Career Change Resumes

In most situations, the best career change resumes are combination resumes. This format allows you to use the skills summary section to highlight your transferable skills. Taking your skills out of the context of the work experience section and including them in a skills summary section will allow you to describe your skills and experience in a way that shows how they are relevant to the new job you are seeking.

1. For many career changers, it will be beneficial to expand the skills summary section beyond the standard five to eight points. A larger skills summary section that is divided into the major skill areas of the job you are seeking will help to show the employer that you have all of the skills needed to do the job.
   

2. Do not omit the work experience section on your resume. Even if your past work history is not related to your new career goals, your work experience will show you have a solid work history. A resume without a work history section lacks credibility in the minds of the vast majority of employers. There are very few, if any, good reasons for omitting your work history from your resume.
   

3. If you have some experience in your new field, perhaps you've done some related volunteer work or job placements, ensure that experience is near the beginning of your resume, where employers will notice it. You may choose to create a section called "Related Experience" that would go right after your skills summary. That way you can put all of your related experience in one place.
   
   
   

   If your related experience was volunteer work or a placement, be very clear about that; don't try to imply that it was paid employment if it wasn't. You must not lie on your resume, but it is acceptable and desirable to structure your resume in a way that effectively highlights your most important selling features as they relate to the new job you are seeking. After the related experience section, you may include a section called additional experience where you can include your work history of unrelated jobs.
   

4. If you have no paid work experience in your new career but you have returned to school to train for your new career, include the education section before your work experience so the employer will notice that first.
   
   
   
   
   
    
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