How To Rebrand Yourself After A Career Change
by Sabrina Clark -
You don’t have to be told that building and maintaining your brand online is a cornerstone of making things happen in your career. A personal website, social media, industry associations — these are all tucked in your tool belt for communicating to employers and clients about your brand.
Especially if you’re going through a career change, it’s important to give your brand a makeover. Sure, there are transferable skills, but you need to communicate why they are relevant to a new industry.
If you’re going to move to a new career, you need your brand to reflect on why you should be able to. Here’s a guide to getting that done:
Show How Versatile You Are
Do you have qualities and abilities that weren’t showcased in your previous career, but are helpful, or even necessary, in your new one? Point out what those qualities and abilities are online. Don’t be shy. Mention all you can. Don’t stop there. Explain how those qualities and abilities translate to experience or talents that make you useful to your new industry.
Almost half of hiring decision-makers in a Jobvite poll said that they were looking for employees who were “creative.” That means you’ll have an advantage the more you can relate your capabilities to your new career.
“You must always be able to predict what’s next and then have the flexibility to evolve.” – Marc Benioff
Brand For The New Career
Some people focus too much on what they were doing in the career they left. It’s hard to give up on the hard work and lessons learned from previous work. Liz Ryan, a Forbes contributor, tells the story of a seminar attendee who continued to list his previous career in the summary at the top of his resume. That drew questions about why an employer in his new industry would want to hire someone with such a vastly different job description than what the employer was looking for.
