How to Write a Career Change Resume in 2025 (w/ Examples)

1Pick the right resume format for a career change.

The three main resume formats are chronological, functional, and hybrid. Each has unique pros and cons. 

A skills-based resume like the functional resume highlights skills instead of job history, making it ideal for a career change resume. Use this format to highlight short-term, but relevant, experiences like contract work or internships. However, this resume doesn’t work well with online job boards and applicant tracking systems (ATS). 

If you’re applying for a job online, try the hybrid resume. This combination format lends equal importance to skills and experience, so you can pitch your transferable skills before your work history.

2Start with a strong introduction.

Most resumes open with a resume summary or objective. These introductions outline two or three of the most relevant and important skills you wish to share. These introductions can be the make-or-break openings that encourage managers to keep reading. 

A resume objective is the traditional opening statement. This introduction immediately addresses your career change and argues how you developed related skills and experience that make you a strong candidate for the position. 

Here’s a sample resume objective for career changes:

“Dedicated and highly organized professional with three years of elementary teaching experience, seeking a personal assistant role. Skilled in multitasking, scheduling, communication, and problem-solving, with a strong potential to manage tasks and support executives. My previous experience stretching school supply budgets to manage a class size of 40 students makes me an ideal candidate for your position.” 

A captivating resume summary will highlight transferable skills or relevant experience and explain how you’ll quickly address the job’s needs. 

Here’s a sample resume summary for career changes: 

“Detail-oriented and adaptable professional with three years of elementary teaching experience, transitioning into a personal assistant role. Skilled in organization, scheduling, communication, and problem-solving, with a proven ability to manage multiple tasks efficiently. Adept at providing administrative support, coordinating daily operations, and ensuring seamless workflow in fast-paced environments.”

3Prioritize transferable skills and experience.

Companies prefer candidates with industry knowledge and software skills, but career changers may lack these. The good news? Many employers value ambition and a willingness to learn. To stand out, showcase your adaptability and potential in the skills section. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting one that makes an impact.

• Play the role of editor-in-chief by highlighting and commenting on all of the various skills in the job description.
• Go through previous resumes and your work history and write down experiences or skills that are similar and relevant to the job description’s required skills.
• If you don’t have these skills, go out and get them via volunteering, freelance work or online courses.
• Once skills are achieved, or you feel confident making connections between your professional experiences and the job description, write the skills section.
• Again, write a skills section that seamlessly connects your gained knowledge and skills to the job description’s list of requirements.

The scenario below involves a senior attorney who is transitioning their career into corporate development. Here is an example skills section:

• Management: Led a team of four associates and two paralegals to settle, on average 30 cases per year through deliberate litigation and mediation.
• Mentorship: Trained and supervised associates by providing guidance on litigation, client communication and trial strategies.
• Systems Knowledge: MS Excel and PMS software for budgeting, outlining client cases and tracking key discovery documents.
• Contract Negotiation: Deep knowledge of contracts and negotiation tactics while using interpersonal skills to successfully settle on the clients’ behalf.

Why it Works: The skills section includes soft skills (management and mentorship) and hard skills (systems knowledge and contract negotiation). Both show proficiency in the workforce. Furthermore, this section links these skills to what one would expect in a corporate development role.

4Carefully reframe your work experience.

If you use either the functional or hybrid resume format, you want to highlight and connect your most relevant experience and skills to the job you want to apply to. Don’t dwell on chronology or length of experience — think about what is most applicable to the role. For example, if you have volunteer experience, college or online courses, certifications or freelance work you have done, then bring attention to them.

Below is an example of how to turn those “other” experiences into worthwhile resume content. The scenario is a recent college graduate switching from content marketing to journalism.

Freelance Writer, [Company] | January–June 2018

• Wrote informational pieces that maintained brand tone and voice while adhering to all AP style guidelines.
• Created prospect lists and interviewed over 20 experts for appropriate quotes and information in six months.

Content Marketing Intern, [Company] | June–August 2019

• Learned and implemented SEO optimization that increased domain rating by 20%.
• Understand keyword search algorithms to rank pages on Google’s SERP and modify previously published posts to increase ranking.

Why it’s successful: These experiences quantify the direct impact of this person’s work over a stated time frame. Moreover, they display their learned hard skills and imply that they can add value to the company being applied to.

5Focus on relevant education and training.

With a career change resume, you should highlight relevant academic achievements, especially when it supports this professional pivot. Let’s look at how this recent graduate emphasizes their relevant degree and academic awards to apply to an adjunct professor opening.

Master’s in Business Administration | Wharton School
Philadelphia, PA | Estimated graduation date: May 2024

• Graduated Highest Honors and Dean’s List
• Excelled as TA for undergraduate business courses
• President of Entrepreneurship Club

Why it Works: This education section matters because it shows how successful this person was in their MBA program and lists some previous teaching experience.

Another example is a student who graduated more recently and is applying to be a history teacher at a school.

Bachelor’s in English | University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX | Estimated graduation date: May 2025

• GPA 3.68 Cum Laude
• Tutored international students for 4 semesters
• Worked 20/hrs per week at a local restaurant for 6 semesters

Why it Works: This education section shows how this person has experience mentoring and tutoring others. Moreover, this person had a part-time job during college. The work experience from the part-time job might not be relevant to the applying job’s requirements but is still noteworthy because it shows that they balanced a job and their studies.