How to Write a Career Change Resume, with Examples
A career change CV should be different than a standard one. It needs to focus on your transferable skills as well as relevant industry training and certifications. I'll share the CV advice I give as a career advisor who specialises in working with career changers.
Switching careers is exciting, but I know from speaking to students every day that it can feel daunting when you sit down to update your resume. If you’ve built years of experience in one industry, how do you convince employers in a new sector that you’re the right fit – especially if you don’t yet have direct work experience?
That’s exactly where a career change resume comes in. Unlike a standard resume or CV, it’s not just a record of what you’ve done. It’s a carefully framed document that highlights your transferable skills, explains your motivation, and puts any new training or certifications front and centre. In short, it connects the dots for the hiring manager.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through how a career change resume works, the key principles to follow, and a clear step-by-step structure you can use. I’ll also share real-life career change resume examples from people who’ve successfully moved into areas like IT, data, and project management, plus a simple template to help you start writing your own.
If you’re just starting to think about changing careers, you might also find our ultimate guide to changing career useful, as it covers the bigger picture of planning your next move.
Written by
Tabatha Cook is a dedicated Careers Services Manager at Learning People, bringing a wealth of recruitment experience, having helped hundreds of professionals into their dream careers.
What's on this page?
Jump to:
- What Is a Career Change Resume?
- Key Principles for Writing a Career Change Resume
- How to Structure Your Career Change Resume, Step-by-Step
- Career Change Resume Template
- Career Change Resume Examples
- Common Mistakes to Avoid in a Career Change Resume
- Extra Tips for Career Change Resume Success
- Final Thoughts on Resumes for Career Changers
- FAQs on Resumes for Changing Career
What Is a Career Change Resume?
A career change resume is written with one goal in mind: helping an employer understand why you’re a strong candidate, even though your experience comes from a different field. Instead of presenting a straight, linear career story, it reframes your background so that transferable skills, relevant training, and future potential are at the forefront.
The difference from a standard resume lies in its emphasis. A traditional resume is mostly a record of job titles, responsibilities, and achievements within one sector. A career change resume, by contrast, is about connection. It links what you’ve done before to what you want to do next, and makes clear why the step makes sense.
In other words, it’s less about proving you’ve already done the exact role before, and more about showing you have the skills, drive, and learning to succeed in it now.
Key Principles for Writing a Career Change Resume
Writing a resume when you’re changing careers isn’t about listing everything you’ve ever done. It’s about spotlighting the elements of your background that make you a credible candidate in a new field. Here are the four principles we always emphasise when working with career changers:
1. Focus on transferable skills
These are the bridge between your old role and your new one. Skills like data analysis, project coordination, stakeholder management, or problem solving are valuable across industries, so make sure they’re front and centre.
A normal CV often lists duties and achievements specific to one industry. A career change resume, on the other hand, reframes your experience so that skills stand out because they’re relevant to the new field.
2. Add a strong summary at the top
Your opening profile is your chance to explain your motivation for moving into a new sector, highlight your transferable strengths, and point to any training or certifications that prove you’re building credibility.
3. Be strategic with ordering
Don’t feel restricted by the traditional “employment history first” approach. In a career change resume, skills, training, and relevant projects can sit above job history so that the most relevant content is seen first.
4. Highlight your learning
Courses, certifications, or even volunteer projects in your new field help close the “experience gap.” Unlike in a standard CV, these can be crucial evidence that you’re committed to the switch.
Avoid common pitfalls when writing your resume
Online recruitment resource OnRec reported on a survey that revealed 65% of hiring managers say they would be less likely to hire someone whose CV is poorly formatted.
Meanwhile, Resume World has highlighted that 77% of hiring managers admit they would dismiss a resume with bad grammar or spelling mistakes.
Things like this are easy enough to avoid, but only if you know what to look out for when reviewing your resume. If this is something you could use some help with, book a free career change consultation by hitting the button below.
How to Structure Your Career Change Resume (step-by-step)
The way you organise your resume matters just as much as the content. For career changers, structure is about making sure the most relevant details – skills, training, and motivation – aren’t buried beneath a job title that doesn’t obviously link to your new path. Here’s a structure we often recommend:
Step 1: Write a clear profile or summary
Open with a short paragraph (five to six lines) that introduces you, explains your motivation for changing careers, and sets out the transferable strengths you’re bringing across. This is also the right place to mention any recent or ongoing training, such as IT certifications, project management foundations, or data analysis courses.
Step 2: Add a skills section
Split this into hard skills (specific tools, systems, or technical abilities) and soft skills (communication, teamwork, problem solving). For a career change resume, this section is vital because it makes your transferable abilities unmissable.
Step 3: List relevant certifications and training
Place these above your work history. This shows recruiters that even if your career so far has been in a different sector, you’re actively closing the gap through learning. For example, an aspiring project manager might include AgilePM or APM qualifications before listing retail management experience.
Step 4: Detail professional experience
Reframe past roles so they connect to your new career direction. Instead of describing tasks in their original industry context, emphasise outcomes and skills that carry over, such as leading teams, coordinating projects, analysing data, or introducing new systems.
Step 5: Add education
Keep this concise, especially if your qualifications aren’t directly related to your new field. Secondary education and A-Levels are usually enough unless you’ve completed a degree or postgraduate course relevant to your target career.
Step 6: Keep it to two pages
In Australia and New Zealand, CVs and resumes for career changers work best at two pages. That’s long enough to show detail but short enough to keep the focus sharp.
This structure balances your transferable skills with your career story, while making sure the reader sees the most important evidence first.
Career Change Resume Template
Below is a simple outline you can use to start building your own career change resume. Think of it as a framework. You’ll want to adapt the language, order, and emphasis depending on the role you’re applying for.
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Name
City, Country | Email | Phone | LinkedIn
Profile / Summary
A short paragraph (4–6 lines) that explains:
-
Your motivation for changing careers
-
The transferable skills you bring
-
Any relevant training, certifications, or projects you’ve completed
Key Skills
Split into two sections to make them clear at a glance:
-
Hard Skills (technical tools, systems, software, certifications)
-
Soft Skills (communication, problem solving, stakeholder management, leadership)
Certifications / Training
List relevant courses or certifications, including ongoing ones.
Example: “CompTIA A+ — June 2025 (in progress)”
Professional Experience
For each role, include:
-
Job title | Employer | Dates
-
Bullet points that highlight transferable achievements and outcomes, not just industry-specific tasks
Education
List highest level of education and any relevant qualifications. Keep concise if unrelated to your new field
---
Career Change Resume Examples
Seeing how other people have approached their resume during a career switch can be much more useful than theory alone.
Below, I’ve included two real examples created by our career services team to show how transferable skills, training, and reframed experience can all come together in practice.
These examples were provided by one of our Learning People Career Services Consultants in the UK, Kirsten, who has an important piece of advice...
Remember to always tailor your resume to you and the role you're applying for
Each of these example follows a similar structure that we recommend to career changers. However, the focus shifts depending on the target role – in this case, data or project management.
I share example resumes like these with job seekers as inspiration. But remember: your resume should always be tailored to your own background and the specific role you’re applying for, in every case. Take the time to tailor it to your career goals.
The two CV examples below are for hypothetical candidates looking to move into two different sectors with no previous work experience:
- A career change CV for a role in the Data sector
- A career change CV for a role in the Project Management sector
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Career Changer Resume Example for a Role in the Data Sector
Name
City, United Kingdom | Email | Phone | LinkedIn
Profile
Adaptable and detail-oriented professional with a proven track record in various industries, bringing extensive experience in data entry, reporting, and process improvement within fast-paced environments. Skilled at managing large datasets, performing analysis, and presenting actionable insights to support decision-making. Currently expanding my expertise through data analytics certifications, including CompTIA Data+ and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. Eager to apply my transferable skills and newly acquired data knowledge in a Data Analyst or Junior Data Coordinator role.
Skills
Hard Skills
-
Data Cleaning & Validation
-
Microsoft Excel (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP, Macros)
-
SQL Basics for Data Querying
-
Data Visualization (Tableau, Power BI basics)
-
Reporting & Dashboard Creation
-
Google Sheets & Google Data Studio
Soft Skills
-
Analytical Thinking & Problem Solving
-
Attention to Detail & Accuracy
-
Time Management & Prioritisation
-
Communication & Presentation Skills
-
Team Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
Certifications
-
CompTIA Data+ – July 2025
-
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals – Ongoing
Professional Experience
Operations Supervisor | Tesco | Jan 2019 – Present
-
Managed daily operations with a focus on accurate inventory data tracking and reporting using internal systems.
-
Designed and implemented new inventory monitoring processes, reducing data discrepancies by 15% through process improvement and analysis.
-
Produced performance and sales reports for management, identifying trends to support strategic decisions.
-
Delivered seasonal projects on time and within budget, using sales and stock data to inform planning.
Customer Service Team Lead | The Telemarketing Co | Dec 2016 – Jan 2019
-
Supervised a team of 8, tracking KPIs and generating regular performance dashboards for senior leaders.
-
Developed and optimised data collection templates, improving accuracy and efficiency of customer interaction tracking.
-
Analysed call performance data to provide actionable feedback and improve training outcomes.
Administrative Assistant | NHS | Aug 2013 – Dec 2016
-
Maintained accurate departmental records, databases, and management reports.
-
Performed data entry and validation to ensure quality and compliance with reporting standards.
-
Coordinated training events and prepared data-driven summaries for departmental reviews.
Education
-
A Levels: Business Studies (B), English Language (B), Sociology (C) – College, 2015
-
GCSEs: 9 GCSEs A–C including Maths, English, and Science – School Name, 2013
---
Career Changer Resume Example for a Role in the Project Management Sector
Name
City, United Kingdom | Email | Phone | LinkedIn
Profile
Adaptable and highly organised professional with a proven track record in various industries, bringing extensive experience in team coordination, resource management, and delivering results in fast-paced environments. Skilled at building strong relationships with stakeholders, managing competing priorities, and maintaining accuracy under pressure. Currently enhancing my expertise through APMG and APM project foundation qualifications. Eager to apply my transferable skills and newly acquired project management knowledge in a project coordinator role.
Core Competencies
Hard Skills
-
Project Coordination & Scheduling
-
Budget Tracking & Resource Allocation
-
Project Management Tools: Trello, Microsoft Excel, Google Workspace
-
Risk Identification & Mitigation
-
Reporting & Documentation
-
Data Analysis & KPI Monitoring
Soft Skills
-
Team Leadership & Motivation
-
Stakeholder Communication & Relationship Building
-
Problem Solving & Decision-Making
-
Adaptability in Fast-Paced Environments
-
Time Management & Prioritisation
Certifications
-
APM Project Fundamentals – June 2025
-
AgilePM Foundations, APMG – August 2025
-
Change Management Foundation, APMG – Ongoing
-
Business Analyst Foundation, BCS – Ongoing
Professional Experience
Operations Supervisor | Tesco | Jan 2019 – Present
-
Directed daily operations and coordinated cross-functional teams to achieve business objectives.
-
Planned and implemented a new inventory tracking process, reducing stock discrepancies by 15% through improved data accuracy and procedural controls.
-
Led and developed a team of 12, delivering coaching, performance reviews, and training aligned to business goals.
-
Managed seasonal projects, including store layout redesigns and promotional campaigns, delivered within set timeframes and budgets.
Customer Service Team Lead | The Telemarketing Co | Dec 2016 – Jan 2019
-
Oversaw project-style initiatives to improve service quality, including KPI monitoring and workflow optimisation.
-
Planned and coordinated shift schedules and resource allocation to meet operational and client deadlines.
-
Designed and delivered onboarding and training programmes, enhancing team capability and productivity.
-
Developed reporting tools to increase data visibility, enabling informed decision-making for senior management.
Administrative Assistant | NHS | Aug 2013 – Dec 2016
-
Coordinated departmental training events end-to-end, including budget management, venue booking, and materials preparation.
-
Supported senior leaders with project administration, diary scheduling, and preparation of reports for key meetings.
-
Processed and tracked invoices, ensuring accurate budget reporting.
-
Acted as primary liaison for internal and external stakeholders, maintaining clear communication channels.
Education
-
A Levels: Business Studies (B), English Language (B), Sociology (C) – College, 2015
-
GCSEs: 9 GCSEs A–C including Maths, English, and Science – School Name, 2013
Common Mistakes to Avoid in a Career Change Resume
Even the strongest transferable skills can be lost if your resume isn’t framed the right way.
Here are some of the pitfalls we see most often when supporting people through a career change:
-
Listing irrelevant experience without context: Including every detail of your old career can dilute the impact of your CV. Instead of listing responsibilities that don’t translate, reframe them to show outcomes and skills that carry over.
-
Using jargon from your old industry: Recruiters in your new sector may not understand the terminology of your previous role. Replace internal acronyms or technical terms with language that’s relevant to your target field.
-
Not tailoring to each role: Sending the same resume to every employer rarely works. Adjust your summary, skills section, and experience examples so they match the specific role description.
-
Forgetting about ATS systems: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are widely used to filter resumes. If you don’t weave in relevant keywords from the job description, your resume might not even reach a hiring manager’s desk.
-
Overemphasising job titles: Your old job title might not sound relevant to your new field. Focus instead on the responsibilities and achievements within the role that demonstrate transferable skills.
-
Neglecting to show training or certifications: If you’re completing courses or qualifications to bridge the gap, include them prominently – even if they’re ongoing. It signals commitment and reduces the perceived “experience gap.”
Extra Tips for Career Change Resume Success
A career change resume is a strong foundation, but pairing it with a few extra steps can make your applications far more effective:
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Pair your resume with a strong cover letter: Your resume shows your skills; your cover letter explains your story. Use it to address your motivation for changing careers and why you’re interested in that specific employer.
-
Update your LinkedIn profile: Recruiters will often check your online presence. Make sure your profile headline, summary, and skills align with your target role. Endorsements and recommendations can also help bridge the experience gap.
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Build credibility with industry-specific certifications: Even short, entry-level courses can reassure employers that you’re serious about the switch. They also give you keywords that make your resume more visible in applicant tracking systems.
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Seek feedback: Sometimes you’re too close to your own experience to spot what’s missing. Ask mentors, peers, or a career services team to review your resume. Fresh eyes can highlight where you need to reframe or expand.
Final Thoughts on Resumes for Career Changers
Changing careers takes courage, and the way you present yourself on paper can make a huge difference.
The right resume or CV won’t erase the fact that you’re coming from another industry, but it will do a lot of the heavy lifting by showing employers why your skills, training, and motivation make you worth interviewing.
The examples and template in this guide are designed to give you a head start. Use them as a reference point, but make your resume your own, tailored to your target role and shaped by your unique experience.
If you’re ready to take the next step, start drafting your resume today. Alongside that, think about how upskilling or gaining certifications could boost your credibility.
You’ll find more advice in our guides and resources, but if you’d like personalised support, you can book a free career consultation with one of our advisors today.
FAQs on CVs for Changing Career
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