The best way to handle unrelated experience on your resume
Dear JobsBlog:
How much work detail should I include on my resume? I’m a little late coming to the technology industry though it is my first love and my dream career. Most of my work experience prior to getting my degree and most recent work experience is outside the tech industry. Should I include that on my resume? I don’t want to appear like I am lying, but it may be a bit of a shock for me to walk into someone’s office for the first time. Especially if they are expecting a relatively young person!
-Lots of Experience
Dear Lots of Experience:
I think it’s great that you realize what your true passion is! It will come across in any interviews you go on and I appreciate that you care enough to tailor your resume for your audience. From your question, it sounds as though you recently completed a degree in Computer Science or a related field. A lot of recruiters and hiring managers would like to see your experience if you feel it is relevant to the job you’re applying to. So even if it is outside of the technology world, the fact that you were a program or project manager, a manager of people or teams, or have experience in long range planning or managing huge budgets, those are all traits or skills we love to see in combination with your new degree/skills.
Tailoring your resume to put those skills front and center and tying that together with personal projects (a technical blog, site, app) you have worked on in the tech world will get you where you want to go. Remember it’s not about who you worked for or what you worked on – the type or scope of work and the quality of work are what you will bring to your next job. If you can find a job where you can carry over your domain expertise – even better.
In the end, we are hiring people. People are not just skills and experience on a piece of paper; we are complete packages with a story. It will be your job to tie those parts of your story and make them relevant to the new job you’re trying to land.
Best of luck to you!
Eugenia
4 Comments
Clivant said:
Yes,
As technology is often a complement to help people solve problems more efficiency, having experiences in valuable domains can be useful.
Sean McDermott said:
Dear Eugenia,
I seem to be having the same qualms as "Lots." Unfortunately, I have been granted little-to-no chance to interview or display how passionate I am about writing for the media and delivering detailed, honest news information. The predominance of my work experience exists in the food-service industry, and I pursued my journalistic passion by following what all said was the best way to change careers at the time; go back to school. After receiving my Bachelor's in Communications in 2009, I have suffered the best I can for what I was paid taking on "experience builders" like:
- Working as a Staff writer for my campus newspaper
- Being an Ocean County Headlines Examiner; writing news columns relevant to my county of residence for Examiner.com (paid solely in ad-revenue,)
- Editorial Intern for a search-engine website created for prospecting online shoppers.
I also completed a school-accredited internship for a major organization in Washington, DC which, in the least, granted me experience working top-level for a major corporation (Business & Information Technology certificate for a full-semester internship at Blackboard, Inc.) Nevertheless, since graduation I have applied and applied some more to various newspapers and media groups local and abroad. I have fine-tuned my resume to include and exclude my 'other,' unrelated, work experience.
The few times I was granted an interview were for the minimally-paying jobs I have listed above.
I am utterly frustrated, and despite the fluctuation/deflation of the recent job market, I am finding it very hard to not think something isn't being made vibrantly clear. I have made numerous tailors to my resume, sent out hundreds of e-mails, job applications, and profile submissions, and yet I can't get the interviews from quality employers offering a livable wage.
I now have a growing hiatus, or "gap" in journalism experience because I have had to take on unrelated jobs. I am on the brink of homelessness, feeling desperate, and I really feel someone needs to step up because I am beyond confident that I am a dedicated company asset.
This topic alone, has increased my passion to write more than ever, but I must know, is there anything I am feasibly doing wrong? Are there unclear or unfair disqualifications taking place that the public must know about, or is that my creative writing typing that to you? I am at a loss, but I feel I have the right to know if there is.
Help, please. Thanks.
--Sean
Alison said:
Thanks for a great resume blog
<a href="http://sampleresumedirectory.com/engineering-resume"> Best Engineering Resume Templates</a>
Job Vacancies Openings Listings said:
It can be a very competitive job environment out there and as they say nothing beats experience. If you are new to a field of endeavour then I would be placing less of an emphasis on your resume and more on building relationships with people who count.
Get to know a wide variety of recruiters - you will find at least one who will go the extra mile to work for you. Ask your friends and family for their contacts and call them all. Then call all of those people and tee up coffee appointments with them.
There are breaks out there - you just need to find them and sell your skills.