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Going for a job that is outside of your field? That’s cool but you’ll need to think through how you are going to stand a chance in a pile of applications with candidates who have the advantage of working in that field already. Transferrable skills alone will not get you an interview—you’ll have to be more thoughtful than that.
One way to do this is to make words that are relevant to the job for which you’re applying stand out. Words that a hiring manager will respond to include:
Titles that mirror the one for which they’re hiring
Companies of prior employment that they recognize as related to their work (or a competitor or like agency)
Key words/phrases that relate to the job and field
This last one can be tricky but if you don’t have relevant titles or companies of prior employment, it’s your only hope. Let’s say you’ve done a lot of work in reproductive health and you are applying for a job in HIV prevention—not the biggest jump but not the most obvious connection either (especially if other applicants have a lot of HIV experience). Insert the words HIV prevention where you can—maybe you worked on a project with a goal of preventing HIV, or you took a course or training on it. Maybe some of your past clients have been positive and their status has been a part of your work with them—even if your main responsibilities were around increasing access to birth control and family planning. You could also use the opportunity of the summary at the top of your resume to frame your experience using words that will resonate with the hiring manager. If you’re not sure what those are—consult the job description and the company’s mission.