No industry experience … Did you just lose a game changer?

There are many reasons why you might find yourself seeking employment in a new industry. Maybe you need a new challenge and have always wanted to work in another industry. Maybe your own industry is flooded with talent and you need to look for opportunities in another sector. Maybe you’ve moved to a one-industry town (and that one industry isn’t the one you’re experienced with). Whatever the reason, know that it is possible to get past the “no industry experience” hurdle. Here’s how.

Use Your Network

Any job seeker in any industry should use networking as a powerful tool, but this is especially true when you don’t have industry experience. Cast a wide net with your networking, even if the contacts are outside the city in which you’re hoping to find work.

Reach out to past and current colleagues, neighbours, relatives, and friends from the past. You never know who they know, and their contacts could be a goldmine for you in your job search. Probe your contacts well; don’t just ask for a job. See what you can learn from them about what’s going on in your target industry and ask where your skills might fit in. Research shows that you’re ten times more likely to be hired without industry experience if you have a referral from an industry insider.

Do Your Research

The companies you’re going to interview with will have immediate needs when you talk with them. If you understand those needs and can articulate how you can help them, you will be in a much better position.

Research is the best way to learn about a company’s needs. For instance, if a company is restructuring and you have experience in helping companies transition during changes, you can emphasise that role on your cover letter, resume, and interview, and have a much better chance at capturing their interest.

How can you do this research? Look online and in the trade press, search the company’s websites and read public documents like annual reports. You can set up Google alerts for the company’s name and keywords that are important in the industry. If you want to make a great impression (and you do!), offer insightful questions and ask smart questions about company- and industry-specific trends in your cover letter and later during your interview. You can only do this if you’ve done some good research.

Show a Willingness to Learn

Sometimes managers prefer to hire someone whom they can teach and train to do things in their preferred way. If you emphasise that you are enthusiastic about learning and you’re willing to work hard, employers are much more likely to take a chance on you.

In fact, jumping from industry to industry can have its advantages for employers, and pointing out these benefits may help you in your job search. Many people have turned adaptability into a selling point. Broad experience means that you have a different viewpoint than many of their employees, and an outside viewpoint can be very valuable. You may also have valuable skills that are not common in your target industry but that could be of great value to future employers.

Managing a career change to a new industry has its challenges, but it can be done.