How to switch careers without starting over

It’s nearly inevitable that you’re going to switch careers — not just jobs — at some point. It didn’t used to be that way, but now everybody switches careers. Your old career might fade away or you might get burned out on it.

You can decide at any age that you’re ready for a change, or circumstances might push you into a career change whether you’re ready for it or not.

You’re going to go through emotional changes when you step into a new career. If you’re like most people, you’ll vacillate between excitement and terror.

Eventually you’ll settle into your new skin and realize that you always had the qualifications you needed to switch careers – you just didn’t realize it at the time.

We had a client named Andy who said “I’m so done with my career. I know what I want to do next, but I’m not sure people will accept me in my chosen new career. I don’t have credibility in that field yet.”

“What field is it?” we asked him.

“I’m a lawyer now,” said Andy. “I’ve been a lawyer for sixteen years. I’m tired of it.”

“What do you want to do next?” we wondered.

“I want to be a corporate trainer,” said Andy. “I want to develop training and deliver it.”

“Interesting choice,” we said. “Have you done training before?”

“I do it every day!” said Andy, excited for the first since the conversation began. “I developed a training program for paralegals when I first joined my firm first sixteen years ago. It was a fantastic experience. I love training.

“I’ve taught that paralegal class dozens of times since then. I teach our partners how to use new technology. I teach our clients about changes in the law and all sorts of things.

“I spend at least a third of my time designing or delivering training, but my managing partner says the firm can’t create a full-time training position for me, so I’m going to start looking for a new job.”

“Why do you fear that you won’t be accepted as a corporate trainer, since you’ve done so much training already?” we asked Andy. “Have you applied for any training jobs yet?”

“Just a few,” said Andy. “I haven’t gotten one response.” He looked downcast.

“What does your resume say about your career change?” asked Molly.

“I wrote a Summary for my resume,” said Andy. “It says ‘Experienced attorney with sixteen years of contract and business legal experience looking to move into corporate training.”

“Andy!” I said. “You’ve been doing training for sixteen years. You can claim that. Why are you asking permission to do what you’ve already been doing forever?”

“What do you mean, I’m asking permission?” asked Andy.

“Your resume says that you’re trying to move into corporate training,” said Molly. “You’re hesitant. You have to step over the line into your new role. You don’t need anyone’s permission to do that.”

“I have little boys,” I said. “I have a foam sword in my car. I can go get it and you can get down on one knee. I can knight you and dub you Sir Corporate Training!”

“Let’s re-write that Summary,” said Molly. We rewrote Andy’s Summary so that it said “I’ve been creating and delivering training programs for sixteen years. I love to translate dense technical or legal subject matter into simple human language and deliver training that gets audiences excited about applying what they know.”

Andy gave himself permission to change careers. He stopped waiting for someone else to give it to him! Andy’s mojo soared when he realized that he was his own biggest roadblock.

All he had to do was to say to himself “I’m a corporate trainer.” He had been waiting for someone else to give him that designation.

You don’t have to start over at the bottom of the ladder in a new career, not unless you’re learning a whole new trade like medicine or cabinet-making. Most knowledge economy workers can glide from one function or industry into another with little trouble.

They worry that HR people won’t accept them, because they see job ads full of jargon and credentials they don’t have. That’s okay! It’s a new day.

Hiring managers will see your ability to solve their pain based on the work you’ve done in your old profession, but you have to see it first. You can’t go to the job market with the message “Please let me into your profession.” You have to let yourself in!

The Human Workplace approach that ignores automated recruiting systems and applicant tracking software in favor of Pain Letters sent directly to hiring managers comes in handy for career changers.

A keyword-searching algorithm will miss a career-changer’s brilliance, but a hiring manager in pain will see it if you point out your relevant experience in your Human-Voiced Resume and Pain Letter.

You have to see the relevance between what you’ve done already and what you plan to do next.

You can’t wait for your next boss to make the connection between your old career and your new one — you’ve got to make that connection clear, and you’ve got to believe in the relevance yourself.

When you start your new job in your new career path, you’ll be amazed how much of the “old you” comes into play every day on the job. The truth is that white-collar jobs are not all that different from one another.

The jargon is different, but the basic building blocks are the same. Give yourself permission to step into your new field, and then use your resume to make the bridge between your old career and your new one plain as day. Keep this in mind: whether you’re changing careers or sticking with your old one, only the people who get you deserve you!

This article is published in collaboration with LinkedIn. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Liz Ryan is the CEO and Founder of Human Workplace.

Image: A Businesswoman is silhouetted as she makes her way under the Arche de la Defense, in the financial district west of Paris.   REUTERS/Christian Hartmann