What happens if you find a role that you know you’d be a perfect fit for, but you don’t have direct past experience in?

Naturally, the next question to ask is “How can I stand out in the sea of candidates who may have a more competitive profile than me?”

If this describes your situation, then you’re in luck. This edition of Design a Career You Love will break down how to stand out and land an interview - despite not having direct experience in a role.

(for those of you not in this position, forward this newsletter on to a friend who is and save it for the next time you find yourself here).

1. Don't Rely on your Resume Only

One of the biggest mistakes I see job seekers make is that they don’t spend the time to network (A.K.A get to know) the team and/or hiring manager in advance of submitting a job application.

Why is this a problem?

At the end of the day, people hire people.

If you take the time to build connections and create internal advocates before or during an application process, you will significantly increase your chances of landing an interview - especially if you don’t meet all the criteria for the role listed on paper.

My client Tanya did this when she applied to a role at a global insurance company. She focused on making warm connections through her network and and asked for 20-min coffee chats to learn more about the team and organization. These conversations were instrumental in helping her navigate the complexity of the organization, find a team she wanted to join and land an interview with the VP.

2. Transform Your Resume to Showcase Your Transferable Skills

Make sure that your resume highlights the relevant skills you possess and links them back to the role you’re applying to.

For example, if you’re in sales and you want to transition to a role in customer success, don’t waste all that valuable space on your resume highlighting your sales results.

Instead, reshape your accomplishment statements to demonstrate that you possess the skills required to be successful in a customer success role.

Here’s how…

Accomplishment Statement for a Sales Professional:

"Exceeded annual sales quota by 35% by developing a targeted outreach strategy, building strong client relationships, and closing $2M in new business within the first year, contributing to a 20% overall revenue growth for the company."

Transformed Accomplishment Statement for a Customer Success Role (showing transferable skills):

"Developed and implemented a client engagement strategy that strengthened relationships, resulting in a 35% increase in client retention and $2M in upsell opportunities within the first year, significantly contributing to a 20% increase in overall customer satisfaction and company revenue."

Breakdown of Transferable Skills:

• Client Relationships: In sales, building strong relationships is key to closing deals, which directly translates to customer success, where fostering long-term relationships ensures retention and loyalty.
• Targeted Outreach/Engagement Strategy: Creating a targeted outreach strategy in sales helps with acquiring new clients, while in customer success, a tailored engagement approach helps with customer retention and identifying growth opportunities.
• Revenue Growth: Both roles impact company revenue, but in customer success, this is driven through upselling, cross-selling, and ensuring customers remain satisfied and loyal.

3. Write a Cover Letter with Your Pitch

While some people think that cover letters are dead, they are actually the best place to tell your story. This is the place to pitch your value and demonstrate how you’ll solve the company’s problems faster and more efficiently than someone who has years of experience in the role.

When you write a cover letter, focus on highlighting the transferable skills and results you achieved. Then make sure you spell out why this is important for the role.

As you write, think about the needs of the company, team and leader (remember those insights you discovered during networking?) and then craft your cover letter to demonstrate why YOU are the best solution to those problems.

This reframe works every single time.

Want to land interviews faster?

This month I’m hosting a FREE live masterclass to help professionals like yourself land interviews faster.

I’ll be walking you through the strategies I coach my one-on-one clients to use that accelerate their job search from application to interview. The best news? You’ll be getting these strategies for free. I’m also including a LIVE Q&A at the end to answer all your questions.

Reserve your spot HERE before registration is capped.

Know a friend who could benefit from this session? HERE is the link to pass along. ​

See you on the inside!