I need to know how I can transfer my skills and move into another career

Careershifter question

By Anonymous on 13 January 2008 at 16:21

What's your personal and career background?
I have both a BEd and and MA and have devoted the last 20 years to teaching. I have 3 young children.

What's your current work situation?
I am coming up to 40 now and want to change career totally - the hours I am required to do for my income are ridulous. I am happy to exchange my holidays for getting my weekends and evenings back. I need a work-life balance.

Where ideally would you like to be in twelve month's time?
Moving up a career ladder in a totally different environment. I can start at the bottom, but don't think I can go back to studying.

Where are you currently most stuck?
I have no private sector experience. I need to know how I can transfer my skills and move into another career path. When I look up jobs everyone wants experience - surely my qualifications can help me to pick up something more than a job on a supermarket till.

ShiftDoctor answer

By Toby Buckle on 11 February 2008 at 23:01

An employer asking for previous experience is a short cut for them. It saves time and effort on shifting though applications and also when training and inducting people.

However it's important to remember that we are still in a time of full employment in the UK and that skilled individuals are in short supply. Because of this employers will often consider candidates with transferable skills.

It is your task to identify the skills and abilities your experience and qualifications have given you and how they match the requirements for positions you are thinking of applying to. These skills and abilities need to be sold to the prospective employer as benefits to them.

As with any selling process there is a formula to follow.

Information gather - find out what the employer is looking for. This is listed in adverts but also on the website in terms of company values etc.

Confirm and Clarify - maybe call the hr department or ask people you know in the job what is most important.

Identify the features that are relevant - e.g. dealing with people, scheduling

Phrase these as benefits - e.g. My communication skills will enable me to liaise effectively with your customers. My knowledge of how people learn will enable me to train staff in a more effective way.

Close - ask for a positive action from them, e.g. feedback on your application.

Think of your experience and qualifications as a set of ingredients that can be used to make a variety of roles. Identify which ingredients you would most enjoy to use and pursue roles that can use these.

I would also suggest you do not rely simply on looking at advertised jobs. Spend some time speaking and writing to companies about your experience and the type of jobs they may have. They may well have some good advice. Often there are roles where no direct experience is required, however these are often not advertised.

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