Breaking into a New Industry: Make These Powerful Job Search Shifts

“My non-traditional experience is scaring off employers.”

I often hear this issue surface when jobseekers are pivoting in a new direction. It usually surfaces after they’ve started applying online and they are not landing interviews for roles where they know they could be a great fit.

Here’s why you’re not getting noticed.

Recruiters look for the closest match. The closest match is someone who has done the same job in the past – usually in the same industry. If your recent work history is not the same, you could be overlooked EVEN IF your resume shows all of your relevant skills and transferable experience. The fact that your previous job title is not a match could move your resume to the trash folder.

To take this one step further, recruiters are reading large volumes of resumes at a time. Since time is a limited resource, they are quickly scanning resumes before deciding on your fit for the role. You may have heard about how they only spend a few seconds scanning. This is true. And whoever looks like the closest match in the stack wins. Period.

A well-organized resume can often win over a resume jam-packed with information on your transferable skills. Why? The recruiter isn’t reading the resume word for word. They need you to make the connection between your past experience and this role. And they need to quickly see you make that connection. Otherwise, you lose.

Here’s what you may try to do.

When faced with this problem, most job seekers will turn their attention back to the resume again and again. They’ll rewrite the resume or write multiple versions of their resume. They will invest hundreds of dollars to hire a professional to write a resume and then attempt to tailor that resume as they apply to various roles. And they become exhausted re-framing their experience over and over again.

And guess what. They still go unnoticed.

Here’s why that may not work.

The root cause of why employers are scared off by your non-traditional experience is not necessarily the resume. Employers may want and need someone with a different background to help them approach problems differently. In fact, many are looking for applicants who are adaptable and innovative in today’s job market.

Typically, the problem stems from how job seekers are sourcing jobs AND telling their story. By applying online, you are putting yourself in a big pile with other applicants, and this is the most highly competitive place to be because you are likely to be compared to those with traditional experience. It’s hard to make your non-traditional experience resonate in a stack of resumes that look like a closer match.

If you want to break into a new career with a non-traditional background, you want to apply non-traditional methods for job hunting.

Here are two places to start:

1)???EFFECTIVE POSITIONING: Master your story to ensure you feel confident in speaking about the career change. Practice sharing your story with friends and family – including how you see it playing out in your career. Talk about why you made the decision to change careers and the value you bring to the new industry – not everything, just the relevant things. Target job descriptions provide many clues on how to position your story.

2)???EFFICIENT SEARCH PLAN: Focus on people instead of job postings. Stop relying solely on being found in a stack of resumes. You are not just a resume. You are a person. And people hire people they like. Your network will guide you towards ideal opportunities. The key is knowing how to build and/or access a network in a new industry. This can be done in a matter of days with the simple approach that I teach clients.

When you get these two things right, you will land at least 3 interviews per week and consistently break into target companies without applying online. I have executive clients landing up to 8 interviews per week in today’s hot job market. You can do this too!

What I’ve shared above are some of the main things I teach in my 4-week Make Your Move program that takes you from overlooked job seeker to consistently interviewing at target companies. I also address resume & LinkedIn profile set-up and how to “woo” in interviews. I give you the plan, tools, and ongoing support to make your next career move with confidence.

Message me here on LinkedIn if interested in this program and we can chat to see if it’s a good fit; if so, we can get started right away.

Happy hunting!