experience in the new industry may be light or nonexistent.

Resume For Change in Career: Suggested Sections 

While the following sections are similar across each resume type, when crafting a career change resume, these sections will focus more on your intention to shift careers along with transferable skills. 

The typical sections for a hybrid career change resume include: 

• • Contact Information
  • Resume Summary/Objective
  • Skills Section
  • Work Experience (highlighting transferable skills)
  • Relevant Certifications or Courses
  • Education

Let’s break down a few of these sections, providing examples to help. 

Resume Summary or Objective

Craft a compelling summary or objective that represents your career change as a strength. You can do this by focusing on transferable skills and how they align with the requirements of the new role. Here are a few examples: 

An organized and highly effective Senior Clinical Research Associate with a strong working knowledge of GCP and ICH guidelines seeks the opportunity to shift into a Quality or Regulatory role.

A seasoned sales professional with over 7 years of customer engagement experience, eager to apply strong communication and problem-solving abilities in a dynamic Account Management Position.

Skilled bookkeeper with more than 10 years of experience overseeing substantial financial portfolios, looking to shift into the finance sector. My solid foundation makes me a strong candidate for a Finance Assistant position.

Highlight Transferable Skills

In a functional or hybrid resume, the skills section should emphasize your key competencies and relevant abilities. They should be presented in a clear and organized format that highlights your strengths while aligning with the requirements of the target job.  

You will first identify the skills you have learned and/or exhibited in previous roles that are valuable in your target industry. Remember that it is essential to highlight a mix of hard skills and soft skills that are relevant to the job you are applying for. Here are some great skills to put on a resume. 

Soft Skills:

• • Leadership: Highlight your ability to manage teams or projects effectively.
  • Communication: Include both written and verbal communication skills.
  • Active Listening: Show that you can focus and understand instructions well.
  • Problem-Solving: Demonstrate your ability to identify and solve problems.
  • Adaptability: Emphasize your ability to adapt to changing environments.
  • Time Management: Highlight your ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines.
  • Interpersonal Skills: Showcase your ability to work collaboratively with others.
  • Emotional Intelligence: Highlight your ability to manage your emotions and those of others.

Hard Skills:

• • Computer Skills: Proficiency in software like Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Google Suite, or specific industry tools.
  • Technical Skills: Programming languages (e.g., Python, Java), data analysis tools (e.g., SQL, Tableau), or cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure).
  • Digital Skills: Experience with video meeting software, project management tools (e.g., Asana, Trello), or digital marketing platforms.
  • Foreign Language Skills: Being bilingual or multilingual can be a significant asset.
  • Marketing Skills: Knowledge of social media platforms, content creation, or marketing analytics.
  • Math Skills: Proficiency in financial analysis, budgeting, or statistical analysis.
  • Project Management: Experience with project management methodologies (e.g., Agile, Scrum) or tools like Jira.

Don’t forget Industry-Specific Skills

Here are a couple of examples:

• • If transitioning from teaching to corporate training, emphasize skills like curriculum design, public speaking, and team collaboration. 
  • In the clinical research industry, don’t forget to include essential skills such as understanding Good Clinical Practices (GCP), regulatory requirements, data management, and protocol development. 

Tips for Listing Relevant Skills

• • Customize: Tailor your skills to match the job description.
  • Provide Examples: Use specific examples from your experience to demonstrate each skill.
  • Quantify Achievements: Where possible, use numbers to show the impact of your skills (e.g., “Increased project efficiency by 25% through effective time management”).

Revise Your Work Experience

Listing your work experience is still important when using a hybrid resume format. But how you present your work experience will differ. A hybrid resume balances a prominent skills section (as discussed above) with a concise, reverse-chronological work history listed underneath. 

You must still include job titles, employers, and dates of employment. But instead of listing job duties, focus on accomplishments and transferable skills relevant to the new role or field. Use bullet points starting with strong action verbs to describe how your past roles prepared you for this transition.

The examples below demonstrate how strong action verbs coupled with quantifiable results can effectively highlight achievements and responsibilities within your work experience. 

• • Analyzed customer data to identify new opportunities for targeted specific markets, resulting in a 20% increase in sales. 
  • Managed a team of 10 CRAs, ensuring all project timelines were met and patient enrollment targets exceeded. 
  • Coordinated with a global cross-functional team to successfully launch and manage a phase III oncology project within the expected timeframe.
  • Optimized employee performance by implementing a new onboarding program and offering monthly professional development opportunities. 

Add Relevant Certifications or Courses

You will only want to showcase certifications or training programs that demonstrate your commitment to learning the fundamentals of your new career path. 

I see job seekers list every certification or course they have obtained. This is a mistake. Only list those that are relevant to your targeted career path. 

You can also include courses you have completed or are currently enrolled in. 

Tailor Your Resume for Each Position

Hiring managers prioritize different criteria based on their specific needs, leading them to search for distinct keywords. Carefully analyze each job description and position requirements to pinpoint the skills and experiences you possess that directly match their expectations. 

You will want to incorporate keywords from the job description into your skills, summary, and experience sections. Not only will this improve compatibility with applicant tracking systems (ATS), but when human eyes view your resume, they will be impressed with how well you match their requirements. 

Here are some techniques you can use to identify and integrate keywords. 

Analyze the Job Description

Be careful, as you don’t want to copy the job description into your resume. But you do want to read it carefully. As you thoroughly review the job description to understand the key responsibilities and qualifications, identify key terms that are repeated or resonate with you. 

Match Your Skills

Assess where your skills and experiences align with the key terms you noted in the job description. Make a list of those relevant skills and experiences. 

Integrate Keywords into Your resume 

Now that you have listed your skills and experiences that align with the job description, you will integrate them into your base resume to create a tailored resume for the job. Remember to: 

• • Use bullets and always start with action verbs such as ‘managed,’ ‘created,’ ‘developed,’ etc. 
  • Where it makes sense (and is genuine), mirror the job description language. Again, you should never copy/paste the job description into your resume, but where possible, use some of the phrasing from the job description to describe your experiences. 
  • Don’t forget to quantify your achievements. You will find power in numbers, so include numbers or metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work. 

Here are a couple of examples: 

The job description states:  Seeking a marketing manager with experience in digital marketing campaigns, social media management, and team leadership. 

If you hold skills relevant to the above statement, you can include keywords or keyword phrases similar to the below to describe your related experiences: 

• • Marketing Manager (used as a title if relevant)
  • Managed digital marketing campaigns to increase brand visibility by 25% 
  • Successfully led a team in social media management, resulting in a 50% increase in followers. 

In Conclusion

By following these steps, you can effectively create a ‘career change resume’ by revamping your current resume. 

Need support? We can help. We are building a free online community that offers support to job seekers as well as creating coaching programs to help you become a more competitive job seeker. Reach out today, we are here to help!