How many times have you applied for a job only to be denied the position because you lacked experience? What is experience anyways? If you have the skills and the know-how, why is it so hard to obtain the job you have been seeking? Well, there is no simple answer to that question, but some of the mystery could be right in front of you in the company’s job description.

Lets say you are in the process of switching careers. You have taken the necessary classes, volunteered at a variety of companies, and have job shadowed numerous professionals in your new industry. You are so ready to launch your new career, but the cruel real world is rejecting you because you do not have “experience.” How are you supposed to gain experience if no one gives you the opportunity to? Answer: You create your own experience and fill your own voids.

Look at the job description that you are applying to and see what they are asking for in a candidate. Do you have all the skills the company is looking for, or are you missing a few key skills? If you seem to be missing a few skills, try to fill the voids by volunteering and/or interning at a company to gain “real” world experience. Create a professional portfolio of your work and use examples from your past career to support you as a hirable candidate.

On Thursday, we will discuss this portfolio and how it can help you land your next job. We will also explore options for creating your own experience. Stay tuned!

If you’re trying to break into a new industry, it can often be a challenge conveying your transferable skills. Employers might not take your career switch seriously, or they may think your current skills don’t mesh well with the skills needed for the open position. Here’s how to convince them that despite your lack of “experience” in their industry, you still have what it takes to be a successful rising star:

Show them your transferable skills through concrete examples of past successes. Paint them a picture of all the amazing attributes that you can bring to the table. Mention to them how these transferable skills will add depth and experience to the particular job you’re applying for.

If your last profession is the polar opposite of your newfound career ambition, create your own personal experiences that you can add to your cover letter and resume. Take on consulting work or intern somewhere to build your “experience” portfolio.

Finally, go the extra mile and let them know how badly you want to switch careers. Let them know your reasoning for the switch.  You’ll want to briefly address this in your cover letter so they understand where you’re coming from. Don’t rely on your resume alone because it’s a road map of your past, not your future. Your cover letter can enlighten your future employer of your new goals and career ambitions.

If you’re in the creative industry, you have an advantage over all the other industries because you’re an “outside of the box” thinker, an ideas person. Not everyone possesses this amazing quality, yet companies are yearning to hire people who have creative minds and free-flowing ideas and concepts. Whether you’re a graphic designer, artist, or photographer, you can easily transfer that vision from your industry to numerous other fields.

Here’s a brief list of some possible skills a design professional might possess:

1. Creative and Artistic

2. Forward Thinker

3. Visionary

4. Detail-Oriented

You can use all of these skills in your next occupation; you just have to know how to apply them.

Here’s how to transfer your skills if you’re a design professional:

Cover Letter and Resume: In your cover letter and resume, you’ll want to highlight your greatest attributes that make you an excellent candidate. It doesn’t matter what profession you’re applying for if you keep your main skills in the forefront. For instance, in your cover letter you could mention that as a designer your creativity helped you do A, B, and C. Ask yourself how your creative side will help you in your next job? Once you uncover how creativity can be used in multiple positions, you’ll be able to adapt your past creativity skills and leverage them for the new position you’re applying for.

Interview: Companies are looking for people who have the “it” skills, meaning they have the qualifications that make them stand out from the competition, but they also have the know-how savvy business knowledge.  A lot of companies are looking for employees who can do it all, especially when it comes to creating fresh ideas and concepts that will propel the company forward.

Work your creative side into your resume and cover letter language by using past examples of times you were successful in business using these transferable skills. Also, talk about your transferable skills in the job interview and mention how they will be helpful for the next job you’re applying for.

Lets say you went to college for journalism and/or communications. Maybe you ended up being a news reporter on TV or a columnist for a local newspaper. Or, perhaps you went a different direction and decided to pursue advertising and/or marketing. No matter what avenue you traveled down, you probably used your journalistic skills at some point in your career. Here’s a brief list of some possible skills a journalism professional might have:

1. Creative

2. Organized

3. Detail-oriented, but able to see the “big” picture

4. Excellent writer

5. Excellent communicator

You can use all of these skills in your next occupation; you just have to know how to apply them.

Here’s how to transfer your skills if you’re a journalism professional:

1. Cover Letter and Resume: In your cover letter and resume, you’ll want to highlight your greatest attributes that make you an excellent candidate. It doesn’t matter what profession you’re applying for if you keep your main skills in the forefront. For instance, in your cover letter you could mention that as a journalist your creativity helped you do A, B, and C. Ask yourself how your creative side will help you in your next job? Once you uncover how creativity can be used in multiple positions, you’ll be able to adapt your past creativity skills and leverage them for the new position you’re applying for.

2. Interview: Companies are looking for people who have the “it” skills, meaning they have the qualifications that make them stand out from the competition, but they also have the know-how savvy business knowledge.  A lot of companies are looking for employees who can do it all, especially when it comes to writing and communication. These two skills are the most sought after, but rarely found. If you’re looking to transfer your skills to sales or human resources, communication is key. Read the job description for the company you’re applying to and see how you can work in the writing and communication aspects of your skills.

Here are the three journalistic skills that you should lead off with:

1. Communication

2. Writing

3. Creativity

Work these three into your resume and cover letter language by using past examples of times you were successful in business using these transferable skills. Also, talk about your transferable skills in the job interview and mention how they will be helpful for the job you’re applying for.

Next week we’ll talk about using transferable skills from a graphic design/artistic standpoint. Stay tune!

Lets say you’re interested in pursuing a career as a pastry chef. For years you’ve worked as a marketing director for a local non-profit, but your longtime passion in life has been baking. You’ve taken several cooking and pastry classes at your local community college, but now you want to pursue your hobby and turn it into a full time career. Over the years, you’ve baked for friends and family members and got rave reviews. You know you have what it takes, but unfortunately other people don’t know you exist. There are three things you need to brand yourself as an expert in your desired industry:

1. First you need to create an identity or brand for yourself. How do you want others to perceive you? Create a catchy name, logo, and website that mimics your brand.

2. When you have solidified your brand, create visibility for yourself via social media and the Internet. Create a functioning website that links to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. The more social media channels you’re on, the better. Just make sure to update all of these on the regular. The more you get your own name out there, the more visibility you create, which will enlighten people in your community that you exist.

3.   Finally, you need to promote yourself to the media. Pay special attention to what types of articles are appearing in your local newspaper and/or community magazines. Try creating an event around your new career that will catch the media’s attention. For example, lets say you create a cooking class for underprivileged children. You invite students from various organizations to take part in your cooking classes. After the class, you sell the products you make at a local fundraiser. Pitch this story to the media and see if they pick up on it. If not, don’t worry because there will be other opportunities. You have to keep trying to create news around your business. Also, pay attention to see if your local news stations and/or newspapers are looking for any pastry chefs for an upcoming article that they are working on. Volunteer yourself as an expert in the field and offer to bake them sweets for their upcoming photo editorial. The main thing with the media is that you’ll want to stay on their good side so you can reap the benefits of good press. The importance of having media presence is that it creates credibility for your business, which will ultimately help you become the leading expert in your industry.

If you’re looking for a little inspiration, check out this series of articles by the Omaha World-Herald on a local cupcake shop opened up by an elementary school teacher and lawyer.

Christy:

For years I worked as a professional marketing/public relations manager. I spent my days writing news releases, managing interns, handling all aspects of communication and marketing initiatives, and built credibility for my clients. I have proof in my portfolio that I did all of this with success! My boss and co-workers can back my skills up through recommendations because they have seen me in action. Numbers prove that I made significant strides for my clients and worked to gain them national media recognition. I did everything right in my marketing career; the only problem is I’m over marketing and want to pursue a passion of mine, event planning. Sure, I’ve spent countless personal hours helping friends and family plan their weddings, birthday parties, and special occasions, but I don’t have professional proof or recommendations that say I did a great job. I don’t have “real world” experience where someone actually hired me to plan an event. I just planned events for free because I enjoyed doing it. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize that doing little side gigs isn’t good enough if you want to break into the events industry. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create a consulting business for myself. Right now, I’m hiring myself out as an events consultant to anyone who will hire me for my services. Each event that I create gets documented through video and photographs. I collect client testimonials and update my blog on the regular. My portfolio that was once blank is now bursting at the seems with all of the work I’ve done on the side. I now feel confident to branch out in the events industry using the portfolio I created for myself.

Lessons to be learned:

1. If you lack experience in an industry that you wish to pursue, do the following:

-Volunteer your skills with a company, organization, or cause

-Create your own consulting business and go after clients

-Job shadow other individuals in your desired career industry to gain valuable experience

2. If your portfolio lacks supporting evidence of your skills, do the following:

-Get testimonials from clients

-Document your success in numbers and/or by using visual aids such as video and photos

-Create a little PR for yourself and try to become an expert in the field by offering up information for a media story

-Blog your way to success. A lot of people change industries and use social media and blogs to drum up momentum. Your blog and social media sites can help back up your portfolio.

Stay tune for next week’s blog where we will explore using social media to become an expert in your industry!

1. First, you need to make a list of all the skills you possess. Don’t just think within your career field. Think of skills like writing, organization, technology, communication, languages, etc. You may or may not have used these skills in your last job, but they may help you land your next job. Think of your hidden talents. Are you a good photographer? Are you naturally artistic and creative? Are you super detail-oriented in life? Take all the skills you have and bundle them up in a nice package to present to your future employer.

2. Secondly, you need to figure out what skills may be necessary for the jobs you are applying for. You may not have “work” experience that matches these desired skills, but perhaps it’s something that you do on a day-to-day basis without even knowing it. For example, if a hiring manager asks you if you’ve ever managed a budget, don’t say no just because you never had to do that at your previous positions. Everyone manages a budget. Hopefully, you manage your own personal budget and keep track of spending, savings, etc. Use your personal examples to help sell your skills. Maybe you manage your parents money or your children’s funds. Whether you do it on the job or in real life, you still possess the skill of budget management.

3. Finally, you need to have proof of your skills. This is especially true if you do them outside of your paid jobs. You can say you’re organized and great at communication, but if you don’t have something or someone to back up your claim, it’s worthless.

Stay tuned to our next blog, which will help you create the proof that’s necessary to back up your skills for your career advancement.

You are used to your normal 8-5 pm routine at company XYZ. You know your co-workers; you’re familiar with their habits and work ethic. You also are familiar with what’s expected of you. Sometimes it’s good to break away from your normal routine and try something that makes you scared or nervous. Push those limits from time to time and seek the next challenge. When you get stuck in your routine, you become rusty and complacent. To keep your work life from getting dull, take that different path and see what amazing things await you.

Here are five signs that you’re ready for your next move:

1. You’ve become so comfortable in your routine that nothing scares you, excites you, or makes you nervous. You just go to work with the “whatever” attitude.

2. You aren’t challenged at work and the lack of challenges makes you bored.

3. You have been thinking of trying something new for a long time, but haven’t had the guts to do it. Now’s the time to do something different!

4. Your peers, family, friends and co-workers have been urging you to think bigger. They know how talented you are and want you to make a name for yourself. Listen to them and go after the next big thing!

5. After visiting with your career coach and analyzing your career assessment tests, you realize that you would be much happier in a different career. Don’t waste another day not feeling completely fulfilled at work…go out and find your happiness!

Resume

Before you start on your path to career growth, you need to trim your resume and edit it in a way that highlights your greatest accomplishments, skills, and attributes. Read through your resume to make sure that you’re giving yourself enough credit for your workplace accomplishments. Trim out the fat that doesn’t seem to be helping your cause and focus on cleaning everything up to make your resume appear more concise.

Job Search

If you’ve been searching for a new job or career, consider creating a neatly organized binder of all the positions you have applied for or plan on applying for. Experts say that having clutter, including stacks of paper, on your desk creates a sense of anxiety. This clutter may also be keeping you from moving ahead in life. Not all clutter is physical though. Sometimes our inbox is full of old emails and junk mail. When we remove all this clutter from our lives, we give our selves a sense of balance. Creating a simple binder will help you keep track of your job search progress. It will also keep your desk free of distractions and dead ends.

Wardrobe

Have you been wearing the same old worn out suit to all of your job interviews? Maybe it’s time to clean out your closet and give your old work clothes and interview suits to charity. Nothing says unprepared more than showing up to an interview looking like a hot mess with stained shirt, frayed tie, and worn suit. You need to appear sharp and confident, and the only way to do so is to invest in a few key garment essentials: Crisp white button-up shirt, solid suit jacket/pant duo, shined shoes, and professional bag/briefcase. Don’t worry about spending a fortune on a new springtime work wardrobe; there are many discount/outlet stores that carry quality brands at a decent price. Or, consider looking at high-end consignment shops.
Remember that just like Mother Nature, you can give yourself a fresh start! So, why not start anew this spring and watch your career bloom!