Career Change Hack: Skill Stacking

It's never too late to make a career change.

Your key to making a change: transferable skills and skill stacking.

The idea is pretty simple - show how your past experiences and current skills will help you in your new role.

I've personally changed industries/careers several times and I know that you can do it too. Let me show you how to make it work:

My undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering - which on the surface seems to have nothing to do with being a career coach/resume writer, but I gained valuable skills such as problem solving, research, and analysis as an engineer.

After undergrad, I worked for Procter & Gamble for 5 years, managing multi-million dollar projects and leading up to 30 team members.

Transferable Skills: Project management, coaching, and leadership

Next I earned my MBA, developing my skills in finance and strategy.

In my next role as an Analyst for FedEx, I specialized in advanced financial analysis. I worked extensively with our sales team to develop customized pricing for Fortune 500 clients.

Transferable Skills: Financial analysis, research, relationship building, and pricing

When my 1st child was born 16 years ago, I left my role with FedEx because I really wanted flexible work. At the time, I had no plan for what I would do next. I had always loved to write (although I hadn’t taken an English course since high school).

So I used my transferable skills in financial analysis and research to start freelance writing about business and investing. I contributed 175 articles to The Motley Fool and have published work with Investopedia and Bloomberg Business among others.

At the same time, I started writing resumes. I've never heard a high school student that they want to be a professional resume writer when they grow up (that certainly wasn't my aspiration when I started engineering school!), but I used skill stacking to build a business where I can actively help clients to change careers in the same way that I have.