Junior managers have advantages over more experienced managers.
In a job hunt, junior managers often have an advantage over their more experienced counterparts. Junior managers have usually not made a 15-year commitment to an industry or type of work, so prospective employers often view them as "more trainable" and "more coachable" than their seniors. This makes it easier for the junior manager to "change careers" and transfer skills to other industries.
Junior managers have disadvantages compared to their seniors.
Almost by definition, the junior manager is less tested and less experienced than senior or mid-level managers, so the resume and cover letter of the junior manager may often have to "sell" his or her potential to do something he or she has never done before. Lack of experience in the field she wants to enter can be a stumbling block to the junior manager, but remember that many employers believe that someone who has excelled in one field can excel in many other fields.
Some advice to junior managers...
If senior managers could give junior managers a piece of advice about careers, here's what they would say: Manage your career and don't stumble from job to job in an incoherent pattern. Try to find work that interests you, and then identify prosperous industries which need work performed of the type you want to do. Learn early in your working life that a great resume and cover letter can blow doors open for you and help you maximize your salary.
What if you don't know what you want to do?
Your job hunt will be more comfortable if you can figure out what type of job you want to do. But you are not alone if you have no idea what you want to do next! You may have knowledge and skills in certain areas but want to get into another type of work. What The Wall Street Journal has discovered in its research on careers is that Most of us end up having at least three distinctly different careers in our working lives; it seems that, even if we really like a particular kind of activity, twenty years of doing it is enough for most of us and we want to move on to something else!
That's why we strongly believe that you need to spend some time figuring out what interests you rather than taking an inventory of the skills you have. You may have skills that you simply don't want to use, but if you can build your career or - the things that interest you, you will be more likely to be happy and satisfied in you r job. Realize, too, that interests can change over time; the activities that interest you now may not be the ones that interested you years ago. For example, some professionals may decide that they've had enough of managing people and want a job managing only themselves, even though they have earned a reputation for being an excellent manager of human resources. We strongly believe that interests rather than skills should be the determining factor in deciding what types of jobs you want to apply for and what directions you explore in your job hunt. Obviously one cannot be a lawyer without a law degree or a secretary without secretarial skills; but a professional can embark on a next career as a financial consultant, property manager, plant manager, production supervisor, retail manager, or other occupation if he/she has a strong interest in that type of work and can provide a resume that clearly demonstrate; past excellent performance in any field and potential to excel in another field. As you will see later in another article, "lack of exact experience" is the last reason why people are turned down for the jobs they apply for.
How can you have a resume prepared if you don't know what you want I want to do?
You may be wondering how you can have a resume prepared if you don't know what you want to do next. The approach to resume writing which we have used successfully for many years is to develop an "all-purpose" resume that translates your skills, experience, and accomplishments into language employers can understand. What most people need in a job hunt is a versatile resume that will allow them to apply for numerous types of jobs. For example, you may want to apply for a specific job as a railroad conductor but you may also want to have a resume that will be versatile enough for you to apply for jobs in the construction, electronics, or healthcare industry.
