If you’re thinking about changing careers, it can feel scary. The unknown of whether or not it will work out brings a lot of risk to the process. Fortunately, you’re not alone—many people are looking to make this same move. And they’re likely asking the same question about making a career pivot work: how do I start over without beginning from zero? The good news is, there are ways to tackle this important question.

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Start With What You Know

Switching careers doesn’t have to start from scratch. It can start with what you already know, what you’ve already done, or what you’re already good at. Before you begin your job search, take a step back and look at your current skills. The scope of this shouldn’t be too specific; it should be transferrable skills you can take from place to place.

• Do you manage people or projects?
• Do you solve problems or work with data?
• Do you communicate with customers or teammates?
• Do you operate equipment or follow guidelines/processes?

These are all skills you can take with you to just about any workplace. Management skills, especially, are really valuable. Companies are looking for self-starters and leaders who can take ownership of processes.

Research Growing Industries

Not all career switches are equal, and not every industry is growing or actively hiring. You’ll want to focus your attention on healthy, flourishing industries that are currently growing or expecting to grow in upcoming quarters.

Do your research first. Look up lists of the top ten growing industries for the year, then take a look at some available jobs in those fields. Pay attention to the requirements listed for these jobs. Doing this will help you understand where your current skills line up and where you have room to grow.

Update Your Resume to Show the New Direction

When you’re looking at making a career pivot work, you can’t use your regular resume that you’d send in for jobs in your current industry. You need to make a new one that frames your past experience with the new industry in mind.

• Focus on those transferrable skills
• Use industry-specific language, but not heavy jargon
• Highlight results and accomplishments
• Downplay tasks that don’t suit your new goals

For example, instead of listing only job responsibilities directly, show how your experience relates to the new role.

Be Open to Starting from the Bottom

A career change doesn’t always mean you can start in your “ideal” job. More often than not, it means using the entry point as a stepping stone to build to better things.

You might have to:
• Start from an entry-level position
• Take a temp-to-hire assignment
• Accept a lower base pay
• Be open to on-the-job training opportunities

However, this isn’t a bad thing. When you build your career from scratch, you’ll go through the same process everyone does, and you’ll come out of it on the other side with well-rounded experience.

Use Your Network for Help

Word of mouth is still a very powerful tool to getting jobs in different industries. Don’t be afraid to ask people you know who already work in those kinds of jobs. They might be able to give you tips about how to get started.

You can:
• Ask questions about how they started in their job
• Learn more about what skills matter to employers there
• Get advice on where and how to apply
• Find out about potential job openings before they’re posted anywhere

If you don’t know anyone who can do this for you, Tempstar Staffing can help. We work with a wide range of employers from just about any industry, and we can offer you advice on what to do when you want to make this important career change.

Get in touch with us today to set up a time to meet with us!