Six Resume Writing Tips for Career Changers

As the countdown to Christmas begins, this is normally the time when  you reflect on your career and if it’s time for a change to kick off the new year. If you’re looking at changing your career for 2020, freelance writer Bridgette Hernandez is back with her top 6 writing tips for your CV when looking to change your career. 

“The dynamic nature of the world has it that things change from time to time. Everything around us is continuously subjected to change: friends, estates, schools, and sometimes careers. Where a career change occurs, you’ll need a new, revamped resume.

While writing a resume is a daunting task, creating a new resume for a career change can be even more challenging. The transition from a career to another requires that you document your experiences, also if it is in a completely different field. It is because in every work experience, soft skills are gained, and they are transferrable.

Here’s how to get started developing your resume. Below are a few tips.

1. Identify Your Transferrable Skills 

Your career change resume has to maximize on transferrable skills. They tell the hiring manager how your skills from the previous career are relevant and vital in your new career. To maximize your transferrable skills, you have to identify your transferrable skills.

Begin by trying to understand what the new industry needs. Then, research on the latest industry news and job descriptions to gain a sense of the type of skills the employers require. Have your current resume and write down a set of skills that have helped you throughout the career. List down the skills that match, and are required in your new industry.

While listing down skills, you have to be creative. Most careers have a lot of skills in common, but it takes a creative mind to see it. For example, a sales marketer and a teacher have a lot in common, despite the careers being different. Both require the ability to sustain an audience, give a presentation, and convey messages most understandably.

2. Choose the Best Resume Format

When writing a resume, three formats could be used: chronological, functional, and combination formats.

• A chronological resume – is a format that lists experience from the most recent to the oldest. It is the most commonly used format.
• A functional format – it is a format that helps highlight the most relevant skills and experiences.
• A combination format – it mixes both the chronological and the functional format.

If you are shifting careers, the combination format is the best to use. It helps you list your accomplishments by skill. It shows the hiring officer what you’ve done, even if you’ve not held the job title.

Build your resume format with the best resume fonts, headings, and accurate spacing. And as you save your resume, ensure to have it both in PDF and Word format. Some hiring agencies accept PDF, while others don’t. Having both will keep you at a safe spot. But always check with the job advertisement to see the preferred format of submission.

3. Resume Objective

Since you are changing careers, a resume objective is required. It is rarely used as it mainly focuses on job seeker’s goals rather than accomplishments. To convince a hiring manager, your objectives have to lure them into believing that you are better than any other candidate.

Use your resume objective to turn your focus into skills you’ve earned throughout your current career, and how you are planning to use them in your new career. A resume objective is a great way to link your current career to your new career by tying it with skills you wish to help you create an impact in your new role.

According to Matt Hummel, an HR expert at and writing contributor at IsAccuate, “The job seeker has to prove their knowledge in the new career in the resume objective. They have to give insights on how they gained knowledge, and make sure they are very specific while at it.”

4. Include a Skills Section

Since you are changing careers, a quick scan through your resume will show that you don’t have experience in the job title you’re seeking. But you have to prove that you have all that is required to fit in the advertised position.

Use the skills section to persuade the hiring manager that you have the skills that matter. List all your accomplishments by skills that are relevant to your new career, and precisely, the job you’re seeking.

5. Jargon

A new career means a new way of doing things, hence a new jargon. Jargon is the way people in a specific field understand each other, by how things in the field are presented. It enhances inclusivity, makes you feel like an insider, but when changing careers, there ought to be some adjustments.

A particular field jargon is only understandable by people working in that field. In the changing of careers, your current career jargon can be confusing and alienating to people in your new career. The hiring manager in your new career may not understand some titles used in your resume in regards to your current career. 

Your resume should be considerate by explaining job titles, tasks, and achievements in a language relatable to everyone. It should be clear to avoid any misunderstanding. Also, your new resume has to be tailored to suit the jargon of the new field. It should be written in the insider language of the new career.

6. Cover Letter

Including a cover letter is paramount to your resume when changing careers. It helps you explain your motives and answers questions which the hiring managers will want to know once they have read your career change resume.

When writing your cover letter, begin with the hiring manager’s name. Say why you’re excited about the job and how you got to know of the job. Advance by explaining why you think you are perfect for the job despite the career change.

Add a call to action to your cover letter. A great cover letter can give you an advantage over the others. You can request the help of online resources for a great cover letter such as Grammarly, TrustMyPaper and WritingJudge.

In conclusion, writing a resume for a career change is a meticulous process. It requires a lot of care in all the details provided, as it is the little details that make the difference. Before writing it, you are required to think and carry out research on the new field you wish to get in.

A career is essential to your life. The only expectation you have is to be successful and leave an impact in your respective field. The least you’d expect is for a resume to mess up your career, especially if you are changing careers, and that’s why the above tips are crucial. ” 

Bridgette Hernandez is a Master in Anthropology who is interested in writing and planning to publish her own book in the nearest future. She finished her study last year but is already a true expert when it comes to presenting a text in a creative and understandable manner. She also works with professional writing companies such as GrabMyEssay and Studicus as a writer. The texts she writes are always informative, based on qualitative research but nevertheless pleasant to read.

If you would like to find out what current opportunities we have available with the life science and healthcare industries, you can register your details, or email us enquiries@zenopa.com with your updated CV and one of our experienced consultants will come back you.