Are you looking to change your career or industry?
The Temple Industry Change Guide organizes all the resources to help you find not just a new job but a whole new career, showing employers why being Temple Made prepares you for anything.
The Basics
Trying to change industries always includes factors unique to each situation, depending on the skills and experiences you have and what credentials you need to compete in your target industry. But there are common practices that any industry changer can follow to reach your target industry or new career field.
Determining Your Career Direction
Maybe you already know which industry you want to move into. But if you’re struggling to determine what direction to go in, these three activities can help you gain clarity. These activities can also help you to identify your skills and strengths, so you know how to market yourself in your job search.
Audit your resume
Reflecting on your past experiences will help you figure out what things you found most fulfilling and want more of, and the tasks you are ready to leave behind. Watch the Resume Reflection Activity video for more tips.
Evaluate your current work
If you are currently working, take two weeks and try to notice when you are most engaged in your work, and when you’re not. This activity can yield surprising results. Watch a video covering the Work Pro/Con Evaluation.
Career self-assessment
To add to your own reflections, consider taking a career assessment like O*NET My Next Move. You can read more about this assessment on the Alumni Career Services website and see how it can help you find the clarity you’re looking for.
Evaluating Potential Jobs
Whether you’re reflecting on your current work or envisioning potential future careers, it can be challenging to evaluate what fits and what does not. Try using these four career lenses to guide your evaluations of potential career paths.
Key Principles to Keep in Mind
As someone aiming to change not just jobs, but industries, there are a few key points to keep in mind about this process.
- Consider making your industry change a two-step process, where you make a small first step followed by a larger second step. For instance, maybe you want to go from a marketing career to a customer service career in tech. Rather than make one giant leap, make a small step to a marketing job for a tech company. It’s often easier to transition roles as an internal candidate where the company already sees your value and commitment.
- Be realistic. Changing industries might mean a lateral move (in terms of job title and/or salary) at best. The goal is to land in the right industry, and then quickly show your value and flatten the learning curve once you’re there.
Networking Is Required
While networking can be transformational for any job seeker, it is absolutely required when you’re changing industries. And there are two distinct phases to an industry changer’s networking strategy. As you navigate these phases, you can utilize the Alumni Networking Guide to help you find and make connections.
Phase One
Ask questions to figure out if your outside perception of a new career matches internal reality. And start to learn what experiences or credentials you need to be taken seriously as a candidate in your target industry. Don’t have those experiences or credentials? Check out Temple’s Office of Non-Credit and Continuing Education or Temple’s graduate degree programs to see if they can help.
Phase Two
Once you’re committed to a path, circle back to contacts from phase one or develop new ones at your target employer. As a nonlinear candidate, having a referral can help your application be taken more seriously.
Get Organized
Job searching is a complicated task, and while it can feel productive to send out application after application, a better strategy is to get organized, and be proactive in your process. Check out the Three-Category Approach to job searching to see how to keep yourself organized and pursue your job search proactively.
Prepare Your Resume
You know you will need your resume to be in top shape in order to land that next position. Check out the Alumni Resume Guide for actionable resume advice.
Cover Letters
A cover letter helps you make a clear and compelling case as to why you are the best candidate for a role. Take a look at Jobscan’s Cover Letter Guide to help you write a captivating cover letter.
Prepare to Negotiate
You should consider negotiating for any job offer you receive. The legitimate worst-case scenario is that the employer simply won’t budge. (If they rescind the offer, you’ve likely escaped an employer who’s not comfortable with employees who advocate for themselves.)
Check out Big Interview’s negotiation curriculum for step-by-step guidance to help you negotiate your job offer. You’ll need a Big Interview account to access this curriculum. If you don’t have one, complete this form to set up your Big Interview account.
Career Tools
Temple offers career tools to help you optimize and accelerate your job search process:
CareerShift
CareerShift is your one-stop shop for organizing your job search. And it also aggregates job postings from across the internet. Check out how to use this resource to its full advantage. To use this resource, you must create or update your AccessNet account.
Jobscan
As you start identifying roles you’re ready to apply for, use Jobscan to optimize your resume and other application documents to ensure you’re showing the hiring manager how aligned your skills are with the job description. See how easy it is to optimize your resume using Jobscan. Fill out this form to request your premium account provided by Temple, so that you can use the power edit feature to easily update your resume.
Big Interview
Landed the interview and need to prepare? Check out Big Interview—it helps you practice common and industry-specific questions, allows you to record your answers so you can review how you are doing, and even scans your responses using its AI system to ensure you are putting your best foot forward.
Fill out this brief form to set up your Big Interview account today.
Networking Guide
Use the Networking Guide to find and contact Owls who can help you advance your job search.