How to Leverage Your Experience in a Career Shift
When you leave a job you’ve been at for a while, do you take your 401K with you?
This isn’t a financial blog or website, but it seems to me that if it’s your money, maybe you should take that with you.
You’ve sacrificed, you’ve sweated bullets—you shouldn’t leave that hard-earned cash behind.
Everything that you learned at your job, you shouldn’t leave those behind, either.
You’ve built those skills. And you have the right to bring them with you when you dive into another career.
How do you make sure you take them along, and how do you show future employers everything you’re capable of?
Let’s take a look at a few ways…
Take Stock of Your Career Portfolio
Your skills, experiences, and achievements are just like investments you’ve made over time. You track your retirement savings, right? Take that same idea and apply it to what you’ve gained in your career. What projects did you lead? What problems did you solve? What expertise did you develop?
Grab a notebook and jot these down. Don’t just do it for your resume—do it for yourself. When you know the value of what you have, you can walk into any new opportunity with that much more confidence.
Your Work Has Equity—Leverage It
See your career as a house that you’ve been building. The foundation—or your core skills—remains solid, even if you renovate the exterior. If you’re changing industries (and you can!), your expertise still has value. Leadership, communication, problem-solving are incredible assets that will transfer anywhere.
Employers don’t just want someone who can check boxes on a job description. They want someone who can bring fresh perspectives, the ability to navigate challenges, who isn’t starting from zero but from experience.
Keep the Receipts, Show the Receipts
It’s one thing to say you’re good at something. It’s another to actually prove it. Rather than simply listing your past responsibilities, frame your accomplishments in terms of the impact they had on your team and on your company. Here’s an example:
Instead of saying: “I managed a team”
Say: “I led a team of five that streamlined processes, cutting project completion time by 30%.”
That description casts your work in the light that it deserves to shine in.
Your personal website, your LinkedIn posts, or even a simple case study about a project you’ve worked on can go a long way in making your skills undeniable.
Keep Growing—Even Before You Need To
One of the best career moves you can make is to learn before you have to make a move. Read about trends in your industry. Take a course. Build relationships with people who are doing what you might want to do next.
Here’s a question for you: When is the best time to update your resume and portfolio? Answer? Before you need to.
Here’s another question: When is the best time to build new skills? Before you’re forced to.
Own Your Transition Story
The right mindset is everything, and how you talk about your career shift matters. You could focus on what you’re leaving behind. But how much better would it feel to focus on what you’re bringing forward? What excites you about your next step? What strengths are you eager to use?
Just that small change in thinking can give you yet another boost in confidence.
When you walk out of your old office for the last time, leave your key card behind, yes.
In your new work, walk in confidently, bringing with you all of the skills and knowledge you’ve earned, built and learned.
(And, bring that 401K, too.
I’m Richard Taliaferro. I’m a certified health and career coach specializing in helping mid-stage professionals gain clarity on their career journey. I’ve written a guide on how to escape the work hamster wheel. Click here to download yours.