Changing Your Career

Changing Careers

Something we hear frequently is, “I want to change my career. Do I need two résumés?”

The answer is, generally, a resounding No! The way to bend a résumé toward something different is though the cover letter. After all, you are what you are; you have an employment history that is fixed. You can’t change it.

What you can do is to call attention to your skill set, which in most cases fits more than one career path.

For example, let’s say you are a customer service rep — good with people, a good communicator. Now, instead of helping people with a product, you want to help people with their healthcare procedures. You already have a solid background dealing with people, and that’s what you should emphasize in your cover letter. Sure, you’ll need to learn about insurance company procedures; in some cases, you may have to go back to school, or attend seminars and training sessions. The main point is, use your cover letter to emphasize the skills you already have that apply to your new career.

Resources for Changing Your Career

Career Journal
provides a large assortment of hints for job seekers. This section lists tactics for changing your career.

Essortment
offers this article, with tips for writing a persuasive career-change cover letter.

CVTips
provides a sample cover letter here, written specifically for a career change.

About.com
provides a wealth of resources concerning career changes, including the process for doing so. One such article is entitled, “10 Steps To a Successful Career Change.”

CareerBuilder
offers nearly two dozen articles related to changing jobs, covering subjects such as “8 Steps To a Career Comeback” and “Transitioning from Military to Civilian Employment.”