There’s a skills gap in today’s mid-pandemic job market. Companies are struggling to attract applicants who have the skills they need. If you keep that situation in mind, there are ways to use the skills gap to your benefit in a job interview. You can also gain some leverage even if you don’t already have the specific skills that are on the wish list of an employer. You don’t have to be the perfect candidate. You do have to consider why they want to see you and what that means to your interview approach. Forty-seven percent of businesses responding to a recent poll noted a shortage of skilled workers, according to the National Association of Business Economics. And all this comes in the midst of a job market that’s like no other in recent memory. First, the economy shed jobs by the hundreds of thousands when Covid first took hold. Next, the economy reopened and unemployment dropped, but something strange was left in the wake of this nationwide closing and reopening: an enormous number of available jobs were not being filled. The manufacturing sector is perhaps the most glaring example. When the pandemic hit, the sector dropped around 1.4 million jobs, the same number it had added over the preceding decade. Some 820,000 of those jobs recovered as of a year ago, but that leaves 570,000 jobs that have not recovered, and, what’s most striking, half a million job openings are waiting to be filled. In part, they’re not being filled due to a gap between the skills applicants bring to the table and the skills many open jobs require. But if you’re in the job market now, and you’ve gotten all the way from submitting a resume to getting an invitation to interview, that skills gap should be an important part of your approach. On the one hand, you may be someone who possesses exactly the skills a company needs. In that case, your job is simple. Revisit your resume and the job description and identify the skills that match. In the interview, make that your point of emphasis throughout. Simple enough. On the other hand, you may fit the skills profile imperfectly. You have some of the skills, but not the whole repertoire. In that case, you want to emphasize three things: you're aware of the ongoing shortage of skilled applicants; you understand the importance of those skills to the job you want; and you’re not only willing to capitalize on the skills you have, but you’re ready to grow those skills and learn new ones. But what if that skills match doesn’t exactly leap out at you? If that’s the case, understand that there is something about you and your background that made an employer think it would be worthwhile to interview you. And know that things have not reached the point, even in this weird job market, that companies are interviewing anyone with a pulse. Interviewing candidates represents a significant investment by the interviewing company, so look a little closer. Why were you chosen? Think in terms of what your resume says about your ability to become skilled in ways that matter to this particular employer. Perhaps you’ve shown a real willingness and ability to learn. Or a real commitment to improvement. Or a demonstrated ability to be a valuable member of a team. Or simply the kind of reliability and commitment that every employer values. And maybe they see you as someone who will flourish with some education and training. Those qualities may not be specific skills like running a CNC machine or welding, but they’re qualities that make a real difference in the workplace, the very qualities that can make you a good hire anywhere and anytime. Companies facing a skills shortage take those qualities into serious account, and while you may not have the exact skills they need now, you’re someone whose history justifies an employer’s investment of time and money in bringing you on board. That should be the focus of your interview. If you’re offered an interview and you’re not an obvious skills match, either in whole or in part, your job is to figure out what it was that made you worth talking to. And having done that, your job in the interview is to put those qualities front and center. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

There’s a critical shortage right now that is holding up many cloud and edge computing initiatives. No, I’m not talking about supply-chain problems leading to a temporary shortage of some materials. I’m talking about the shortage of talent. In 2017, Gartner predicted that half of all companies worldwide would adopt an all-in cloud strategy by 2021. It hasn’t happened. Wait, that’s not quite right. Companies are adopting cloud strategies; they are just not following through on them. It’s not that these organizations don’t want to move to the cloud. They’re ready and eager to do so. But their plans are being frustrated. According to a more recent Gartner study (“2021-2023 Emerging Technology Roadmap”) of over 400 firms, the lack of certain critical skills is hindering deployment of these cloud solutions. In their survey, IT executives pinpointed the difficulty of finding employees with the right skills as the largest barrier to implementing new cloud technologies already budgeted, planned, and waiting to deploy. Cloud-based database, analytics, containers, and machine learning projects are often on hold, held up by the lack of the skilled people to carry them out. The bottom line is that there is a cloud skills shortage and it poses risks to companies wanting to embrace cloud computing and in need of skilled people to do it. The problem these firms face is that they are all competing for the same talent, and the talent supply is smaller than the demand. The opportunity in this, for you, is to be the solution to a firm’s cloud talent problem. Do you have any of these in-demand skills? Cloud Security Cloud Migration Cloud Adoption Cloud Optimization Cloud Applications Serverless Architecture Container Database skills DevOps Automation Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence If you have these skills, consider playing them up in job interviews. If you don’t, these are skills that could benefit you in the near future to add to your portfolio. Granted, learning new skills takes effort. You have to decide for yourself if that effort is a good investment of your time. But when you can identify particular skills that are currently in demand, and when those skills also happen to be a good fit for your background and interests, the payoff can truly be worth the effort. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

In the first part of my job interview course, The Expert Guide to Job Interviews, part of my focus is on figuring out your overarching career goals as a fundamental first step in interview preparation. The basic idea is simple, though it’s often neglected: It really helps to have the proverbial dream, driven by the equally proverbial passion, to develop interview strategies that get you where you ultimately want to go. As part of the process, I’ve included a lot of material designed to help you identify your potential dream career if you’re someone who doesn’t arrive with a clear idea of what your dream job might be. And that material is extremely useful as a tool to identify your wants and needs. There are certainly people who still feel a little lost even after diving into those resources. For those people, take heart. You may be adrift, but there are ways to think about your predicament that don’t leave you utterly directionless. First of all, it can be a time to explore. Travel is broadening, for example, a truism that’s actually true. If you can afford it, travel doesn’t have to mean exotic destinations of the rich and famous. Any new environment can offer new perspectives. And the motivating factor doesn’t have to be travel. Volunteering for a cause that’s meaningful to you can open your eyes and open doors. Taking a class or two in subjects of interest can have the same effect. Beyond that, though, it’s worth remembering that a lot of people who ended up with satisfying careers didn’t start out thinking that they’d found a dream job when they clocked in for the first time. For them, it was just a job. As they did that job, they found that it was actually something they enjoyed, an insight they wouldn’t have gained by holding out for some kind of unspecified dream. The fact is that careers come about in the most unlikely places, but you won’t find that out unless and until you get yourself out there. Treat it as a workplace experiment. No matter where you go, you’ll learn something, whether it’s about an industry or an employer or about yourself, and that knowledge can go a long way to figuring out a career that, though it may not be a dream – it may never have crossed your mind in the first place! – is far from a nightmare. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

Your resume is the best supporting actor in your interview presentation for several reasons. But here I have a chance to emphasize the single thing that’s most important in eliciting the performance of a lifetime from that supporting actor. It’s a resume tip that bears repeating, especially because it works so well as a template for a great interview. Without further ado, here it is: A good resume is one that emphasizes achievements, and a great resume happens when those achievements are specific and quantifiable. Too many resumes consist of lists of dates and titles, with some attention to responsibilities associated with those titles. Titles are nice, but they don’t tell much of a story. Responsibilities are nice, too, but they’re often general and vague, unable to convey much in and of themselves. Specific achievements are things you can talk about in an interview. They give you stories to tell. - You can explain how you accomplished them, what skills you brought to bear, and what sorts of experience and insight drove you to accomplish what you did. - You can talk about the obstacles you had to overcome. (As an aside, though, steer clear of blaming other people for any holdups, whether they’re co-workers, subordinates or supervisors. Keep those personal issues to yourself, as you don’t want to come across as the office malcontent to any potential employer.) - And you can talk about those achievements in the context of benefit to the organization as a whole. After all, that’s what a future employer is looking for when they decide to hire you. And it’s your chance to underline your commitment to that kind of organization-wide impact. It’s not all about what’s in it for you – though you’ll get a chance to ask your own questions during the interview when it’s natural and expected to look at the future and ask what’s in it for you. Never forget that an interviewer will always be asking, if not always out loud, “What’s in it for us if we decide to make this hire?” And let me take a minute to deal with the “quantifiable” part of things. There’s no clearer example than the case of the sales manager who boosted sales by 20 percent last year, but there are more subtle indications of quantifiable success: the team leader who meaningfully reduced attrition or the project manager who cut the time to market by an appreciable amount. Look closely at what you achieved, and there are likely to be discrete achievements that translate into numbers. Not always, but often enough to make it worth looking deeper into what you’ve managed to do. Achievements are, in essence, career highlights. They’re exactly what you want to emphasize in any interview. Put your resume together on that basis. In the interview, let that achievement-studded resume be your guide. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

In my job interview course, I’ve talked a lot about networking as a key part of any job search, and about its equal importance to the process of finding interviews. Whether you’re seeking formal job interviews or the informational interviews, networking is a time-honored and effective way to grab opportunities. But one part of the networking world has taken something of a hit in the era of Covid. The in-person get-togethers, the conferences or events geared specifically to networking that would allow you to mingle with people in your field, have been few and far-between. Networking events have largely disappeared. Conferences have gone virtual. The networking world has gone into hibernation. While we may have said at least a temporary goodbye to in-person events, there are still networking options, none of them face-to-actual-face, that are worth pursuing. And, of course, they’re all more or less virtual, starting with the oldest of old-school virtual means of connecting still in general use, the telephone. This might just be time to resurrect old connections and reconnect with former colleagues, fellow alumni, and even friends and family who might not seem to be obvious sources of all kinds of leads. Networking is, after all, about people who know people who know people, and you never know who might appear in anyone’s circle of acquaintances. A lead from any source, especially from someone who might be willing to pave the way by making an introductory approach to one of your interview targets, stands a chance of being a contact who can help you make a new connection. In other words, it’s good to stay in touch no matter how you do it. Then, apart from the old-school act of picking up the phone and making a call, there are options from the more modern virtual world. The internet and social media are there for you. First, and most obviously of all, there’s LinkedIn. As you probably know, and as I’ve explored at length, LinkedIn is structured so that members have different “degrees” of connection with other members. There are people already in your network (first degree), people with whom they’re connected (second degree) and people connected to your own second-degree connections (third degree.) This is a good time to exercise your LinkedIn muscles and explore the options. Try out LinkedIn’s “Groups” feature. There’s no shortage of groups, both public and private, with private groups requiring an invitation to join. Making worthwhile contributions to a group can open virtual doors to actual interview opportunities. LinkedIn is known for its professional focus, but also consider Twitter. Consider following people in your field, where you’ll have the chance to respond to their tweets, and where you may even get a follow in return. If you tweet, go for “smart and worthwhile” and you just may attract some valuable attention. In any event, while we’re waiting for the non-virtual world to get back into gear, there’s no reason not to give these networks a chance and see what they might yield. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

In my job interview course, I talk a lot about investigating the company in question. What are their values? And that includes their actual values, not just the ones they ostensibly adhere to. What’s the latest news from them? And what’s happening with their competitors and with the industry as a whole? The answers to those questions can give you an effective framework for your own answers to interview questions, and it’s still the case that they’re all good themes to pursue. But I also talk about the importance of the questions you ask them, and that’s where the pandemic has made a difference by making the remote work issue an obvious area of concern for many people. In pre-pandemic times, you may have been a bit of an outlier if you were honing in on work from home opportunities; now, it’s become just one part of the lay of the land. At the same time, there’s a distinct lack of consistency among organizations when it comes to opening offices to all, remote work, and the use of virtual options like Zoom as part of standard working procedure. And there are clear distinctions in terms of organizational willingness to support WFH rather than requiring in-person attendance at a physical office space. There are plenty of managers who remain skeptical of WFH even if the numbers don’t support that skepticism at all. Despite all evidence to the contrary, some managers just don’t believe that WFH can work, and, at this point, nothing will convince them otherwise. So it’s certainly natural to pose some questions for a prospective employer about the kind of environment you’d be walking (or not walking) into. Just as there is a range of organizational attitudes about in-person versus WFH, there’s a wide range of attitudes among candidates. For some, the ability to work from home is critical. For others, it’s a nice bonus but not essential. And some people, perhaps a distinct minority, long for a return to full time in-person office life. Only you know how important the chance to work from home is to you. But if it is important, you need to ask those questions in the interview if there’s any doubt at all about the company’s approach. But what if working from home is at the top of your list of criteria and the organization has other ideas, yet this is something of a dream job for you in every other way? Clearly, you have a decision to make, but you may have options beyond simply walking away. There may be trade-offs you can make, like giving up some WFH time for better hours or increased educational opportunities. In other words, it can be part of a negotiation like any other, and only you know what might fairly compensate you for losing some WFH flexibility. In addition, companies can be much more accommodating once you’ve been there for a while and proven yourself. Once you establish your value to the organization, management may be more willing to see less of you in person. If there’s interest on both sides, it’s another question worth asking. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

“Tell me about yourself” may be a fundamental part of a job interview, whether asked explicitly or not, but the answer you give is delivered with more than words alone. You’re also answering by how you look and act, and, human nature being what it is, first impressions – even the ones made before you say a single word – make for lasting impressions. We can decry the situation and claim that we’re not that superficial, but we’re not always able to separate style from substance. The importance of a first impression remains a fact of life, and that’s something a job candidate has to accept. And this doesn’t just apply to in-person interviews. Remote interviews have been growing in popularity for years. That growth was accelerated by the pandemic. And appearance matters as much in the remote world as it does in real, in-person life. At the same time, people have become more comfortable with remote media as a general rule, with Zoom, Teams, and other applications taking over for physical face-to-face meetings. As a result of that increased use, standards are higher. So let’s take a fresh look at how to make the best impression on video, bearing in mind that appearance matters regardless of the medium. Start with a general rule and overriding theme: The picture you want to paint, first, last, and always, is a picture of competence and professionalism. Here are some ways to paint that picture: Rehearsal is crucial, and the fact that you’re remote doesn’t change that. Find out how you look and sound before the event. Don’t leave this to the day of, when it’s too late to do much about it. Make sure your equipment is up to the task. If it’s time to invest in a new camera to replace the cheap one on your Chromebook, or a microphone to replace the one that garbles everything you say, now is the time. It’s a worthwhile long-term investment that will make your life easier beyond this specific interview. Remote connections, and the video applications that are key to that, are not going away any time soon. Next, you need to take care of some of the same business that you’d cover if you were making a Hollywood movie. Chances are, you won’t need special effects or a stunt double, but you do need to consider set design, wardrobe, lighting, and cinematography. For set design, pay attention to the scene you’ll set. Keep your background uncluttered and fairly neutral. Don’t add lots of distractions, and don’t include pets, roommates, or kids in the action. And as it’s likely that you’ll be doing all this at your desk, even if what passes for your desk these days is your kitchen table, keep things neat and tidy, even if you’re one of those people who “knows where everything is” despite the seemingly impenetrable mountains of paper that typically surround you. For lighting, trial and error is one viable approach. That overhead light that casts deep shadows below your eyes? Not your friend. And wardrobe can be pivotal. You don’t need to appear in suit and tie; you do need to appear in something more than a t-shirt or pajamas. As a rule of thumb, primarily for men, a shirt with a collar is better than one without. As the resident cinematographer, get a good look at the entire effect and adjust as needed. Perhaps camera placement is an issue. Maybe there’s something in the background that you’d rather leave on the cutting room floor. But whatever you do, get a good look at it before you go live. Finally, make sure that you can comfortably use your mouse and keyboard during the interview, especially if you have documents you might want to share or that you might be asked to share by an interviewer. Our motto in this context: No fumbling! Not all that long ago, video was something new to office life. Standards have been raised as people have gotten used to the medium. We don’t need million-dollar production values, but for the sake of your interview, it’s worth it to up – at least modestly – your game. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

On June 8, Microsoft announced four HR initiatives, including a “commitment to publicly disclose salary ranges in all of our internal and external job postings across the U.S.” This adds to an existing commitment to stop asking job applicants about their salary history. This is good news, not only for applicants, but as a sign of progress toward a more equitable workplace in general, especially as it represents a growing trend toward disclosure not limited to Microsoft or to the tech sector. And it’s a trend that’s not just a product of corporate policy; it’s a trend gaining legal authority in a growing number of jurisdictions. Before we consider that bigger picture, let’s consider what it means for job interviews and job applicants. An interview can be stressful for everyone concerned. You’re judging them. They’re judging you. You’re juggling all sorts of questions while trying to make a very specific case that you should be hired for this very specific job. There’s stress involved in all of this, but for many applicants, the worst moment comes when the talk turns to money. The root cause of this money-triggered anxiety is a question beyond the province of this post, but suffice to say that money talk is, along with religion, politics, and sex, one of the topics that make many people uneasy. Given this unease, when interview talk turns to salary, the interview itself suffers. It turns into a cat-and-mouse game in which no one wants to make the first move, lest they underprice or overprice their offers. A great deal of energy goes into strategizing about who should throw out the first number and about ways to avoid throwing out any number at all. None of that advice is universally effective, but it certainly takes up a great deal of attention. And the end result of focusing on the salary game is that the focus of the interview itself has shifted from the substance of the job and the company culture and the applicant’s qualifications and their fit for the position – the things that actually matter in the end – to things that don’t aid the cause that matters: two parties, interviewer and interviewee, getting insight into each other. That’s not to say that compensation isn’t important. Of course it’s important, even crucial, but other matters of importance tend to get lost when the talk turns to money. When you know the salary range going in – when it’s not just a blank slate – those other matters can get more attention. So, giving clarity to the salary piece of the puzzle helps to keep interviews focused on what really matters, but that’s hardly the end of the story. As noted above, the move to disclose salary information has not been driven by HR Departments alone. The same transparency has been written into law in states and cities around the country. The approach varies: Some have established a requirement that all job postings disclose anticipated salary ranges for any position that’s advertised, even if it’s internal; others have made it information that must be furnished, but only at the request of an applicant. The general move toward disclosure, however, is likely to become the rule and not the exception. And it has implications far beyond recruitment. Existing employees generally don’t have access to information about what their peers make. That information can be revelatory, with lots of people convinced they’re underpaid for doing work identical to that of their supposed peers. Given that information, some people may look to move on. Others will look for raises. But no matter what happens in individual cases, it’s information that gives everyone a closer look at what the organization is up to, whether there are classes of employees who are systematically underpaid, and whether the organization should take steps to correct any inequities. Ultimately, then, this kind of transparency – or maybe it’s more like translucency – is about more than making it a little less awkward to talk about pay in the interview. Instead, it’s a chance to see the whole picture, and to collect data that can lead to meaningful change. In sum: To be effective, any discussion of making things better, whether it’s about pay or any other issue, has to start with a clear understanding of where we’re at now. If we’re serious about diversity and inclusion and about bridging pay gaps, disclosing pay scales, whether through corporate policy or legislation, is a necessary step toward making things right. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

Consider a Hybrid Most resumes follow a reverse-chronological format. This is a great way to showcase steady experience in the same field. For people reentering the workforce or changing fields, this structure may not be perfect. An alternative is a functional resume that highlights skills and achievements first. However, there’s a problem with the functional resume that you need to understand: Rightly or wrongly, some hiring managers view it with suspicion. They like the idea of a chronological presentation which is neat and organized. It’s traditional. A functional resume may not be the last refuge of a scoundrel, but it’s seen as a way to hide flaws that a chronological resume would make apparent, things like job-history gaps or a tendency to hop blissfully from job to job. Since you don’t want to be seen as trying to make the hiring managers’ jobs even harder, it’s fair to acknowledge that they have a point. Keep in mind that, after all, HR departments are hardly known for their out-of-the-box thinking or their comfort with things that seem unusual. In the interest of getting hired, you may want to show them some consideration. One way to do so, especially if you come bearing an unusual career background or don’t quite fit the predetermined mold, is to take a hybrid approach by combining chronology and function. Hybrid Resumes Your goal is to keep your resume out of the discard pile. Keep in mind then that there is a place for conventional wisdom, especially in a job search and in your resume. For many people, a combination of the two standard formats is the best option. You want your resume to look good and be easy to read and to answer the questions that a job posting implicitly asks. The hybrid resume can do that for you while overcoming the same problems of a functional resume. A hybrid resume, one that makes it easy to see where you’ve been while bringing extra attention to the skills and abilities you’ve developed, allows screeners to find what they’re looking for without jumping through hoops. Length can be an issue, so you may have to tighten up on the purely chronological sections, keeping job descriptions and responsibilities rather minimal, but you should be able to send the right message with a focus on achievements and results. Keep the work history in and make it easy to find, but keep the emphasis on skills and accomplishments. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

Elon Musk buys Twitter, immediately imposes massive layoffs, tells those employees who remain that they’d better adopt hard-core, I live for my work habits, and mires the service in next-level controversy as soon as he walks in the door. Meanwhile, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg tells his staff en masse that company growth is slowing, that they’ll have to do more with less and, by the way, that those who think the world of Meta is not for them should act on that sentiment and head out the door. “Realistically,” he said, “there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here.” There are lessons to be learned from all this, but the most useful lessons aren’t aimed at the richest person in the world making a $44 billion purchase of an iconic brand, or at the Facebook founder whose company made a cool $40 billion last year. Instead, the most useful advice is directed at the rest of us. I’m talking especially about people who, despite their best efforts, find themselves in positions similar to what Twitter and Meta employees are going through now: a changed workplace that answers to a largely dictatorial leader, with a soupcon of chaos thrown in for good measure. To begin before the actual beginning, before you’re even hired, try to stay attuned to the nature of the company you’re thinking of joining. Chaotic upheavals, if they’re going to happen at all, tend to occur at companies that have not been around for all that long, and that work in areas that are new. Social media and augmented reality, for example. Like most large organizations, those companies are structured as corporations, a form that’s meant to provide a certain stability of function and a shared responsibility for decision-making. That structure is supposed to constrain wildly dramatic moves. For established organizations like GM or Goldman or Microsoft, that constraint is business as usual, and that’s not a bad thing. But Twitter and Meta, though structured as corporations, don’t exactly operate like traditional corporations. They operate more like sole proprietorships in which the de facto owner, Musk or Zuckerberg, alone is truly in charge. When there’s a single individual calling the shots, he or she can act on a whim, and is likely to call shots much more wildly than a CEO who’s enmeshed in a bureaucracy (for better or worse) and who actually answers to the oversight of a Board of Directors. So, if an organization seems like the Wild West, especially if it seems to have a dictator at the helm, take extra care before opting to come on board. Once you’ve been hired, the advice is simple, if a little non-specific. If you sense that company culture is not your cup of tea, don’t hesitate to make a decision to move on. Don’t wait for things to come to a crisis. And don’t delay doing a job search when your best judgment tells you things are not right in Denmark. In addition to that, watch your back. Musk reportedly paid a PR firm to monitor employee social media in the midst of unionization efforts at Tesla, with special attention to Facebook postings. It’s best to operate under the rather unpleasant assumption that what you’re doing online may not be very private. We all know that’s true as a general rule, but the stakes are higher when it’s your employer who’s doing the monitoring. Sadly, there are no hard and fast rules for knowing when to stay and when to go. It frequently comes down to going with your gut, but whether your workplace is turning into a madhouse or not, there are some tasks always worth doing. Whatever your current situation, keep your resume up-to-date and put in the energy to maintain – or improve – your professional network. Stay on top of market conditions and industry trends. That way, you’ll be prepared to move on, and just as well prepared to stay put if that’s the verdict. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

Do cover letters really matter? It’s a common refrain from job seekers nowadays. One small-business owner has this to say: “As the owner-manager of a small professional firm, I always read cover letters before reviewing the accompanying resume. “If I liked the cover letter, I’d look to the resume to confirm the skills and experience we were looking for.” The takeaway for applicants is that there’s no reason not to write a cover letter and there’s every reason to make it as good as it can be. More Than an Afterthought How do you make your first impression with an employer? With your cover letter. Don’t let the name fool you. “Cover letter” suggests afterthought, slap-on status. Yet it is critical, since: It speaks for you before the resume. It introduces you. A pleasant, clear, brief cover letter conveys one message; a remote, gnarled, wandering letter, another. It highlights aspects of your career that might otherwise get lost in the resume. It gives you a chance to aim spotlights at the right places. It shows your care for detail. Or, rather, it shows that you aren’t careless, that you haven’t dashed off a last-minute message. It can reveal your judgment. For instance, if you mention irrelevancies like hobbies in the cover letter, you can trip yourself up. No one wants an executive with poor judgment. The real question a cover letter answers every step of the way is this: Given that you’re so terrific, what can your wonderful qualities do for this organization? That’s the question. You may be terrific in many ways, but the only qualities that matter are those that demonstrate to the reader that good things will happen if you’re hired. In other words, if I give you a job, what’s in it for me? Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.

This year, I’ve been working with a growing number of clients who are actively considering or already in the midst of changing careers. If you are contemplating such a shift, rest assured, you’re not alone. Career transitions are a normal part of the professional journey. When writing a resume for a career change, in general, I focus on highlighting transferable skills, relevant experiences, and the capacity for adaptability. No matter the industry or job title, there are skills that you can apply universally. The trick is to present them in such a way that they make you an attractive candidate for the new position you're targeting. Here are a few career changes I’ve supported over the years: Teacher to Training Professional and Program Manager When aiding a teacher in transitioning to a training professional or program manager, I might focus on emphasizing skills like curriculum development, public speaking, and mentorship. The resume might feature bullet points such as: ▪ "Developed and implemented a new curriculum, improving standardized test scores by 20%." ▪ "Conducted weekly training sessions and workshops for faculty members." These demonstrate not only expertise in educational frameworks but also the organizational and leadership abilities essential for program management. Project Manager to Chief of Staff For a Project Manager aiming to become a Chief of Staff, I shift the emphasis towards strategic planning, organizational acumen, and stakeholder management. A resume could include: ▪ "Led cross-functional teams to deliver projects 12% under budget and ahead of schedule." ▪ "Facilitated weekly executive meetings to review and improve organizational strategies." These accomplishments highlight your capabilities in project planning and team management, skills transferable to many Chief of Staff roles where organization and oversight matter a lot. HR Executive to COO I’ve encountered this career change a number of times. An HR Executive looking to become a COO needs to showcase operational skills while emphasizing people management and organizational culture. Key bullet points examples could be: ▪ "Reduced employee turnover by 20% through strategic engagement initiatives." ▪ "Oversaw HR budget, contributing to a 15% reduction in operational costs." These points underline an ability to manage finances and lead strategies that impact the organization, which matter for a COO. Accountant to VP of Finance I assisted an Accountant aiming for a VP of Finance position by focusing on experience with financial strategy, compliance, and leadership. For instance: ▪ "Managed a team of 10 in the accounting department, overseeing all compliance initiatives." ▪ "Implemented new budgeting techniques that led to a 20% increase in annual savings." This highlights not just accounting skills but also leadership and strategic planning, important in a VP of Finance role. A resume doesn’t just list your past experiences; it connects the dots for the hiring manager. You want to make it obvious that you are suited for the challenge. Ready to get strategic about your career? Let’s talk.