Reader Soledad, in her early 50s, is feeling fed up with her current job and wants to shift direction without starting completely over. She is unsure how to present her CV when her past roles differ from her desired future. Career guru James Innes provides guidance on making a successful transition.
Understanding the Challenge
Innes acknowledges that many people reach a point in their career where they want a change. He says, 'Many people get to a certain point in their working life and realise they don’t especially want another ten years of exactly the same thing. There’s nothing wrong with that.' The key is to help your CV point toward your future, not just your past.
Leveraging Transferable Skills
Innes advises bringing forward the parts of your background that 'travel well'—transferable skills such as leadership, client handling, operations, commercial sense, project delivery, staff management, and problem-solving. He emphasizes that showing a recruiter that the move is a sensible sideways shift rather than a mad leap is crucial.
Top Tip for CV Writing
Don't write your CV as an archive of everything you've done. Instead, highlight the aspects most relevant to your target role. Innes suggests making the move look sensible rather than fanciful by demonstrating that you've already been doing parts of the new role under a different label.
Spotlight On: Career Moves
Innes notes that many reasonable career changes appear more dramatic on paper than in reality. A move from one part of a field to another or using the same skills in a new setting can be easily explained. If your CV focuses solely on your old career, employers may assume that is all you want. But by making the case that you have relevant experience, the transition becomes less alarming.
For more advice, James Innes is a best-selling careers author and founder of a leading group of professional CV writers. His book, 'The Job You’ve Always Wanted,' is available from Pearson at £16.99.
