Podcast #157 – Marc Interviews Thea Kelley on Creating a Career Pivot or Change Resume
Description: 
Thea Kelley is a job search and interview coach based in the San Francisco Bay Area who serves job seekers nationwide. Her book, the Amazon best-seller Get That Job! The Quick and Complete Guide to a Winning Interview, was hailed as Excellent on Forbes.com. For state-of-the-art job search tips and a free gift, subscribe to Thea’s blog at www.GreatJobSooner.com. For one-on-one services to help you get a great job sooner, visit www.JobSearchAndInterviewCoach.com.
Key Takeaways:
I wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I recorded the interview for today’s episode in late November and I am recording the rest on January 2nd. I am also ready to get started on the recording of the Repurpose Your Career 3rd edition book.
I have spent much of the holiday season doing my annual website and podcast audit. If you would be so kind as to go to www.careerpivot.com/podcastsurvey and take my annual podcast survey, I would be very grateful. The survey collects some minor demographic information, asks about your favorite episode of 2019, and seeks feedback on what you would like in 2020.
Click here to take the survey.
I recorded many episodes in December with more planned for early January, including an interview of the owner of the website housesitmexico.com, Brenda Bernstein. Brenda is the author of the best-selling LinkedIn book How to Write a Killer LinkedIn Profile. I will also interview Danielle Kunkle Roberts from Boomer Benefits to explain “Medicare at 50”, among others.
My plan was to publish only 2 episodes in January, but if all goes well I will be back to a weekly publication schedule this month. Therefore, next week will be an encore episode with the most popular episode in the last 2 years, which was episode 78 when I interviewed Jonathan Rauch, author of The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50. This episode has been downloaded close to 2500 times since its release in May of 2018 and continues to get 15-30 downloads per month. It is a fascinating interview.
Now on to the podcast…
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STEP Forward Method:
S – Select
T – Translate
E – Emphasize
P – Prove
Select
Select the relevant experience that you want to carry forward into your new resume. You might also leave out jobs where the skills are irrelevant for the new career.
Translate
Translate language from your old career to the new career. Thea gives the example of a police officer transitioning into a corporate security position. She suggested that such an individual say that they worked with the chief executive, rather than that they worked with the chief of police.
Emphasize
Many people use a functional resume format, but also consider a hybrid format resume. Most recruiters and hiring managers do not like functional resumes because they suspect that the candidate is hiding something.
The hybrid resume is a chronicle format that includes a very thorough summary section with lists of competencies, a solid description of why you are right for this job, kudos or testimonials from past jobs regarding hard-to-prove skills, and career highlights. Thea says you will have to pick and choose what to put in this section.
List your key selling points.
Prove
Prove claims that are in your resume through stories and social proof. Thea emphasizes that you should use LinkedIn recommendations and not endorsements.
Marc recommends you check out the interview with Alexander Buschek.
Job Titles
Marc and Thea discuss changing job titles carefully on your resume. Use the official title first and follow it with other possible variations. Thea reminds the listeners that the resume is an official document and should be completely factual. You can get away with not putting an end date on a past job on LinkedIn, but that is completely inappropriate on a resume.
Some other great resources include:
Tami Forman from Path Forward podcast episode.
Other Returnship Programs on the Path Forward website
iRelaunch Return to Work Experts
Carol Fishman Cohen CEO and Co-Founder of iRelaunch [Podcast]
Subscribe to Thea’s website at www.GreatJobSooner.com to get a report on your key selling points.
The Career Pivot Membership Community continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project to grow and thrive. This is a community where everyone is there to help everyone else.
Marc is recruiting new members for the next cohort. If you are interested in the Career Pivot Membership Community and would like to be put on a waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community.
Support the Show
Make sure to check out the Career Pivot Community.
Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter. Please support the Repurpose Your Career podcast by going to Careerpivot.com/donate.
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Hi Marc,
Thanks for having me on the show. Re: “LinkedIn recommendations but not endorsements,” I hope I didn’t give the impression that endorsements in the Skills section of your profile are utterly worthless–they do have value. It’s just that Recommendations are, oh, maybe 10 times more valuable. Here are some tips on getting them: https://jobsearchandinterviewcoach.com/linkedin-recommendations-giving-and-receiving/
Thanks again!
Thea Kelley, Job Search and Interview Coach