Advice to Career Changers: Be Specific

Judit Price
MS, IJCTC, CCM, CPRW, CDFI
Berke & Price Associates
www.careercampaign.com
MA , US
(978) 256-0482

A few months ago I wrote about the challenges of changing careers. I pointed out that it is far more common than generally known and many skills are transferable. The emphasis of the article was changing careers, although not easy, can be accomplished successfully if you take an honest approach to your new situation, be flexible, methodical and above all, persistent.

There are many professions in which career changers are welcome such as business people who shift to non-profit work and engineers who teach. These are only two examples in which the transition is easier. Experience, valued skills, and employers who appreciate new ideas and fresh perspectives can facilitate the transition.

Unfortunately, that level of acceptance and receptivity to career changers is not universal. Each career changer has to recognize the challenges may be significant. There are barriers that must be overcome and it is important to be realistic. The fact is when many hiring managers contemplate hiring career changers, they view that hire with a greater degree of risk. Without a track record in a particular job there is a real downside in considering a career changer for a position. Will the candidate decide to change careers again? Does this person really have the staying power despite their obvious qualifications? Do I want to take that risk when there are plenty of unemployed people available? And what happens if the person decides that this company or industry or organization culture is a poor fit? Here today, gone tomorrow?

These are some of the questions many hiring managers will ask themselves. As a result, career changers faced with potential employers who consider these issues have to develop some new strategies to cope.

The most important strategy is a laser-like focus on the industry, organization, and firm. After establishing a new and clear set of career goals, focus on specific companies or organizations that might be the best fit. Network with people who work in that niche. Forget about being open to "other alternatives" (in your communication with others). It should become easily apparent to anyone with whom you communicate regarding opportunities, that you know precisely where you want to go. People like that. If you meet strangers in professional forums, be very specific. Nobody wants to hear that you are a "people person."

Don't try to become an expert in the whole field such as marketing or healthcare. Pick specific targets and move ahead aggressively. The supply of family friends and contacts will run out very quickly before you get a job unless you focus. Convincing someone to talk with you is very different than speaking with a real hiring manager.

Become familiar with the jargon of the industry. Each profession has its own language and people instantly recognize if your part of the cohort by use of language. When you get an interview make sure you are familiar with the terminology, and the firm. If you are still in the research stage and haven't yet built your knowledge base, it is possible to waste opportunities that might have become available at a later time.

In interviews, discuss specifics. Demonstrate how examples of your success in the previous career relate to many of the challenges in the new career. The important point is making the interviewer comfortable with the understanding that you really appreciate the major challenges in their industry.

Never ask for a chance, an opportunity to show what you can do. Focus exclusively on the specifics of what you have done. The key is communicating the depth and breadth of your experience and its applicability to the new situation. No hiring manager is going to hire based on sympathy and your shiny disposition. Their jobs are also on the line, today more than ever. Than means they have to have the specific data to justify to their manager a decision to hire.

Ignore headhunters. These people are paid to find the best employees that have been doing the same thing for a long time. Headhunters are really not interested in career changers because they are hard to sell. Remember, they get job profiles that are quite specific. That chances of a career changer fitting that profile is almost non-existent.

Finally, remember that positioning is everything. The interviewer can only see what you reveal. Call for an interview and position yourself as someone who has done specific work and have a track record of success, again with specifics in a defined area, finance, manufacturing, marketing and so forth. That is very different from looking like an unfocused wannabe looking for an opportunity, any opportunity.

In today's reality, hiring managers will go "extra miles" to find the perfect candidate. Good enough isn't good enough, and "being willing" and "tries hard" will be rejected. With a strong emphasis on basic skills and complementary organizational capabilities, the career changer can successfully position themselves as being right for the firm and right for the times.