Recognizing Skills From Previous Jobs

Considering a Career Transition? Doing this one thing can make the difference between being overlooked or being selected for an interview and landing an offer. ✅ Be the obvious choice – Don’t assume recruiters will connect the dots. They’re often scanning for an exact title match. Your job? Bridge the gap for them. Translate your past experience into the language of your target role so they see you as a natural fit. Example:  Transition from a Project Manager → Product Manager Let’s say you’ve been a Project Manager for years but want to move into a Product Manager role. A recruiter or hiring manager might not immediately see the connection because they’re looking for candidates with direct Product Management titles. Instead of listing: ❌ “Managed project timelines, budgets, and stakeholder communications.” Reframe it to match Product Management language: ✅ “Led cross-functional teams to deliver customer-focused solutions, prioritizing features based on business impact and user needs.” Why this works: “Led cross-functional teams” aligns with how product managers work across engineering, design, and marketing. “Customer-focused solutions” signals an understanding of product development, not just project execution. “Prioritizing features based on business impact and user needs” shows a product mindset—something critical for a PM role. ✨ Bonus: 📎📄 Attached is an in-depth example of how to identify your transferable skills and effectively highlight them as relevant experience. This can be a tool that assists you with your resume, interviewing and negotiating. 💡 Need guidance? Assisting clients with career pivots and transitions is something I excel at. Plus - I’ve successfully navigated several transitions in my own career, so I’ve lived it. Let’s connect! #CareerChange #CareerAdvice #JobSearch #CareerTransition #Laidoff #CareerDevelopment #CareerGrowth #JobSeeker #CareerPivot

Stop disqualifying yourself from jobs. Start connecting your transferable skills instead 👇🏼 A hard truth I've learned from years as a career coach: Most qualified candidates never apply because they focus on what they lack instead of what they bring. Last month, I worked with Alex who wanted to transition into project management but kept saying "I don't have PM experience." Wrong mindset. This thinking keeps amazing candidates on the sidelines while less qualified (but more confident) people get hired. I helped Alex reframe his background using 3 strategies that landed him 2 offers: ✅ 1 // Map your transferable skills to their actual needs. Don't focus on job titles—focus on problems you've solved. Alex coordinated cross-functional teams, managed budgets, and delivered complex initiatives on time. That's project management, just without the official title. ✅ 2 // Highlight measurable achievements that translate across industries. We repositioned his "event coordination" as "managed $500K budgets and 50+ stakeholders to deliver projects 2 weeks ahead of schedule." Suddenly, his experience looked relevant. ✅ 3 // Reach out to decision makers before jobs are posted. Instead of waiting for perfect job postings, Alex researched target companies and connected with department heads on LinkedIn. He shared insights about challenges they were facing. The result? Two interviews for positions that were never advertised publicly. Both companies extended offers. They were impressed at how well he communicated his experience. The unfortunate reality is most people eliminate themselves from opportunities before employers ever get the chance to. Remember: Companies hire people who can solve their problems, not people with perfect resumes. 📌 Question: What's a role you've talked yourself out of applying for? What transferable skills do you actually have?

I see so many posts each day of educators venting their frustrations about applying to tons of jobs with no luck. Job hunting is hard on a good day, and making a career pivot is even more difficult. I get it, I've been there more than once. If what you're doing isn't working, here are some ideas: 1️⃣ Take a step back, stop applying, step away from your resume, and get intentional. 2️⃣ Make a list of all of the skills you've acquired in your current career. Not tasks, skills. Then, narrow that down to the 3-5 skills you want to use and develop regularly in your new career. 3️⃣ Identity a professional and/or personal value that aligns to each skill. Don't skip this part! This is the 'why.' 4️⃣ Research careers and job roles based on your skills and values. Network with people in those roles. 5️⃣ Pick your top 3 role types based on your research. Take your resume and make 3 digital copies. Start aligning your resume to each role type. (For example, I had a content marketing resume, an instructional design resume, and a corporate training resume.) 6️⃣ As you read job descriptions, look for your skills and values in them. If a job description doesn't match at least 3 of the 5 skill/value sets you've identified, it's not for you--don't apply. Stay focused. I transitioned out of the classroom in just 3 months back in 2022 using this method. Then, I changed industries in 2024 in under 3 months using the same process. I can't guarantee what your timeline will be, but this technique works. When you're clear about what you want and what you bring to the table and can communicate it succinctly, it's easier for others to see how your personality and former experience make you a great candidate. Try it. What have you got to lose? 👇🏿👇🏻👇🏼👇🏽👇🏾👇🏿👇🏻👇🏼👇🏽👇🏾👇🏿 Hi, I'm Lauren and I'm a #formerteacher turned Creative Marketing Manager. Follow me for more content related to #education, #mentalhealth, and #transitioningteachers!

💡Looking to change jobs or industries? Focus on transferable skills. When I was in Corporate Communications, I led and developed quarterly town halls. I would take the business needs of leadership, use that to provide input for creative development, and then deliver it to an internal audience through executive leadership presentations. Now, I’m in marketing. I do not have a traditional background in marketing. But in my role as a Comms Planner, we take the business needs from our Business partners, kick off creative development for campaign assets, and then release it into the wild via our many channels. It’s the same skill set. It’s a lot bigger and involves way more people—but that’s where the learning opportunity comes in (which I’m very grateful my leaders provided me the opportunity to do). But you need to be the translator. Don’t expect the interviewer to pick out the nuances of your job and translate them to the role you are applying for. Understand the core functions of the role, discern what skills are required to carry it out, and then share how you can do EXACTLY THAT by providing a parallel example like above. You have a unique toolbox full of skills that can apply to many jobs across many industries. Make it easy for a new employer to understand how you can use them! #interviewtips #opentowork #marketingjobs #caitcomms #transferableskills #linkedinlearning

When you pivot careers your skills don’t go away, they get recycled ♻️ Since pivoting in entrepreneurship I’ve seen how the social work skills I have are transferable as a a travel creator in a few ways 👀 💻 Skill: Research Then? Looking up best practices in journal articles. Now? Researching facts and history about the destination before traveling 📝 Skill: Project Management Then? Managed a portfolio of research & evaluation projects. Now? Managing multiple social media platforms, video strategy, and content calendars 🤝 Skill: Relationship/Rapport Building Then? Managing people and building relationships with clients in nonprofit, education and foundation sectors. Now? Building relationships with influencer agencies, creators, tourism boards, and PR teams 🧠 Skill: Problem-Solving Then? Working on projects around supporting Black entrepreneurs, food justice, and Black maternal health. Now? Figuring out how to encourage more train travel, community-centered travel experiences and supporting Black travelers Do not sleep on the skills you have or are attaining! You never know when or how they will come in handy in the future ✨ Hey I’m Sojourner and if you’re into travel, career pivoting, or the highs and lows of being a new entrepreneur, follow along for more 💻 🚂 ✈️ #travelcreator #socialwork #careerpivot #entrepreneurship