Marketing Myself in a New Career?

Dear Liz,

I have changed industries twice and it looks like I'm in for a third career
switch. How do I market myself to a new audience?

Thanks,

Brent

Dear Brent,

This is a great question. How do we market products and services, in general? We
start with the audience's need. We are going to talk about what's relevant in
your background -- going all the way back to the start of your career, or
starting at any point you like -- to the next set of hiring managers. We are
going to use every job in your history to point up some aspect of the current
need that you've already addressed brilliantly.

Changing industries doesn't have to be a job-search hurdle. We only need to know
enough about what's important in the new arena to relate it to what you've
already done.

Can you start by answering these questions about the set of hiring managers
you'll be targeting in your upcoming career change:

1) What is the biggest problem they're facing? (This could vary by company, of
course)
2) What sorts of problems do their team members solve on the job?
3) What types of overcoming-adversity or surmounting-challenges stories will
resonate with these hiring managers?

We are way past the time when the spark in a resume was contained in the company
names, titles and dates of employment included in it. Today, the spark and life
are in the stories and in the Summary at the top of your resume, the one that
brings the hiring manager who's reading the document from Point A early in your
career to wherever you are now in a logical, storylined way. Make sense?

Make sense? If not, leave a comment below.

Best -- Liz