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Have you ever known someone who went from being a staff accountant to a manager in a manufacturing environment? Or a restaurant shift lead to a veterinary assistant? How do people make that leap with confidence and how do they convince employers to hire them when it doesn’t seem like they have any relevant experience?

In many cases, people return to school and earn a new degree or certification, and that easily explains a big industry change on your resume. But if you’re a seasoned employee changing industries, should you always plan on starting as an entry-level employee?

Take a look at these tips and, whether you’re considering a major change or not, identify which ones can help you maximize your digital history.

Describe Your Transition in Your Summaries

Whether your digital portfolio is on LinkedIn, a personal website, or another platform, you likely can provide a summary of who you are, what interests you, and why people should want to work with you! Use those summaries to help people see the value you bring to your new industry. Consider a phrase like the following:

As a team leader in the restaurant industry, I had to be flexible – we never knew how each night was going to be different from the next. I’m excited to apply the quick thinking and adaptability I learned over the last 10 years to my new role as a marketing manager. Each client is unique, and I am ready to listen and respond as needed to any situation.

Use Descriptive Headings, Not Job Titles

Years ago, a common recommendation started floating around about your profile headline: Describe the work you do instead of listing your current position. You are more than your job title!

The same concept can apply to other aspects of your digital profile. As you review your professional experience, can you replace your job titles with a more descriptive headline? It doesn’t work in every industry, but maybe it will work in yours. Here are a few examples:

Instead of Account Manager at X Company, would Relationship Manager, Client Liaison, Sales Manager, or Client Manager better describe the work you did?

Instead of Customer Service Representative, could you describe your previous work as being a Support Specialist, Service Agent, Client Advisor, or Helpdesk Support?

Instead of Project Manager, would the key words Team Leader, Coordinator, Organizer, or Task Manager more closely align with the work you’re moving into?

And if you like this idea but feel stuck on different ways to describe your professional experience, try an internet search or AI tool for suggestions!

Carefully Name (and Update!) Transferrable Skills

Just like your headings, you may have the opportunity to align your experience more closely with your current goals. This process has three steps.

1. Identify terms used in the industry you’re moving into. What words do you often see in job postings, job descriptions, industry networking sites, and related blog posts?
2. Choose a set number of those terms (5 is a good starting point – you can always do more later!) and define them. 
3. Review your digital profile and look for terms you’ve used historically that could be replaced by the terms more common in your new industry!

Here are some examples to show you just how different the same words can be across industries!

Collaboration: working with others to complete a common goal

In business-to-business sales – Partnership

In a marketing department – Teamwork

In a publishing company – Co-author

On a task force – Joint Effort

Problem Solving: identifying issues, analyzing them, and implementing effective solutions

In IT – Troubleshooting

In management – Decision-making

In consulting – Solution-finding

In accounting – Resolution

Where you start and where you want to end up is what determines the opportunities you have to modify some of these terms in your profile, but even a few small changes could make the difference that helps an employer see your potential! And while you’re reviewing those keywords, you may see a job or project description that lacks some detail that could be helpful for your new career path. Make those changes, too! 

Emphasize Projects with Overlapping Content

You may have noticed a bit of a theme related to meeting potential employers where they are or, more frankly, making it as easy as possible for them to see how amazing you are! Sometimes what’s needed is as simple as the arrangement – or rearrangement – of your accomplishments.

Review the details of your work history, paying special attention to the supplemental, detailed examples of project work, volunteerism, and portfolio submissions. Can you identify pieces that are relevant to the industry you’re moving into? Move that work to the top of your digital profile, highlighting it as work you are especially proud of. Here’s an example of what that might look like.

A banker interested in working for an environmental organization completed a project within her organization that allowed the entire company to reduce paper usage by 50%. Even though that initiative happened two years earlier and she has other projects that are more recent, she moves that project to the top of her list and names it: Key Initiative: Team Lead, Paper Reduction – Company-wide Initiative.

This tip is one that it often takes people awhile to realize because we often gravitate toward extra projects that genuinely interest us, and we don’t always do a very good job keeping track of them. I often speak with people who say, “No, I’ve always worked in my current field; I don’t have any experience yet in my new field.” And then days later they message me to say, “Oh, I didn’t even think about the fact that I was on this task force in my company…” Give yourself some time to think about this and you may be surprised at what you’ve done!

Highlight Volunteer Work, Publications, Residencies, and Internships

When established professionals change careers, it may feel awkward to highlight volunteer work or internships, but consider moving that work to the top of your profile, if the work supports the new direction you are moving in. It may be as obvious as a job description or as subtle as a change in what kinds of content you are posting and commenting on, but your digital profile is a great place to tell people what you are doing now. The professional world has become very interested in actions and accomplishments, and that works in your favor as you transition to a new role, because you can explore your new passion and share your progress online!

Transitioning Within Marketing Specialties

If you read the NISM blog, there’s a pretty good chance you work in some form of marketing. Whether it’s full-time or part-time, you may be thinking about diving into a specific area of marketing – or the opposite! You may be thinking about moving from a niche role to using a broader set of your marketing skills. Wherever you’re at, the same rules apply.

1. Update the summaries, headlines, titles, and keywords you have on your digital profile to more closely resemble the area of marketing you’re moving into. If you work specifically with LinkedIn Ads, for example, and want to transition to a more strategic role, rewrite the technical description of the work you do creating and tracking the ads to emphasize the strategic elements of your job.

Original/Technical Description: crafts ad copy, optimizes campaigns, and leverages analytics to drive targeted audience engagement and achieve marketing objectives.

Revised/Strategic Description: develops persuasive ad content tailored to target audiences, maximizing brand visibility, and driving engagement to achieve business growth and lead generation goals.

2. Take a hard look at your project work. Consider descriptions and order, making modifications as needed to best represent the work you did in a way that will support your new goals. Without embellishing, you will be amazed at how a change in your own mindset can allow you to see the work you did previously in a completely different way.

If you change industries, you’ll definitely have a learning curve, but don’t sell yourself short! Even if you are new to a field, you bring a wealth of experience that applies to the new work you’ll be doing. Be prepared to talk about it!

 

About the Author

Dr. Amy Jauman, SMS, CDMP, LEAF, is an author, ghostwriter, international speaker, podcast researcher, and university professor. She is a certified social media strategist (SMS), certified digital marketing professional (CDMP), and certified law enforcement analyst – foundational (LEAF), with a master’s degree in experiential education, graduate certificate in crime analysis, and a doctorate in organization development. Amy has spoken at a variety of conferences on marketing topics, including the I.C.E. Exchange, Digital Marketing Institute, and the National Institute for Social Media. In addition to her ghostwriting projects, Amy has authored two marketing textbooks, five ebooks, and multiple articles and blog posts on the subject of traditional and digital marketing.