Changing Industries? How to Get Employers to See the Value of Your Experience.

Key Takeaways

• Changing industries doesn't mean starting your career over. Your leadership experience, accomplishments, and transferable skills still have value.
• Employers may question whether your experience will transfer to their industry, so your résumé, LinkedIn profile, and interviews need to make that connection clear.
• Be prepared to explain why you want to make the move and what you've done to understand the new industry.
• Networking can help you build relationships, learn the industry, and find opportunities that may not be posted publicly.
  

Your Experience Still Has Value

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve witnessed when executives change industries is assuming their experience will speak for itself. It won't. The fact that you've been a successful CFO, COO, CHRO, or sales leader for years doesn't automatically tell a new employer why you would be successful in their particular industry.

Your functional experience still matters, though. A CFO knows how to manage financial performance, lead a team, work with a board, evaluate risk, and make difficult decisions. Those skills don't disappear because the company makes a different product or serves a different market.

The challenge is that you may be competing with someone who has done the same job in the same industry for the past 10 or 15 years. That person already understands the customers, competitors, regulations, business model, and terminology. You need to help the employer see what you bring that makes the interview worth having.

Start by looking beyond your job title and developing answers for the following questions:

• What problems have you solved?
• What results have you produced?
• What changes have you led?
• What challenges have you faced that are similar to the ones this company is facing?

Those connections can be much more important than simply saying, "I have 20 years of experience.

Employers Want to Know What You Understand About Their Business

When an employer considers a senior leader from another industry, one concern is how quickly that person can understand the business. That's particularly important at the executive level because you're not being hired to perform a basic function. You're expected to understand the business well enough to make decisions that affect the organization, its employees, and its customers.

Take a CFO moving from pharmaceuticals to automotive. Their financial leadership skills may transfer very well, but the business itself is different. The supply chain, manufacturing environment, customers, competitive pressures, and other issues may require a learning curve.

You don't have to pretend those differences don't exist. You should show that you've taken the time to understand them.

Before you start interviewing, learn the language of the new industry. Understand the major companies and competitors. Know what issues are affecting the industry and what executives are talking about by reading industry publications and talking with people who already work in the field. The more you understand about the business, the easier it becomes to explain where your experience fits.

You Need a Good Reason for Making the Move

Expect to be asked why you want to leave your current industry. That's a reasonable question, and your answer can tell an employer quite a bit about how seriously you've thought about the move.

There is a big difference between explaining what you're moving toward and explaining what you're trying to get away from. If your answer focuses mostly on frustration with your current company or fatigue with your industry, an employer may wonder whether you'll feel the same way about them a year from now.

Your explanation doesn't need to be complicated. Maybe you've spent most of your career in one industry and want to apply what you've learned to a different business model. Perhaps you've developed an interest in another industry through customers, suppliers, board work, or professional relationships. You may see an industry where your experience can help solve problems that you've already dealt with successfully.

Whatever the reason, it needs to make sense. An employer should understand why their industry interests you and why the move fits where you want to take your career.

Don't Make the Employer Connect the Dots

Your résumé and LinkedIn profile have an important job when you're moving into a new industry. They need to make it easy for someone who doesn't know you to understand what you bring to the table.

That doesn't mean rewriting your entire career history. It means putting more emphasis on the parts of your experience that are relevant to the opportunity you're pursuing as part of your executive job search strategy.

Suppose you've spent 15 years as a manufacturing operations executive and now want to move into a technology company. Your manufacturing background is still an important part of your story. The employer also needs to see that you've led large teams, improved processes, managed complex operations, controlled costs, implemented new systems, and led organizations through change. Those accomplishments may be highly relevant to the technology company even though you didn't accomplish them in technology.

The same principle applies to LinkedIn. If you're serious about moving into a different industry, your profile should support that direction. Your headline, summary, and experience should make it clear what kind of opportunity you're pursuing and why your background makes sense for it.

Your Network Can Help You Learn the New Industry

Networking during a job search becomes even more important when you're changing industries because you need information you may not get from a job posting.

Talk with people who already work in your target industry and ask them what they're seeing in the market. Find out what skills employers are looking for and what challenges companies are dealing with. Reconnect with former colleagues who moved into other industries. Attend industry events and professional association meetings.

You don't need to turn every conversation into a request for a job. In fact, I wouldn't recommend doing that. You're trying to learn the industry and build relationships with people who can eventually help you understand where your experience might fit.

Those conversations can lead to introductions and opportunities, but they also help you speak intelligently about the industry when you eventually talk with a hiring executive. This is important because someone who does their homework comes across differently from someone who simply decided they wanted to work in a new industry and started submitting applications.

Be Honest About What You Don't Know

You don't need to convince an employer that you already know everything about their industry.

What you should be prepared to explain is what you're doing about the knowledge gap so that you are, at minimum, familiar with the industry.

Perhaps you've joined an industry association, attended conferences, or started talking with executives who work in the field. You may have worked with companies in the industry as customers or suppliers, giving you more exposure than your résumé initially suggests. There may also be specific regulations, technologies, or business models you need to learn. Have a plan for that.

Being able to truthfully say, "I haven't worked directly in this industry, but here's what I've done to understand it and here's what I'm continuing to learn," can be much more credible than trying to convince someone that the difference doesn't matter.

You're Competing Against People with Direct Industry Experience

This is probably the hardest part of an industry change for executive job seekers. There may be candidates who have the same functional experience you have and already understand the industry.

You should prepare for this reality instead of ignoring it.

Ask yourself why the employer should consider you instead of someone who has spent the last 10 years in the industry. The answer can't simply be, "Because I'm a great CFO," or "Because I'm an experienced executive." The employer already knows that from your résumé.

Maybe you've led a major transformation that this company needs, or you've worked in a more complex regulatory environment. Perhaps you've managed an organization through a merger or acquisition, built a function from the ground up, or led a turnaround. Your experience in another industry may also give you a perspective that someone who has spent their entire career in the same industry doesn't have.

You don't have to argue that your different background is better. You need to show why it could be valuable to this particular employer.

Your Story Needs to Make Sense From Beginning to End

An industry change isn't something you can fix with a new résumé. Your entire job search needs to tell the same story.

Your LinkedIn profile should support the direction you're pursuing. Your networking conversations should make sense with that direction. Your résumé should emphasize the experience that transfers. When you get into an interview, your answers should explain why the move makes sense and why you're interested in that particular company and industry.

That consistency matters because you've probably spent years building a strong professional identity in your current industry. A hiring manager who sees that background may naturally put you in a particular box. If you want them to see you differently, you must give them a reason to do it.

You Don't Have to Start Over

One of the biggest misconceptions about changing industries is that you must start over. You usually don't.

Your years of leadership experience and accomplishments still matter. Your ability to solve problems, lead people, manage change, and make decisions is still relevant. What changes is the way you present that experience and the way you connect it to the business you're trying to join.

An industry transition may take longer than a traditional job search because you're asking employers to look beyond the most obvious match. That's one reason it's important to have a job strategy before you start sending out applications.

If you're an experienced executive considering a move into a new industry, don't start by asking, "How do I get someone to give me a chance?"

Instead, start by asking, "What does this employer need, and where does my experience prove that I can provide it?"

That changes the conversation. You're no longer asking the employer to overlook the fact that you come from another industry. You're showing them why that difference doesn't have to be a disadvantage.

At Endeavor Agency, we help executives, VPs, and senior professionals develop a personalized job search strategy when looking for their next opportunity, including when they're making a significant industry change.

You don't necessarily need to start over. You need to help the employer understand why your experience belongs in their industry. Helping you craft this message is part of our complete executive career coaching services.

Frequently Asked Questions About Changing Industries