If you want to change industry but can’t get interviews, I expect you have run into the same obstacles I did. They are the same ones many of my coaching clients have had to overcome.
Want to change industry but struggle to get interviews?
Let’s look at why it’s difficult and how to make it happen. And we’ll go through some practical, tried and tested steps you can take to improve your chances of getting interviews in an industry where you have little or no direct experience.
Many employers are very conservative and risk-averse when it comes to hiring. In most cases, they will prefer to hire a person with experience in their industry. If they hire someone with a totally different background and that person doesn’t perform well, it will be the hiring manager who is to blame. So it feels safer to pick a candidate from the same industry.
Many employers are very conservative and risk averse when it comes to hiring. So, in most cases they will prefer to hire a person with experience in their industry. If they hire someone with a totally different background and that person doesn’t perform well, it will be the hiring manager who is to blame. So it feels safer to pick a candidate from the same industry.
Many job-seekers also focus most of their job search efforts on advertised roles or those handled by recruitment firms. For the person wanting to change industries this is a virtually guaranteed recipe for rejection.
When a role is advertised or filled through a recruitment agency there will be selection criteria that you must meet to qualify for an interview. So, you will be up against rigorous screening. If there are even a few reasonably qualified candidates with relevant industry experience, your chances of securing in interview are very slim.
So what do you do?
Exactly the same as you should do even if you are not trying to change industry.
Build new networks to uncover the roles that are not advertised. Get in before the selection criteria have been crystallised.
Most labour market research will show that this ‘hidden job market’ typically represents around 65-70% of the roles available.
If you are not investing about 70% of the time allocated to your job search to building new networks, you are potentially missing nearly three quarters of the opportunities to get hired.
And you will definitely be missing opportunities to change industry.
When you are looking for a role in the same industry this is extremely important; when you are looking for a change of sector this is almost the only way to do it. This is where rapport, personality, transferable skills and trusted referrals really come into their own.
Of course, you could be lucky enough to find a role advertised where the employer specifically, and genuinely, wants to bring in someone with a different perspective – but that is very rare.
Simple Steps to successfully change industry
- Identify your transferable skills and experience and articulate clearly how you can use them to add value to any organisation
- Build a prospect list of potential employers that interest you
- Research those companies thoroughly – get to know them as though you were thinking of investing your own money in them
- Map their “world” – competitors, suppliers, customers – and research those companies too so that you can develop insights into what the target companies’ challenges may be
- Work through your existing network to develop contacts inside or close to your target companies and learn about them from the inside – the insights that don’t make it to the annual report or press
- Gather feedback on your transferable skills from the perspective of people in your target companies
- Look for business issues that you could resolve for them, even though a formal role may not yet exist – it usually doesn’t
- Identify which exact person in each target company has the power to hire you; use the steps above to find out what issues they are facing that you could help with and get introduced at the right time by someone they know and trust
Is your plan to change industry viable?
3 Simple Questions You Can Ask to assess your prospects
Perhaps not in quite the same words as you see here. Keep the language professionally appropriate.
- How do you guys do what I do?
Get to understand exactly how the function you are skilled in works in their organisation. Some things will be the same as in other companies but there will be many differences. Great to know this ahead of any interviews.
2. If you had a role open would I be an attractive candidate?
Get feedback on the relevance of your experience and the likely transferability of your skills. You get to discuss yourself as a potential hire with zero interview pressure!
3. Why would I want to work here?
Explore the organisation’s culture.
Why do people join? Why do they stay? Why do they leave?
Use your research as a basis for a wider range of topics. Make sure the conversation is interesting to your new contact as well as relevant to you.
If all of this sounds like a lot of work, it certainly is. But think of the market intelligence you will gather, the interesting people you will meet and the opportunities you will uncover.
What’s your alternative?
Watch the adverts in the hope that something comes up, fire off applications and face multiple rejections.
Or wait around in the hope that a recruiter will call.
You certainly can change industry if you take control. Patiently build the right networks, and become known to decision-makers. Be very clear on how you add value.
To find out how tailored coaching can help get in touch here
