Good afternoon! It's Rohan with your latest Career Supplement, your personal mentorship email that takes a few minutes to read, but contains stuff that will speed up your career by years. |
In today's Mentor's Corner, we're exploring a path many of us find ourselves considering: changing careers. Sometimes, we're in a role or industry that just doesn't feel right, or maybe we can't see our future in it. And we feel like we need to shake things up. |
….but how do you go about it? I'll walk you through the best — and rather unconventional — strategies that have worked for people I personally know. I'll also share ways to overcome common hurdles, like lacking experience in the new field you want to break into. |
Even if you're not changing careers right now, star this email so you can refer to it in the future. And if you know someone who's considering a career change, forward it to them. |
Estimated read time: 5 minutes 22 seconds |
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📈 Mentor's Corner Insights put together by me or coaches who usually charge $750+/hour and mentor senior execs. One practical lesson a week that will make a measurable impact on your career, delivered right to you — for $0. |
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The smarter way to change careers |
The other day, I was reading this story: |
It was about a 31-year old guy working in software. In short, he was earning really good money, but hated it. |
(He'd already changed companies three times, and realized the company wasn't the problem, it was the job). |
But… |
As he was planning to marry his girlfriend, he wasn't sure if killing the cash-cow was the right move. |
So, should he just tough it out in software? |
Or move on to greener (but perhaps less lucrative) pastures? |
It's a tough decision. |
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And although I'm not in the same boat, I know what I'd try to do if I were him: instead of throwing caution to the wind and making big moves, I'd use my "low-risk, high-reward" strategy for career switching. |
Here's the nuts and bolts: |
🐒 Monkey-branch, don't monkey-jump |
If you've ever watched monkeys in the wild (or on Youtube), you'll notice that monkeys rarely jump through mid-air to get from one tree to another. |
Instead, they use vines and branches between trees so they're always grabbing onto something with at least one limb. It's far less risky that way. |
I.e they "monkey-branch". |
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I like doing something similar with careers, too. |
The career equivalent to "jumping" would be switching roles AND your industry at the same time. (Risky!) |
Whereas a much safer approach is to change industries OR roles, but not both at the same time. |
Let's say you're in sales but want to move into medical administration. A good stepping stone or "branch" would be medical sales. This will help you get to grips with terminology and equipment costs, plus connect you with potential employers as you do so. When you're in, you'll find it much easier to then "monkey-branch" again into medical admin. |
Another example: |
You're stuck in finance but love the idea of coding. Don't throw away your career in finance just yet. Instead, look for opportunities within your current role. For example, try to introduce automation into your job by writing a script. You'll get to 'code' in a professional sense. |
An ex-colleague of mine did just that. |
The project was challenging, but it gave him legitimate coding experience which he later used to transition into a programming role. |
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🌌 Get unconventional experience |
There's one big barrier and one big risk when changing careers. |
The barrier: no experience. |
The risk: what if it doesn't work out? (out of the frying pan and into the fire) |
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A nifty way of getting around both is what I call "unconventional experience" – where you find a startup or nonprofit to work for in your spare time while you're working your current job. |
A friend of mine landed her dream job doing this. |
She did social media for a startup for three months on nights and weekends when she was trying to make the jump into a full-time social media role. Afterwards, she got recruited for a full-time job. |
Another concrete example: |
Let's say you want to be a data scientist. But you have zero data science work experience. Here are two ways you can get some: |
Contact some startups and suggest 3 projects you can help them with for a few months. Sign up as a freelancer on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork, and do multiple small 10-hour projects at a low entry-level rate (your goal's not to make $$$, just to get real work experience).
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You don't need to do something revolutionary. Just something small that makes a material impact you can talk about in interviews and on your resume. |
Plus, you'll also figure out if you REALLY like doing the job in a professional setting (the hard truth: most people want to change careers just because they hate their current jobs/roles, and not because they love the career they're trying to change into. Which is a big problem). |
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| | | | …by the way, if you use LinkedIn, go to my profile and hit the 'Follow' button. I share a mix of practical career strategy and mid-week motivation — stuff that makes it easy to keep your career on track.
Topics coming up this week: how to disagree with your boss, public speaking hacks and how to sound more confident (even if you're an introvert). See you there — feel free to connect and say hi! | alright, let's get back to my essay… |
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〰️ Side hustle |
You often don't even need to get permission to try out the career you want. You can just start doing it yourself. |
For example: |
If you want to get into content creation, you don't need to get a formal job as a content creator. Just start creating your own YouTube content as a side hustle. Don't wait for a company to give you permission to do the job you want to do — just do it. |
Some more examples: |
Want to be a programmer? Build your own mini website or app for a simple idea you want to build. Passionate about fitness? Offer to create workout ideas for friends and their friends. Then, charge for more detailed variations. Aspiring to be a writer? Begin by writing short stories or articles and publish them on a blog, social media or even self-publish the e-book on Amazon.
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Essentially, start your own side-hustle in the industry/role you want to join. That way, you'll get real experience that you can put on your resume and talk about in interviews. |
What's more? If your side-hustle picks up steam, you might be able to monetize it too. |
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📝 Create content |
A similar smart approach is to start creating content in the area you want to move into. This could be a blog, LinkedIn content, or a daily/weekly newsletter, or a dedicated Twitter (or "X") account. |
My buddy Bryan did exactly this. |
He was in tech but he wanted to become an investor/venture capitalist. He didn't have an MBA or conventional business experience, which was a requirement for most of these jobs. |
So he started researching companies and writing about whether or not he thought they were good investments on Twitter. He used his content to build strong relationships in the VC world, position himself as someone who knows what he's talking about, and a year later he got hired by a VC. |
(Funny enough, he quit the new job just 9 months later. Turns out a lot of the VC job was just creating Excels and PowerPoints for his manager and was far from glamorous. This is also why I insist you really 'test' out a field first and speak to people in the industry before doing so much to break into it). |
That's a wrap. If that struck a chord, please do either one of the following: |
Forward this email to people who might need it, and tell them about my emails. It takes me ~20 hours researching and writing each of these coaching emails. Sharing it takes just 10 seconds and helps me get my thoughts out there. Leave a review on my emails, or say hi on LinkedIn! I'd love to know what part resonated most and how I can make the next one better.
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I know I ask you to share my emails pretty regularly, but it really does help. Thanks! |
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🤣 |
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🔎 Speed Up Your Job Search One actionable piece of advice to help you hack your job search. |
How to show a promotion on a resume |
Read the full article here. |
When hiring managers read your resume (or LinkedIn profile), they're looking for more than just an overview of your experience. They're also looking for growth, specifically: |
📈 Career progression. Experience is one thing, but if you've stayed in the same role for the past 10 years without moving up, hiring managers ask questions. |
No career growth = a possible red flag. Being promoted or taking on different roles at the same company shows that you're capable of professional development and learning new skills. |
🌱 Increased capabilities. It's not just about a linear escalation of job titles. Recruiters want to see signs that you've learned new skills along the way. |
I'd recommend using a tool like Score My Resume to find out if your resume is effectively highlighting your leadership and career progression. Plus, you'll also find out how your resume scores on 20+ other key criteria hiring managers look for. Try it now. |
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If you're new here, let's get the intros out of the way. |
I'm Rohan. Six years ago, I found myself frustrated with the sea of misleading career advice online, so I started Resume Worded. The goal was simple: provide guidance that actually works. |
But resumes were only the tip of the iceberg. There was a lot of clichéd, generic career advice out there. So, I started this email series. Each week, I talk about real career strategy, informed not only by my experiences but by my conversations with industry leaders, senior coaches who train CEOs, and people with way more experience than I have. |
Every email you receive is written by me, not a ghostwriter. I'm here, on the other end, reading your replies. |
Until next time, |
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Rohan @ Resume Worded |
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What'd you think of today's edition? |
👍 I loved it. |
🤔 Pretty average, step it up. |
🤢 You didn't bring enough value. |
Here's a recent review — thank you Tracey! |
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P. S. To make sure your career never goes off the rails, don't miss my future emails. A simple way to make sure you get each email is: |
If you're using Gmail, hit the 3 dots at the top-right corner, and choose Move to -> Primary. Or drag this email to Primary if you're on your computer. If you're using Apple Mail, tap on our email address at the top of this email (next to "From:" on mobile) and click "Add to VIPs.".
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