How to write a resume for a career or industry change

A personalised resume is a way to get a recruiter's attention - but, what if you are trying to break into a new career or industry?

This job application may be a bit more challenging as you may not be entirely sure what the important roles are, key terms and phrases, or even what to highlight first.

Let's learn some tips on doing up a good resume for a job application in this scenario.

Transferable skills

Skills like stakeholder management, budgeting, pitching, sales, and marketing are roles in many job scopes in any industry.

What you can do in your resume is to relate your current skills and how they can be beneficial to the new one.

Coming from a different scope or industry may not be a bad thing.

Diversity is good for companies, and by sharing your background, you can reveal how your experiences are valuable for the new job and explain how it can bring value to them.

Being different and breaking free of the mould can get the company ideas from new perspectives and add skillsets or insights, the team might not currently have.

This could be useful if the company is looking to go into new markets or expand services.

Show interest

If you are changing industries, like into healthcare, you can share personal experiences that can help support your job application.

You can start taking nutrition classes, exercise workshops, or even a course on a specific area that can be useful to the new role.

Companies these days hold many events - from conferences, workshops, brainstorms, or even classes. If you can, participate in them to show an interest in what they do.

At one of these events, you can get the chance to speak to an employee there and learn how you can increase your chances of getting in.

By getting contacts, you can mention them in your cover letter and how they inspired or motivated you to join.

Cover letter

By resume alone, you might not get in as your experiences may not be relevant.

But, by adding a good cover letter, you can showcase your sincerity and your drive to do a career or industry change.

The recruiter may be curious why you wish to make this switch, and you can spell out all your reasons in the letter.

The letter can detail your achievements, learning abilities, intentions, and goals in joining this role. Your passion and drive might score you a second look or even interview.

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