For the last year or more I’ve been conducting an informal survey-experiment to see whether or not all of the talk about selling transferable skills as a means of transitioning into a new career field is real. I’ve surveyed nearly 50 recruiters, human resources professionals, hiring managers and jobseekers, most of whom are in my inner circle, on whether or not they would and have hired career changers–new employees who are seeking jobs in fields other than the ones in which they’ve previously worked.
My informal “research” has yielded mostly anecdotal evidence that, while the idea of hiring career changers based on transferable skills appeals to recruiters, human resources professionals and hiring managers alike, the reality is that, in practice, most organizations still end up filling vacant positions with persons whose work experience and skill set are nearly identical to those listed in their employers’ job description. Seldom, if ever, did any of the participants in my survey-experiment report advancing resumes of career changers to even the second phase of review, much less the interview or selection phase.
It was great to be personally acquainted with my subjects because I could call them on their bull-hockey. They talked a good game about the importance of competencies, the transferability of management and leadership skills, the decreasing importance of technical expertise and experience as one advances up the ladder. But, in the end, they continued to advance only those candidates whose resumes listed the most or best jobs of the same/similar title and the same/similar responsibilities. They also favored candidates who were currently employed by a competitor above others. And, showed a bashful distaste for candidates who were unemployed at the time of their application.
In the end, my results were discouraging. While everyone agreed that career changers were potentially good candidates with the potential to be successful in roles in which they’d never worked. But, most had never actually hired or recommended a career changer for a job.
Of the 17 recruiters I surveyed, only 4 said they had recommended career changers to hiring managers. Of the 15 HR professionals I surveyed, only 6 recommended career changers for interviews. Six of the 11 hiring managers said they would consider career changers for hire; None had actually hired one.
Finally, 4 of the 4 C-level executives I interviewed said they would hire a career changers. Surprisingly, all four had hired “a friend” or “friend of a friend” with “good experience” and “potential”.
My conclusions? Career changers are fighting an uphill battle in most cases. Their best chance of getting a shot at new careers are via networking, or more specifically, through getting well-placed people whom they know well to recommend them and “take a chance on their potential”.
The only other option is to find a way to begin working in their new careers before applying for their dream jobs. Case in point, I wanted to make the leap from HR professional to coach, writer and speaker. I started a few blogs, developed curriculum for trade organizations, published books, offered my services as a speaker for conferences and events. Then, I applied for jobs using only this work as my informal resume. I don’t show my “HR resume” to the clients I want to hire me for writing jobs, unless I’m writing something HR-related. I don’t talk about my employee relations experience when trying to get training and development work; I show them my podcasts, training videos and mp3 recordings of my training sessions.
Thus far, I’ve been reasonably successful, but I’m still waiting on my big career change break!
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