Hi Laurel,
Transitioning your resume can be really hard! I switched careers a couple times before, and I learned a few things that seemed to help.
- Highlight your years of industry experience. Even if you're relatively new to the management side of things (but are staying within the same industry), that familiarity will still be very valuable to employers.
- Focus on your transferrable skills. Think about each of the skills you've developed as a healthcare provider, and how they'll benefit you in a management position.
- Include a short, sentence-long profile/introduction statement at the top of your resume. Your introduction should highlight what your unique background will provide in your new position.
- Consider highlighting some of those overlapping/transferrable skills near the top of your resume, before you get into your previous experience. Organize your skills in order of relevance: the skills that are most important in a management position should be at the top of the list.
- In terms of overall layout, you might want to organize your information like so:
- name/contact info
- profile (how your previous career as a healthcare provider will help you/give you an edge in management positions)
- top skills (transferrable skills)
- education (to highlight your recent degree in management)
- experience (rewrite the descriptions of your previous positions: put more focus on the skills that will transfer to the position you're seeking. Put that info at the beginning of the position description, and put the less relevant/transferrable aspects of those positions at the bottom.)
Your career history and background is a strength, not a drawback! It gives you a unique edge over people who have only been in healthcare management: you have a wider, more holistic view of the healthcare system, and your perspective as a former provider is an important asset--it can lead to better processes that can benefit both aspects of the industry.
And it wouldn't hurt to have a short elevator pitch prepared, to explain why you're switching careers and what you want to accomplish in a management position. This comes in handy in interviews!
In a nutshell: when it comes to a career transition, it's all about leveraging your past experience and finding those common points.
This is based on my own personal experience--so yes, it's another opinion. That's how I would approach it, if I were you. :)
Hope this helps! Has anyone else made career transitions with any success?
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Tiffany Leong
St. Louis MO
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