Career Transition: Do Work You Love

Being Prepared for A Career Transition
by Cathy Posner, Career Coach

http://www.crossroadscoachingonline.com

Nothing can be quite as overwhelming (or exciting) as when you are looking for a new job. If you are under a time constraint, that pressure can be monumental. And trying to create or update your resume when you are in a time pinch rarely results in something that will highlight your skills to your best advantage. One way to decrease some of that pressure- and to really shine for a potential employer- is to always have a current resume. You can do that by:

1) Adding current information- contact information, new responsibilities at your current job, and involvement in new professional or community organizations etc.- every six to eight months.
2) Adding information about your volunteer work or community involvement. Many people think it’s not important to include this information but it often showcases some of your best and unique abilities.
3) Revisiting descriptions about your past positions or employment. Do they still reflect what you want them to reflect? Can some of the responsibilities be deleted or modified to best suit your current career goals?
4) Creating several versions of your resume to address jobs in different industries or fields. For this, you will focus your skills and employment history to a specific kind of job.

If you do not have an extensive work history, make a list of the various roles in your life (mother, caretaker of elderly parents, church volunteer, etc.) and the associated skills and responsibilities (maintaining schedule of five family members, liaison between nursing home staff and insurance companies, instructor or coordinator of religious education classes, etc.) You can then create a resume that is centered around your skills rather than your employment history.

For more information, contact Cathy Posner (Cathy@crossroadscoachingonline.com) or consider attending her two-part class on Career Transition: Do the Work You Love through the Highland Schools Community Education classes.