How should I spin a six-year stint in an unrelated job field?
November 7, 2021 1:30 PM Subscribe
Seriously considering applying for a job in a field where I remain employed on a part-time basis. But most of my time these days is in a completely different world. I want to turn this career zig into a major selling point (if possible). How should I do that?
The short version of this story is that I used to work in university administration at a high level (think dean or AVP). Mostly online work, including management of a very large budget, oversight over a huge team, program development work (including course development work), etc. That was my full-time job for almost a decade. That job ended, and--to this day--I continue to work in (online) higher education on a doctoral program where I've revised many courses and have taught nearly every term since then.
But six years ago, I was hired to be a features journalist for a newspaper syndicate in my state. I cover a very specific beat, I have a regular audience in the tens of thousands, and for special articles, my readership can hit 1M. But it's not really relevant to my work in university admin.
That said, I've learned so many skills as a writer with a firm, weekly deadline (and an editor who has improved my writing by orders of magnitude). These days, I don't dread written deliverables or presentations at all anymore. I'm a terrific interviewer, and I've also won several journalism awards as a writer.
The new job I'm applying to is at an EdTech startup company to be their senior head of content/learning. My previous role's skills and experience make me well-qualified, but I can't help but thinking there's a way to spin my time as a newspaper writer to burnish my application package.
What judo moves can I use to help my resume get to the top of the stack?
Complication: My LinkedIn profile has, at the request of my newspaper, gone into stasis since 2016. For privacy reasons, it also no longer has a photo of me on it. So automatically, recruiters are likely to think something's up.
The short version of this story is that I used to work in university administration at a high level (think dean or AVP). Mostly online work, including management of a very large budget, oversight over a huge team, program development work (including course development work), etc. That was my full-time job for almost a decade. That job ended, and--to this day--I continue to work in (online) higher education on a doctoral program where I've revised many courses and have taught nearly every term since then.
But six years ago, I was hired to be a features journalist for a newspaper syndicate in my state. I cover a very specific beat, I have a regular audience in the tens of thousands, and for special articles, my readership can hit 1M. But it's not really relevant to my work in university admin.
That said, I've learned so many skills as a writer with a firm, weekly deadline (and an editor who has improved my writing by orders of magnitude). These days, I don't dread written deliverables or presentations at all anymore. I'm a terrific interviewer, and I've also won several journalism awards as a writer.
The new job I'm applying to is at an EdTech startup company to be their senior head of content/learning. My previous role's skills and experience make me well-qualified, but I can't help but thinking there's a way to spin my time as a newspaper writer to burnish my application package.
What judo moves can I use to help my resume get to the top of the stack?
Complication: My LinkedIn profile has, at the request of my newspaper, gone into stasis since 2016. For privacy reasons, it also no longer has a photo of me on it. So automatically, recruiters are likely to think something's up.
Can you clarify what the "head of content" job entails? At most companies, this would be directly related to the journalism work (e.g. creating articles, videos, and other content for the website), but in this case, does it mean content for students? In either case, I think there's a very strong connection between being able to explain something clearly and in an entertaining way to a newspaper audience and explaining something to the startup's audience. It might even be more compelling experience for them than your university administration work.
posted by pinochiette at 1:40 PM on November 7, 2021
posted by pinochiette at 1:40 PM on November 7, 2021
It might be worth making contact with a headhunter that operates in this space. Psychologically it can work better at this level for somebody else to give the glowing testimonial. They can talk you up and take their finder's fee.
posted by dum spiro spero at 1:57 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by dum spiro spero at 1:57 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I think your career as a journalist should be a big plus for a "head of content" job anywhere. It's not unrelated and I don't think it requires any judo. You've been successfully producing lots of content! List it on your resume and mention it on your cover letter. Say what you've said here, that you have plenty of experience creating content for a mass audience, you've won several awards, you're a good interviewer, etc.
If you want to stand out, you could describe yourself at the top of the resume as a content creator/journalist/educator/manager/whatever. Put that journalism experience close to the front.
I question the newspaper asking you to keep your Linkedin page frozen at 2016. That doesn't seem like something they have the right to do, I have no idea why they'd think it's a good idea, and it's only going to hold you back professionally.
If you're really struggling with this, there are pro services that help put resumes together. It's likely that most of us here can't really help much beyond making you aware that the journalism experience should be a major plus for a job like this.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:14 PM on November 7, 2021 [3 favorites]
If you want to stand out, you could describe yourself at the top of the resume as a content creator/journalist/educator/manager/whatever. Put that journalism experience close to the front.
I question the newspaper asking you to keep your Linkedin page frozen at 2016. That doesn't seem like something they have the right to do, I have no idea why they'd think it's a good idea, and it's only going to hold you back professionally.
If you're really struggling with this, there are pro services that help put resumes together. It's likely that most of us here can't really help much beyond making you aware that the journalism experience should be a major plus for a job like this.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:14 PM on November 7, 2021 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:39 PM on November 7, 2021 [1 favorite]