How To Win Jobs With A Non-Traditional Background

Hey {NAME}, “Nobody will take a chance on me because I ___________.” • Don’t have enough experience • Come from a different industry • Don’t have a relevant degree • Took time off to be with my kids Here’s the thing: The hiring process is heavily biased towards traditional candidates. Resumes, apps, interviews — they’re all geared towards what you’ve done in the past. If you’re coming from a non-traditional background, that’s a tough game to play. You end up spending all of your time defending the past instead of focusing on what matters — the future. How many times have you said, “I know I can do this job if someone would just give me a chance!” Don’t wait for someone to give you a chance, get out there and create your opportunity. Stop giving up control by submitting dozens and dozens of online apps. Instead, do this: 1. Find a real human at the company and find ways to connect with them. If you're coming from a non-traditional background, the best people to find are others who also made the jump into their roles from another industry. Here's how: 1. Make a list of 10 companies in your current space (you can start with your current company and then Google for "[Company] competitors" 2. Make a list of 10 companies in your target space 3. Head to LinkedIn and run a search for your target job title 3. Use the “Companies” filters to select all of your target companies 4. Go to “All Filters” > “Past Companies” and add the companies from your current industry This will bring up a list of everyone who transitioned into your target role at your target companies who came from one of the companies in your current space! 2. Listen to their story, share yours, build a relationship. Don't just reach out and ask people to "pick their brain" for 30 minutes. Instead, focus on how you can add value and show that you're someone who's worth investing in. My favorite tactic for this is [the Advice Triangle](=). Anyone can use it and it works especially well for career changers. 3. Stop letting your resume be the focus of your value illustration Resumes are awful ways to illustrate value. That's especially true if you're trying to change careers and everything on your resume looks like it's completely different from what your target role is asking for. Instead of solely relying on that, find better ways to show the company exactly what you bring to the table. Create a [Value Validation Project](=), show them you can do the job. 4. Have a plan for speaking about your experience in interviews When you're shifting careers, you're going to be asked about experience that you probably don't have. Rather than try to beat around the bush, do this: 1. Be honest 2. Reiterate the skill's importance in relation to the role 3. Show them you're working on it For example: “My previous role didn’t place a ton of focus on SQL. That said, I know how important SQL is to the success of this role. I want to be able to hit the ground running so enrolled in a SQL foundations course from Coursera. I’m 2 weeks away from finishing it and then I’ll be moving on Advanced SQL. If I get the opportunity to work for this team, I won’t miss a beat.” Moral of the story? If you want to get results as a non-traditional candidate, quit playing their game. Change the rules and take control. Be well, Austin PS - Want to make this career change faster and easier? [Click here to book a free Clarity Call with our team]() to learn more about how we help our clients build a networking machine that helps them land jobs in an average of 81 days with a $43,000+ raise. [Cultivated Culture] Land a job you love without applying online. How Can I Help You? [Build A Resume](=) [Score Your Resume]() [1:1 Career Coaching](=) [LinkedIn Analyzer]( [Twitter]() [Twitter]() [Podcast](=) [Twitter]( You are receiving this email because you subscribed to get more career-related content on [cultivatedculture.com](). If you do not want to receive these emails or other communications you can easily remove yourself from our email list by [clicking this link to Unsubscribe](.                              Â