How to Write a Career Change Resume With Examples

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There are many reasons why you might decide to change careers.  A career change resume allows you to show transferable skills that are relevant to your new industry when you may not have relevant experience yet. Use these tips and examples as a guide when writing your own career change resume.

What are some important elements of a career change resume?

When changing careers, it’s important to show employers you have the skills needed for the new industry. Your work history will likely be less important than listing the skills you have with specific examples. You want to explain your transferable skills to the hiring manager and explain how qualifications from your past career are relevant to the new industry. 

How to write a career change resume

You can follow these steps to write a career change resume:

1. First, identify transferable skills

Take time to get to know the industry you are moving into. Read industry news and job descriptions to get an idea of skills employers are looking for. Review your current resume and the skills you’ve gained and used during your career. See if there are any skills that you can transfer to your desired field. Many soft skills, like communication and organization, are skills that transfer well.  

Remember that non-professional experience can also be included in your career change resume. Volunteer work and sometimes even hobbies, such as writing blogs or playing a sport, can show specific knowledge and skills. 

2. Second, update your resume objective

Building from the resume objective that appears on the top of your current resume, highlight the type of job you’re looking for. Make sure you explain that you’re seeking a career change in your objective so hiring managers understand immediately. 

Your objective should provide hiring managers with details on how your former career has provided you with the necessary skills for the new industry and the position you’re applying for. If you have any goals you want to achieve in your new career, add those as well. These goals can show the hiring manager why you want to work for them.

3. Third, identify the resume format that works best for you

There are several kinds of resume formats available for you to choose from. A reverse-chronological resume format lists your most recent work experience to your oldest. A functional resume format places more focus on skills instead of where you’ve worked in the past. A combination resume includes components from both the reverse chronological and functional formats. 

For career change resumes, functional and combination templates usually work best as they focus more on what you can do instead of past jobs, which may not be as relevant in a new industry.

4. Next, add a skills section

When hiring managers look through your resume, they most likely will not see familiar responsibilities or job titles from their industry. This makes highlighting your skills important. By adding a skills section to your resume, you can include soft and hard skills relevant to the position you’re applying for. To make this section easier to read, you can separate your hard skills and soft skills so employers can scan them quickly.

5. Then, leave out unnecessary information

Your resume doesn’t need to list every position you’ve ever held, programs used and tasks completed. Your work experience may not transfer to a different industry, so you may be able to exclude a lot of it. In your work history section, include your most recent experience followed by any other jobs that may have similar duties to the position you’re applying for.

Try to include the skills used in your job duties so employers can read specific examples. For example, if you want to highlight your customer service skills, a job description bullet item could be: ‘Assisted over 30 customers per day by making purchasing suggestions and troubleshooting issues.’

6. Finally, use simple, clear language

Explain achievements, job-related tasks, programs and job titles in language that is clear to anyone reading your resume. Try to translate responsibilities and skills into the language used by industry insiders in the field you are moving into. Simple language can also make your resume easier to read quickly, which can help busy employers. 

Career change resume example

Writing a career change resume can be challenging. 

Here is an example of a career change resume you can use to get started:

Example:

Lee Chang
540 Jeffery Blvd.
Chicago, IL 12345
555-555-5555
leechang@email.com

Objective

Engaging and charismatic marketing professional seeking a career change to be an Adjunct Professor of Marketing. Superb presentation talents and communication skills underscored by 15 years of experience in strategic management, financial management, operations management, marketing strategy, market data analysis and technology sales team training. 

Skills

MARKETING:

  • Successfully directed global marketing operations for a new technology business, increasing international sales growth by 87% within 18 months of being hired
  • Led an international technology company into untapped western Europe and China markets

SALES TRAINING: 

  • Created effective online training modules that were implemented by all company sales offices
  • Trained more than 125 Sales Managers in technology sales strategies across Western Europe, Canada and the U.S.

PRESENTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS: 

  • Interpersonal strengths and communication skills that motivate success through one-on-one advertising, discussions and multimedia presentations
  • Contributor to trade publications such as Global Marketing News and Tech Marketing Today

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES: 

  • Adobe Marketing Cloud
  • Salesforce
  • Microsoft Office Suite
  • Microsoft Dynamics 
  • Google Analytics

Work History

Global Marketing Manager, Franklin Technologies, Chicago, IL, 2012 – Present

Market Research Analyst, Integrative Software Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, 2007 – 2012

Sales Manager, Global IT Communications, St. Paul, MN, 2004 – 2007

Education

Master of Business Administration; 3.8 GPA
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Bachelor of Business Administration; 3.9 GPA
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN