So this is not necessarily just a Waco topic but this forum gets more visits than Chit Chat so if it needs to be moved it can.

Has anyone ever changed careers? Not just changed companies but completely changed careers? If so did any of you use a recruiter/head hunter or just a resume writer? As a side what career did you change from and to?

Without getting into too many personal details, I am currently thinking about it as I feel that I have gone about as far as I can in my field without an advanced degree in the field and am just sort of wanting a change that I don't think just switching companies would provide. I have been looking a little and applying for some jobs, often ones that highlight my education or work experience, but often do not hear anything from the companies I am applying with.

I am leaning towards looking at using a recruiter and resume writer to help with the search but was curious what experiences others had with these things and for any recommendations some of you might have for a recruiter/ resume writer.

cowboycwr said:

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So this is not necessarily just a Waco topic but this forum gets more visits than Chit Chat so if it needs to be moved it can.

Has anyone ever changed careers? Not just changed companies but completely changed careers? If so did any of you use a recruiter/head hunter or just a resume writer? As a side what career did you change from and to?

Without getting into too many personal details, I am currently thinking about it as I feel that I have gone about as far as I can in my field without an advanced degree in the field and am just sort of wanting a change that I don't think just switching companies would provide. I have been looking a little and applying for some jobs, often ones that highlight my education or work experience, but often do not hear anything from the companies I am applying with.

I am leaning towards looking at using a recruiter and resume writer to help with the search but was curious what experiences others had with these things and for any recommendations some of you might have for a recruiter/ resume writer.

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how old are you?

Probably depends what you do now and what you are applying for. I am in software engineering and I have seen quite a few people switch into it from other careers. Specifically my company deals with Revature and Hackbright. Both are coding bootcamps for non-traditional majors. Revature is more for everyone and Hackbright is mainly women from top tier west coast universities like Stanford or Washington who majored in music, forestry, physics, etc who now realized they can make more in software. Both usually produce entry level though. So that is like $125k total comp to start in Texas and like $160k in Cali.

I think a resume writer can help in the first steps, but over time all your skills will be seen in practice, so there is no need to come up with a resume that is higher than your actual skills. I remember how I had problems with the task and I used https://edubirdie.com/java-help to solve them, since I started having problems and I couldn't manage it myself. But these are just my thoughts, good luck!

I've done this a couple of times. A lot of this is going to come down to what hard skills you can document that you have that are applicable to where you are trying to get to. Having connections or head hunters to open doors will help. But they can't do crap if you don't have verifiable hard skills.

• Left teaching to get into insurance. I had a math degree that allowed me entry into the actuarial realm in a low level job that I was actually overqualified for.
• Left the actuary space to do analytics for a hedge fund. The analysis skills were easy to verify given the work I had done on that end. Head Hunter helped me here.
• Forced to move on from the hedge fund in 2008 and did financial consulting for a healthcare IT company. The two previous positions' hard skill translated directly even though I didn't have formal B School training. It also helped that a Baylor connection helped open a door.
• Left to open my own business 11 years ago. That's a conversation in itself.

Leveraging connections and head hunters absolutely can help you. They can also do things that the resume writer can't while being able to help you with the resume.

The job market is a freaky space right now. I've watched friends look for an eternity and seen others spin quickly. The field you're trying to enter is going to go a long way in determining what help is going to be most beneficial.

Networking has landed me quite a few jobs or at least gotten my foot in the door. I had a rough patch where I lost 5 jobs in a 5 year span so I am quite familiar with job searching.

I feel you can have the best resume in the world but it won't do you any good if you don't have some kind of connection at the company you want to work at.

That goes against how I got the job I have now at Baylor. It was sheer luck and God's grace I got it but I had a multiple step plan to beef up my resume to have jobs that aligned with what I was wanting.

I'm pretty sure I would have gotten here faster if I had someone within the department I wanted a job with (but that can be very difficult).

I never had much luck with headhunters or HR reps as sure they would provide a job here and there but it was nothing I felt was right for me and I would most likely be in the same spot I was in in a year or so.

The best thing you can do is figure out what you want to do. That can be a hard question to answer so something I would recommend would be to do an aptitude test to nail down how you are wired and what would bring you satisfaction. I used to work at AIMs testing in Dallas and love what they provide. I wish I know about it before when I graduated college, would have had a much different career path.

I love AIMs but leadership there is batsh*t insane. If you are able to get another advisor besides the director then you're golden. We can talk more if you're interested.

Their competitor is Johnson O'Conner. They are much larger and do basically the same thing. It's an investment (roughly $1000) but it's something I swear by and will have my kids do once they are in high school. It's crazy accurate and it's tailored made for you.

I sent both my kids to Johnson O'Connor and would highly recommend.

Thanks. Some good advice in here although I thought there would be more people commenting as I know we have had a bunch of people on here talk about changing careers before.

As to the networking I have always tried to do that but most of my network is in the same field as me. I have always felt that in any field it is more about who you know than what you know/what degree(s) you have. And that is my problem as I am looking for a new job/career. I don't have connections to some of the areas I am looking at and a resume/cover letter are hard to fully explain in detail how my experience translate from current job/career to that company/career.

cowboycwr said:

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Thanks. Some good advice in here although I thought there would be more people commenting as I know we have had a bunch of people on here talk about changing careers before.

As to the networking I have always tried to do that but most of my network is in the same field as me. I have always felt that in any field it is more about who you know than what you know/what degree(s) you have. And that is my problem as I am looking for a new job/career. I don't have connections to some of the areas I am looking at and a resume/cover letter are hard to fully explain in detail how my experience translate from current job/career to that company/career.

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I honestly think your situation would be great for networking. I would use the informational angle to ask people their advice on how to change careers. People don't want to be asked for a job but I think you will find people receptive to offering advice. And sometimes that could turn into other things - introductions to others, future consideration, etc. Even if it doesn't translate into an immediate referral you probably get practical advice you can work into your resume and cover letter. I'd focus on LinkedIn profile first and use that to build connections and informational conversations (in addition to friends, neighbors, etc,) My experience with real recruiters is that they aren't someone you hire. They don't work for the job seeker, but rather the employer, so they are looking to find the best talent for a specific role/assignment. That said, I'd definitely make recruiters within your desired career/industry a target for your networking. Good luck, and If you share a little more about your desired role or industry you might find some people to connect with here.

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I thought there would be more people commenting

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Since only you know your own aptitudes, abilities, desire for work-life balance, etc, it's difficult to offer specific advice.

OTOH, having changed careers myself, and having watched my father change careers, I can offer up the following:

1. If you're married, make sure your spouse in on board. And I mean, REALLY onboard.

2. If you have financial commitments (e.g. - mortgage, kids, student loan and other debt, etc...), make sure you can weather whatever change you make.

I completely changed careers when I was in my early twenties. Even being unmarried and having simple tastes, I had to make due with very little income for a longer period than I ever envisioned. (went in business for myself)

My father completely changed careers while having a stay-at-home wife, two kids and plenty of bills. I witnessed that being an extreme marital stressor for both him and my mother for a couple of years. He gambled and it paid off. Some folks aren't as fortunate.

TLDR; -- having less 'entanglements' makes career change easier, but you probably already knew that.

In any case, good luck to you. No amount of money in the world can compensate a man for working his entire life in a job he doesn't enjoy.

1. 85% of jobs are obtained through connections and not random resume/applications. Work your network, they probably know more people than you think. Grow your network. Find some Baylor alums in fields you're interested in. I have found fellow alums are usually very happy to chat. Don't lead off with "give me a job" just say you're interested in what they do and would love 20-30 mins of their time. Offer to buy a coffee or beer if they are in your area.

2. Read up on the fields and companies you are interested in. It's hard to help someone if they say "I want to be in X field" and then when they show up to chat over a coffee know 0 about healthcare, marketing, banking, CRE, etc.

3. Practice patience. Be intentional. Don't get yourself fired from your current job.

4. Expect a pay cut.

5. Very few careers are linear lines on a graph. Ideally they trend up over time but sometimes they peak down for a bit. I had a buddy who went from real estate to private equity to analytics/big data. His first analytics job he made less than his first real estate job but now he's probably back on par with his private equity days and loving life.

6. Research ATS a bit. Most big companies nowadays use AI to sort which resumes make it in front of a recruiter/HR person. Tailor your resume to job descriptions trying to hit the key words. Don't lie of course. Also a big thing is making sure your resume is action and result. Example below:

Bad resume: successfully managed a team of people that achieved positive results

Better resume: managed a team of 5 people that brought in and maintained 5 new clients worth $1.2million

7. You can overcome hard skill deficiencies by proving you are a willing and capable learner and worker AND someone they want to work with. A manager is going to hire someone they want to work with that is deficient in a few trainable areas versus an ******* who has all the hard skills.

I want to echo what everyone else is saying. I got my first real job thru a family friend and when he sold his business, I got a job bc of his connections. Then when I was in sales at that company I made connections and that's landed me the last two jobs I've had.

Connections are everything. The last two companies that I accepted a job at, they only asked me for a resume until after my hiring paperwork was done for HR purposes

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Recently I have gotten more active on Linkedin as I had a page from over a decade ago but never really got into it. Probably because I was in education and it wasn't really used in education at the time. (Education- specifically education administration is what I am looking to transition out of right now).

As to connections... right now so many of my connections are either college friends, close adult friends educators, education company people, etc. that I have met over the years.

cowboycwr said:

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Thanks everyone for the advice.

Recently I have gotten more active on Linkedin as I had a page from over a decade ago but never really got into it. Probably because I was in education and it wasn't really used in education at the time. (Education- specifically education administration is what I am looking to transition out of right now).

As to connections... right now so many of my connections are either college friends, close adult friends educators, education company people, etc. that I have met over the years.

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I had a friend that taught in the classroom for 15 years and transitioned to software pre-sales. Her role was to demo classroom related software to school administration.

Pay was much much better.

Your connections would be perfect.