From forestry to teaching via a good CV (resume)

By Angela Bensemann

It’s not easy changing careers.  We often get stuck in the mind set of doing what we do because we do it (sound familiar?).

I recently worked with a guy to write a career changing CV.  He’s been working in the forestry industry for 25+ years and has now decided to teach English as a second language to adults in China.  A slight change in direction!

Of course he’s already done all the hard work – made the decision to leave what he is doing, undertaken an online qualification and put all the wheels in motion for his new life.  He just needed a bit of help getting that CV right.

There’s lots of tools and advice around on how to write a standard CV and cover letter.  But when it comes to writing one for a job completely outside of your work history you need to approach it in a totally different way.

I could tell when reading his CV that he actually had a lot of teaching experience it was just buried.  He’d undertaken forestry related qualifications enabling him to teach forestry unit standards.  He’d also undertaken Adult Education qualifications to enable him to work with adults.

And although forestry itself has no direct link to teaching, teaching people what they need to know and do in forestry does.  Over the years he had taught many forestry people both in the field and in the classroom so they could obtain the qualifications needed to undertake their jobs.

He had also done a lot of work with youth teaching them valuable life skills and preparing them for the workforce.

My top tips for writing a career changing CV:

• Include the usual name and contact details; however, if you are applying for jobs overseas make sure you include international telephone codes or your new contact details if you are already there.
• Relevant qualifications – it is important to bring this right up front on your CV because this will tell someone why you are qualified to apply for this position even though you have been working in a totally unrelated field.
• Relevant experience – rewrite previous jobs to focus in on the relevant aspects of your new career.  Include in this section the key responsibilities you undertook related to your new career.  Also include the specifically related skills and attributes.
• Personal interests (keep to a minimum - you want to give people a flavour of you outside of work but not too much information).
• Referees – it is fairly standard to provide three referees for a potential employer to contact.  Try to make these as relevant as possible to your new career. 
• Remember to try and keep your CV to two or three pages.  If you are applying internationally keep your audience in mind for the language you use.
• And finally your cover letter.  This is crucial and gives you the chance to explain why you are changing career and why you are well suited to the job.