Sitting down to write or review your resume is daunting. Believe me, we know. Especially when you\u2019re hoping to make a change in your career and go after a role that\u2019s different than all others you\u2019ve had, it can be an intimidating thing to wrap your head around. Here is one page of blank space\u2026and you\u2019re supposed to fit your career history there, along with the skills you\u2019ve acquired? That\u2019s hard enough. What if what you used to do, isn\u2019t directly related to what you want to do?<\/p>\n
We meet candidates looking to change the direction of their careers and it is possible to do. By reassessing the direction you\u2019d like to go in, acknowledging your transferrable skills, and arranging how to best present them to prospective employers and clients, you have the ability to make a change.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to approach the goal without losing your head.<\/p>\n
Do you think every high-level director (or even CEO) had in mind the direct path they thought they\u2019d go to get in their position? No, of course not. They got there through a maze of side steps and their GPS redirecting them at different corners. It\u2019s okay to decide to make a change, the key is to be strategic about it (which is where Creative Circle\u00a0can help). Remember that you probably know more about what you\u2019re doing than you think.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the world wide web, there are so many resources available to people in the job market. It goes far beyond sites that are clearly only for job seekers. If you\u2019re interested in a new role in an area that is something different than what you\u2019re doing now, do your research! Hop on to Google and see where searches take you. Search job descriptions, reviews of roles at specific companies, and even people\u2019s personal descriptions on their LinkedIn profiles. Search until you\u2019ve practically overdosed on informational content. Get to know what it is you\u2019ll be expected to do, what you\u2019ll need to learn, what types of people you\u2019ll be expected to interface with (and what their skills are), and what the current challenges and goings-on of this industry are. Just as it\u2019s important before an interview to get excited about the company you\u2019re meeting with and know as much about them as possible, think of your new industry that way as well (whether or not you have an interview there or not).<\/p>\n
Look at job descriptions of the roles you want to be in and remember that not only does each company write their job descriptions in a specific way, but specific industries have nuanced terms they use when discussing a specialty or role. As Jocelyn, a senior recruiter at Creative Circle NY says, \u201cThere can be seven different ways to say the same thing.\u201d Pay attention to the language used, and apply it to your resume and cover letters. Buzzwords can be a great way to catch the eye of the person tasked to pool the most well-matched applications.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re looking over your resume and your skills, don\u2019t take your skill sets for granted. All skills are transferrable (another great point made by Jocelyn) and you can almost always find a way to apply skills you used in one role to the role you\u2019re applying for or the new direction you\u2019re headed in your career. Use the buzzwords mentioned above to describe your responsibilities at previous positions and in your cover letter, explain how your acquired skills can be applied to your new role.<\/p>\n
All in all, when you\u2019re focused on making a change in your career, keep in mind that it is going to be a learning process. Do your best not to get frustrated. Instead, use the resources at your disposal, and remain inspired. Think about how far you\u2019ve come, what you know, and how you can use that to your advantage in this next chapter!<\/p>\n
Allison is a former Creative Circle Account Executive, with a background in creative writing, content writing\/strategy, publishing, and business development. Her world revolves around words and the relationships and interactions they inspire. Allison is now the Content Specialist at Raizlabs, a design and development firm in Boston and San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Are you hoping to change the direction of your career? We can help<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-as-a-freelancer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n