How do I Write a Career Change CV?

With the fragility of the employment market continuing, and statistics predicting the rise in number of people who are affected by unemployment set to continue throughout 2009 to a peak of in the region of 3 million in 2010, many people who are unemployed are now considering the prospect of a complete career change.

For many, the prospect of redundancy can be seen as a positive situation and provide them with the opportunity to re evaluate and re assess their career prospects. Job seekers who are in this position are often fortunate enough to be able to re train and pursue a career based in a completely different field, very
often one that is focused around a hobby or passion or a totally different lifestyle.

For others however and probably the majority of people hit by redundancy and unemployment, the reasons they are seeking work in a different industry or sector are less positive and generally derive from the fact that they need to apply for whatever jobs are available, in the aim to get back in to the work place as quickly as possible.

For either reason, the prospect of changing career totally in a recessive economy is an extremely challenging one. This is further enhanced by the fact that there are now on average 30 applications for every advertised role across the UK, many of whom will have relevant position and/or industry experience and a substantial number of those at the moment, will even be over qualified for the role.

There are ways though, that candidate's who are looking for a career change, can improve their chances of making the transition, by making some simple changes to their resume.

By designing your CV carefully and including some important key features there are numerous ways in which you can ensure that your experience and interests can be profiled to show they are in fact very relevant to the role you are applying to.

Top Tips when writing a career change CV:

Remember to bear in mind the job spec of the role you are applying to when you are constructing your CV for a particular position.

Carefully read the duties and responsibilities and ensure you relate your profile to match key words and skills. Even though you may not have experience of a certain skill in a particular industry, there will undoubtedly be situations in your previous roles that you have used exactly the same abilities, so it is vital you show how these skills are transferable. In addition to this really bring out your interpersonal skills. These again are non industry specific, so can be relevant to any future industry and can give a potential employer a good insight in to you as a person behind the paper.

Set your skills out in the same format and order as they are prioritized in the role profile. This will enable the reader to immediately identify that you are used to working in a similar way and have been spending you time working to the format they use already.

Focus your CV on your achievements. By doing this you will be able to demonstrate how successful you can be in this field and that you have a very good knowledge of the topic, even though you may have no previous experience in it as a working environment. This can be in relation to hobbies, voluntary work, memberships or affiliations, clubs or societies.

Highlight relevant studies that you are currently doing independently or stress the fact that you are keen and determined to study and progress further in your new career.

Write a strong career objective to begin you CV to show the reader and potential recruiter that you are very serious about the career move, demonstrate your long term commitment and highlight how you intend to achieve your ambitions. This is an excellent opportunity to sell yourself in to the role.

While keeping the above tips in mind, for any career change CV, a strong covering letter can be almost more valuable in explaining your career motivations, intentions and aspirations than the CV itself. Make sure you spend time developing this so that it does in fact become the really powerful marketing tool that it should be.