When you’re ready for advancement up the career ladder, all usually goes well when you’re in the same field. You can demonstrate the know-how familiar to those who are interested in promoting or hiring you.
However, changing careers is another matter; marketing your skills for a switch into another industry can be tough. You might fear that employers will only glance at your resume before tossing it aside.
There actually ARE ways to get hiring managers to see the relevance of your skills, believe it or not–and much of it has to do with what you tell them on your resume. To illustrate, consider the case of Jay Jones, a fictional candidate who is targeting a sales career even though his current position doesn’t reflect this goal. His existing resume looks like this:
OBJECTIVE: Seeking senior sales role that utilizes my closing and prospecting abilities.
WORK HISTORY
Front Range Golf, Operations Assistant, 2007-Present
-Managed customer service, payroll, and accounting for upscale golf community.
ABC Company, Sales Associate, Denver, Colorado, 2005-2007
-Cultivated new account base, with 50% rise in new business, by networking at community events.
-Named to President’s Club for sales achieved through new account growth.
-Consulted with clients to determine best product fit for requirements.
XYZ Corporation, Sales Assistant, Westminster, Colorado, 1997-2005
-Increased revenue by 10% with effective consultative selling strategies targeting business accounts.
-Closed largest percentage of corporate sales from online prospecting activities.
Here are my recommendations for his resume, given his goal of a new position in sales:
1 – Don’t use a functional format.
Many people will tell you to use a functional resume, since this is the supposedly tried-and-true method for a career change.
I have some unfortunate news for anyone trying this idea: it won’t work. Employers often view functional formats with suspicion, as they are used by candidates who are trying to downplay some facet of their career history.
A functional resume, which conveys your achievements within functional, or skill categories, usually saves your work history for last, and then presents each job as a single line. Jay’s resume would look like this if he used a functional format:
OBJECTIVE: Seeking senior sales role that utilizes my closing and prospecting abilities.
SALES LEADERSHIP
-Increased revenue by 10% with effective consultative selling strategies targeting business accounts.
-Closed largest percentage of corporate sales from online prospecting activities.
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
-Cultivated new account base, with 50% rise in new business, by networking at community events.
-Named to President’s Club for sales achieved through new account growth.
BENEFIT SELLING STRATEGIES
-Consulted with clients to determine best product fit for requirements.
WORK HISTORY
Front Range Golf, Operations Assistant, 2007-Present
ABC Company, Sales Associate, Denver, Colorado, 2005-2007
XYZ Corporation, Sales Assistant, Westminster, Colorado, 1997-2005
Clearly, this format makes tying the achievements to each job rather difficult. The result? An employer may skip this resume entirely, instead of trying to interpret Jay’s actual experience.
2 – Add an Achievements section.
Since first-page content on a resume grabs the eye and intrigues the reader, this type of format puts the most interesting information first, without resorting to a functional format. The Achievements is section can give compelling data about you and your RELEVANT qualifications, all while satisfying the employer’s need to know what you’ve done at each job.
Now, let’s look at how Jay would use this strategy:
OBJECTIVE: Seeking senior sales role that utilizes my closing and prospecting abilities.
SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
-Increased revenue by 10% with effective consultative selling strategies targeting business accounts.
-Cultivated new account base, with 50% rise in new business, by networking at community events.
-Named to President’s Club for sales achieved through new account growth.
WORK HISTORY
Front Range Golf, Operations Assistant, 2007-Present
-Managed customer service, payroll, and accounting for upscale golf community.
ABC Company, Sales Associate, Denver, Colorado, 2005-2007
-Consulted with clients to determine best product fit for requirements.
XYZ Corporation, Sales Assistant, Westminster, Colorado, 1997-2005
-Closed largest percentage of corporate sales from online prospecting activities.
3 – Remove the objective and put your personal brand into a Profile.
All too often, job seekers follow the advice of yesteryear, where they were encouraged to add an Objective statement. In today’s hiring market, you may have already discovered that a resume objective just doesn’t cut it.
Savvy professionals will add a profile that reflects their personal brand and true capabilities–and profiles that gain the most attention will include information that distinguishes you, such as a former military background, a graduate-level degree, and special abilities. Don’t forget to make your ultimate goal–in this case, a sales role–abundantly clear to the reader.
Jay’s final resume would then read:
SALES PROFESSIONAL
Intensely motivated, articulate sales representative offering strong sales aptitude and outstanding closing skills, with exceptional record of account growth. Talent for building solid client relationships that generate profitability and create generous referral rate. Recent MBA graduate skilled in establishing rapport with decision makers.
SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
-Increased revenue by 10% with effective consultative selling strategies targeting business accounts.
-Cultivated new account base, with 50% rise in new business, by networking at community events.
-Named to President’s Club for sales achieved through new account growth.
WORK HISTORY
Front Range Golf, Operations Assistant, 2007-Present
-Managed customer service and food sales within upscale golf community.
ABC Company, Sales Associate, Denver, Colorado, 2005-2007
-Consulted with clients to determine best product fit for requirements.
XYZ Corporation, Sales Assistant, Westminster, Colorado, 1997-2005
-Closed largest percentage of corporate sales from online prospecting activities.
As you can see, Jay can now market himself for a role that differs substantially from his current position, all by using a strong Profile, Achievements section, and classic reverse-chronological resume format. This approach can also work well for professionals whose experience in the desired role is fairly light, but who want to bring out these skills to their best advantage.
If you’re intent on showing an employer just how qualified you really are–without a current job that shows it–consider altering your resume style in order to get hiring managers to focus on your most relevant credentials.
