Has anyone successfully done a career change?

MommaP12 · October 2013

I'm thinking of different lines of work I'd like to get into but have no idea how to go about getting into them. I'm a typical Corporate American drone with a BA and MBA working in product management but I'm thinking of areas I'd like to switch to (I'm all over the board so I won't even list what I'm thinking) and I'm wondering if I need to see a recruiter or resume expert or something to help transition my skills into what I'd like to be doing. I figure it can't hurt?

Has anyone here successfully changed their career?

BPer · October 2013

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

MommaP12 · October 2013

BPer said:

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

That's too bad he was a Dbag, ugh, it's all too common. My boss now is one as well.

So did you just spin your PM experience on your resume to get the new role (what was that role at the start up?)

LyndseylovesHugh · October 2013

I have, but there was a logical transition. I was a Catering Sales Manager at a resort and after a few years of working 7 days a week until midnight each day I decided it was time for a change. I became a recruiter within the hospitality industry and eventually moved over to a corporate recruiter role at a large dot com, which is what I did until Audrey was born. So hearing that I was a party planner (which is pretty much what I did at the resort) and moved over to HR sounds random, but it really wasn't that random.

LyndseylovesHugh · October 2013

BPer said:

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

I wonder if I used your program?

BPer · October 2013

MommaP12 said:

BPer said:

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

That's too bad he was a Dbag, ugh, it's all too common. My boss now is one as well.

So did you just spin your PM experience on your resume to get the new role (what was that role at the start up?)

Pretty much. So much of my work was interrelated. Like, I was doing account management, sales, business development, organic growth as a PM, and because we were a tech start-up, we all had to do a little bit of everything, so they liked the diversity of my background.

BPer · October 2013

LyndseylovesHugh said:

BPer said:

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

I wonder if I used your program?

WyckWyre? We were pretty small when I came on, like there were literally 3 of us, but we were an online division of a multi-billion dollar company, Maines Paper & Food. While I was there, we had so much growth, and even became the preferred recruiting tool for Wendy's nationwide, not the most glamorous, but lots of money!

BPer · October 2013

Oh, and now I sell real estate, so I guess that's another one! I kind of hate it though, so I don't think I'd consider it a 'successful' career change. Lol.

Flamingemu · October 2013

I have - ish. I was an insurance salesman and office manager and am now in consulting, specifically financial consulting. So while it is a career change, the skills I acquired as a salesman translate very easily to consulting (since it is a catchall).

I think it would benefit you to contact a resume specialist or talk to people in the field you are trying to get into to get some perspective on what they would be looking for.

I have to spin people's resumes for new contracts all the time. List your experience in a way to highlight your skills not necessarily the tasks you completed.

LyndseylovesHugh · October 2013

BPer said:

LyndseylovesHugh said:

BPer said:

I was in Program Management for large contract manufacturers. I left and began working for a tech start-up that sold/managed web-based recruiting for the restaurant and hospitality industry. I would have stayed had my boss not been such a dbag about be being pregnant.

I wonder if I used your program?

WyckWyre? We were pretty small when I came on, like there were literally 3 of us, but we were an online division of a multi-billion dollar company, Maines Paper & Food. While I was there, we had so much growth, and even became the preferred recruiting tool for Wendy's nationwide, not the most glamorous, but lots of money!

No, that wasnt what we used. The company I worked for when I did hospitality recruiting was a very large national search firm so our system was probably more general than your since we had different divisions.

melody921 · October 2013

I have but it was a more typical transition. I worked as a newspaper reporter then editor before making the switch to a PR director for a nonprofit. Just kind of flipped to the other side of what I had been doing.

gingersnap112 · October 2013

I worked in HR at a big casino, and am now a special ed teacher. I went through an alternative certification program aimed at getting people who wouldn't otherwise be teachers to be teachers in urban areas.

LouRN09 · October 2013

I was in advertising and marketing and did that for a few years until I had my "ah ha!" moment and felt the calling towards Nursing. Of course that required me to return to school to get a 2nd Bachelors in Nursing. So I did have an interesting resume, but had the clinical experience from nursing school and externship experience and have been an Oncology RN ever since. Kind of a different transition than you are talking about tough. I do think that my experience in my 1st field was super helpful in getting my current nursing position, as unrelated as it may be. You build valuable skills along the way no matter what you do!

willy_gert · October 2013

gingersnap112 said:
I worked in HR at a big casino, and am now a special ed teacher. I went through an alternative certification program aimed at getting people who wouldn't otherwise be teachers to be teachers in urban areas.

This is interesting! Can you tell me more? I sometimes think I should have been as much as I love the training part of my job.

MommaP12 · October 2013

gingersnap112 said:
I worked in HR at a big casino, and am now a special ed teacher. I went through an alternative certification program aimed at getting people who wouldn't otherwise be teachers to be teachers in urban areas.

Whoa!!! Where do I get this certificate?! @gingersnap112. My undergrad is Spanish Translationa and I have an MBA and have always wondered if I could go back and get a teaching cert relatively quickly/inexpensive.

cmumama · October 2013

I'm hoping to! I have a marketing/logistics background and am currently on a waitlist for a local ultrasound program.

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