The nature of the recruiting industry is such that we most easily judge and assess a candidate’s potential based on how closely they’ve done the job before. This means, to go after a certain role, you need as many transferable or identical skills required to the job posting. And of course, this is the very reason why so many job seekers struggle to make the pivot and job jump that they hope to make.

So how can you make the job leap you want to make without fearing that you “can’t” because of experience? Well, that’s when positioning comes into play. Here’s a series of questions you can go through to figure out where you stand and how to make that job pivot you so desperately want to make.

1. How sure are you of which career path or next step you want to pursue?

• If certain, move to the next step!
• If you’re uncertain, check out WOKEN’s career exploration platform to help you become confident in your path, or pursue any other means of becoming certain before job-hopping.

2. Assess the underlying skills you’ve honed thus far in your career.

Assess the underlying skills required for the pivot you want to pursue. How close are they?

• Drastically different → see point 3
• Somewhat similar → see point 4
• Very much aligned and overlapping → see point 5

3. If option A, determine whether you need an online course or any sort of further education to help you make the pivot.

Though this may seem like a big investment and a big step, if you truly know you want this career path, this step will likely feel very worthwhile.

4. If they’re similar, that’s great!

That means you can spin your current experience into skills you can leverage to position you for the role you want. A few key ways to do this:

• Updating your LinkedIn Headline to reflect the updated role/keywords of the role you’re looking for
• Update your LinkedIn summary and objective on your resume to reflect your goals
• Consider doing an online course, certification, volunteer project, side gig, or any additional experience that’s relevant to your goals so it’s clear where you want to go and shows that you’re invested in gaining additional skills to bridge the gap
• Thoroughly research the new role so you understand what it requires
• Practice your interview skills so that you can be sure to talk about your current experience in a way that sounds transferable to your ideal role

5. If they’re super aligned, that’s awesome!

That simply means you’ll want to update a few key tweaks to make it clear to recruiters and future employers that you’re capable of the new role. Think about:

• Updating your LinkedIn Headline to reflect the updated role/keywords of the role you’re looking for
• Update your LinkedIn summary and objective on your resume to reflect your goals
• Thoroughly research the new role so you understand what it requires
• Practice your interview skills so that you can be sure to talk about your current experience in a way that sounds transferable to your ideal role

Remember, your goals in career exploration are always:

• Stay open-ended when considering your possibilities so you can determine which career path is ideal for you
• Explore thoroughly including research, networking, experiential learning, and reflection to become confident in which career path will be right for you
• Only then can you assess how far of a leap this is and whether you’re willing to put in the effort to make that jump towards your goals!