Leverage crossover skills for new job

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DEAR JOYCE: In my younger years, I was a top producer at an automotive dealership where I started in sales and was promoted into middle management. Now, at 50 plus, my interest in the retail auto industry is exhausted. I can't get a nibble in jobs that are not auto related. Yes, I've had my resume professionally prepared. I have no college but I have no problem selling anything. How do I get a shot at opportunities for sales that are not in the auto industry? -- R.H.

Experiment! Make your resume secondary, using it as a follow-up to interviews you land by direct contacts and networking. Sending your resume as a door-opener isn't working for you and fails for the reasons you infer: age, education and movement to a new industry.

Another reader who faced hiring problems very much like yours landed a new job selling the services of an advertising agency to auto dealers. His move to a kindred industry is a classic example of leveraging crossover skills (also called transferrable skills) -- those skills you can carry from job to job.


Your challenge is to overcome the industry-centric focus many employers continue to prefer. In your future job searches, you'll find it easier to transition from a job that's a couple of degrees removed (such as the advertising agency example) from the industry you want to put in your rearview mirror, than it is to go directly from auto sales to billboard sales, or to public school software sales, or to financial product sales.

DEAR JOYCE: I was hurting for money so I took an offer that's about 20 percent under my market worth and will keep looking. How long must I stay in the underpaid employment job to avoid a bad record? -- C.T.

Avoid sinking into a funk just because you grabbed the lifeline of a below-market job. Save your optimism for future job interviews. As mom may have said, your day will come.

SIGNS OF YOUR TIME: Hurry that day along by pinning three motivational signs on your bedroom wall. They are:

1. Continue My Education. As the developed world job market shifts to increasing demand for higher-skilled people for higher-skilled jobs, you can't allow yourself to be left behind. Your personal talent upgrading may range from vocational certifications to higher education, depending on your career choice and back-up planning. Even in this time of tuition turmoil, community college courses give high value for the education dollar.

2. Help People Help Me. Grow your visibility in the community by volunteering for good works.

3. Feed my network. Bond your network to you by sending interesting emails at appropriate intervals. Using social media makes this task much easier than it was a decade ago -- especially Twitter and Facebook.

WHEN YOUR DAY ARRIVES: Write a professional and appreciative resignation letter and leave without feeling guilty.

DEAR JOYCE: I will graduate next year with a bachelor's in psychology and a minor in sociology. Later I'll go for a master's in psychology but now I need to get out in the real world and do a 40-hour-a-week job. Advice? - K.R.

A bachelor's in psych is a liberal arts degree, period. Psychology is a caste system topped by those with a doctorate -- the sooner you get an advanced degree, the more mobility you'll have in the job market. Consider virtually any internship or employer willing to pay school bills.

Check the Occupational Outlook Handbook on the Department of Labor website, bls.gov/ooh (for smartphones and tablets, find it at bls.gov/ooh/mobile). You'll get chapter and verse on psych jobs, as well as names and contacts for relevant professional societies, which also provide solid information.

Where are your college career services and psychology department faculty in your quest? Are they missing in action, or have you not asked them for help? I believe that professors who accept you into their discipline need to provide guidance in using the outcome of your education to transition into the workplace.


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