Have you ever thought about a career shift? These LinkedIn members have advice.

Karlton McIver is a Georgia-based audio video specialist who was working live events prior to the pandemic. But with no clear end in sight, those plans now have to change.

“There is no way of predicting what the future looks like moving forward,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I am currently rebranding myself ... as a multimedia solutions expert for businesses that need this skill now in order to compete in this new business climate.”

McIver's pivot is just one of the many ripple effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. In some cases, workers in the entertainment, arts and live events industry remain completely shut out of work. Meanwhile, even those who work at businesses that have the ability to open at limited capacities are hurting financially, with many restaurants, for example, reporting a fraction of the revenues they’re used to, due to indoor dining restrictions in many states.

So, it’s not surprising that a recent edition of our #GiveAndGetHelp series — which highlights a question from a single reader each week — featured a question that was on the minds of two separate members. They both asked how others have achieved a transition from one industry to another, specifically when starting from retail management. 

It's not the first time the topic has come up. Multiple retail managers on LinkedIn have told me in the past they’ve found it difficult to even get a call back when applying for a new job, in a new field, even when they truly feel their skills can perfectly match. (One described it as being “pigeon-hold.”)

What was different about the conversation this time, though, is the overwhelming response.

Hundreds of people weighed in sharing stories, details and advice about how they changed careers, sometimes more than once. You can check out all the comments here, and about a dozen key responses from former retail managers here. But in this edition of The Hustle, I’m highlighting some noteworthy responses on the general topic of career transitions (regardless of which industry anyone is interested in making the jump from).

Check them out below.

The pro’s advice

If you’ve read this column, you may have noticed me cite Mike Howard once or twice. That’s because Howard is literally a professional resume writer who specializes in helping the retail worker present the most polished version of herself. On this occasion, his input was brief, but nonetheless noteworthy, not just for those in retail, but also outside of the industry. 

“In my experience, it's important to focus your resume on transferable experience, not transferable skills,” he wrote. “Skills by themselves are subjective and mean very little. You need to show what you did with your talents.”

Check out this free resource

“Spend quality time updating your LinkedIn profile and resume,” Jeff McNulty, a retail analyst, wrote. “Your LinkedIn profile IS your digital resume. Reach out to LinkedIn makeover experts; Donna Serdula is an excellent choice.”

While there are a number of resources out there to improve your LinkedIn presence, I took McNulty’s advice and looked up Serdula, who is a [job description]. She’s offering the first three chapters of her just-released guide to managing your LinkedIn profile for free. I checked out those chapters myself, and they do indeed include detailed advice worth checking out if you have 20 minutes of spare time. 

To check out more about how to access that advice, check out this article on LinkedIn from Serdula herself. You can also find LinkedIn’s own best practices for creating content here.

Reach out to these people for help

For the last section of this newsletter, I want to point out six specific LinkedIn members who shared stories about changing careers. I’ve asked those six whether they’d be open to answering questions from anyone interested in learning more about how exactly they accomplished their industry shifts, and they obliged. 

So, feel free to reach out to the people highlighted below, whose profiles you can visit clicking the graphics below each of their names. 

Nancy Villa - Retail to medical billing

"I went to the local library to get information from the career center. I wanted to reinvent myself to provide a better future for my kids. They redirected me to the One-Stop Unemployment office, this is a Department of Labor center that helps people looking for a job. So, I went there, gave them my resume, took a mandatory tour, and it was the day I made a decision that changed my life."

Jayvin Card - Retail to human resources 

"I had multiple resumes tailored to various fields that focused more heavily on the corresponding qualities I had developed and used at Walmart. Did I hire, hold orientations, terminate, train, recruit and so on? Yes. Was it the focal point of my role? Not even close, but when applying for HR jobs I weighed it heavier."

Rebecca Sweet - Administrative assistance to nursing

"I have held so many jobs, I would be hard-pressed to remember them all. They were not careers, just jobs. The most recent change I made was the biggest, and it gave me a career."

Lisa McKnight - Retail to real estate

"I was in retail off and on for 10-15 years. The key to making the transition is to expand your skills and have different resumes presenting those skills in different wording for different industries, leaving out unrelated experience."

Nikki Edwards - Retail to sales

"I worked retail until 2015 when I was a Wine and Spirits Manager at Cost Plus World Market. Retail translated pretty well to sales, but selling wine was really helpful in being able to profile different customers quickly and how to talk to them."

Laura Barnes - Casino worker to web content writer

"I have been working in the casino business for almost 17 years when I decided I wanted a change. In the casino, I learned so many valuable, transferable skills that I knew would translate into all sorts of businesses but my resume had no traction."

Do you have an idea for what subject The Hustle should focus on next? Share your thoughts in the comments below.