Advice On Changing Career Tracks

Question: How Do I Adjust My Resume To Pursue A Different Role? Rusty, I am a software engineer with an IT company in India. I have been in a C & Unix application project for the past two years. Now I want to shift my technology focus to Oracle applications. Can you please advise how should I prepare my resume for this change? I want to come up with a resume which shows my two years experience with the C & Unix application support, convey I have knowledge of Oracle and that I am looking forward to moving into that tech role. Thanks, Piyush

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The Answer: Use 'OARS' Dear Piyush, Thank you for your question on resume preparation. The following are the components of a well-crafted resume:

1. Professional Summary
2. Work History with Achievements
3. Computer Skills
4. Professional Development (Classes taken relative to your career)
5. Education (Degrees)

Your work history with achievements section should contain statements using the following format: OARS: O " Objective: What task are you doing? A " Action: How did you do the task? R " Result: What was the result or achievement of the task? S " Statement: Put it all together in a clear and concise statement. Here is one example: Created new C++ programming protocol reducing programming time by 20%. Good luck with the career focus change, Rusty Question: How Do I Move Into The Engineering Field? Dear Rusty, I am a graduate student doing my Masters in biomedical engineering. After arriving in the US I find that there is little job opportunity in biomedical engineering, as much of the work is in research. So I am thinking of changing my career focus to electrical engineering. But I need assurance that after completing my studies I will get a good job. Do you think I am doing something stupid by changing the career track? Are there enough job opportunities in biomedical engineering? Thank you, Rupin Answer: The Need To Do Some Research Dear Rupin, Guarantee of employment is an age-old problem that all graduates face and that one needs to have patience as the job market waxes and wanes based on market conditions. My suggestion is to approach bio-medical engineering firms directly to find out their short term needs in the area of employment. Contact the human resources department or send a letter to a department manager or vice president asking what the hiring outlook in their company is in the up coming year. Demand will continue to grow in biomedical devices as the medical industry wants to provide better technology for patient care and health care organizations want to do more with less. Both of your areas of engineering are good you just need to do some market research online and reach out to companies to determine where the opportunities are located. Much success with your career! Rusty

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Oreste "Rusty" D'Aversa has over twenty years experience in the technology industry. In his current role as owner of Metropolitan Executive Search and Outplacement Services (MESOS) he is an Executive Recruiter, Outplacement/Career Consultant, Job Search Coach, former Human Resources and Hiring Manager and Author of The Resume Writing Kit and SELL More Technology NOW! His e-mail address is rusty@mesos.biz.

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