Elaine Varelas Offers Insight on Signaling a Career Shift on LinkedIn
Eager to signal a career shift on LinkedIn but weary it may send warning signs to your current employer? Elaine Varelas weighs in.
Q: I’m looking to change industries pretty significantly—from corporate IT to teaching high school math—and I want to edit my LinkedIn profile to reflect the new direction I want to go in. But I’m worried it would be a dead give away to my current employer, who has nothing to do with education. What do I do?A:
Congratulations, the world needs great high school math teachers and having corporate and IT experience will make you a valuable commodity. It’s understandable that you don’t want to give anything away to your current employer until you’re closer to your move and there are ways to signal your relevant education experience without shouting your career transition plans from the rooftops. A more important area of concern I see in this pending career change is whether or not you’ll enjoy teaching. Before you change your LinkedIn profile and resume, you need to make sure that you understand what a career in teaching really entails.
If you have any previous experience teaching, identify that in your LinkedIn profile—this won’t raise any red flags at work. What relevant teaching experience do you have within your corporate IT roles? Did you teach and mentor small groups? Did you have to write the corporate equivalent of lesson plans? Was training part of any of your roles? Incorporate this information into your professional experience entries as part of your accomplishments for these positions. You can also use your volunteer, interests, and education sections to signal your qualifications for teaching math. Are your degrees in math or education? Have you ever tutored students as a volunteer ? Filling out your LinkedIn profile with this information will demonstrate your capacity for your future role, without specifically jeopardizing your current role.
It’s important not to put too much weight on your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is just one tool that describes you, and many schools aren’t using it as a recruitment tool, yet. In your case, your resume can be much more directed for your desired teaching role. As in many job searches, networking is where you’re going to spend most of your time, specifically with other high school teachers, principals, or school board members. What other connections can you capitalize on? Consider going back to your college and contacting the education program to see what resources they offer alumni. You should also research Massachusetts Educational Recruiting Consortium (MERC), an organization that facilitates the hiring process in education by connecting higher education institutions, graduating teachers, and hiring personnel nationwide in an annual recruiting event. These approaches are likely to yield even better results for you than LinkedIn alone.
You should also take a step back to consider all the groundwork that’s involved in this kind of career shift. Have you tried to get certified? Do you need student teaching and classroom experience to be considered? Have you subbed during your vacation time to identify that this is the career you really want to pursue? Are you interested in public or private school and how do the requirements differ? There’s a lot of research and self-reflection involved before worrying about employers viewing your LinkedIn profile.
School systems don’t recruit the same way corporate organizations do. Recruiters working for schools won’t be using LinkedIn as the first point of contact. Prioritize your resume as your marketing document—and sell the benefits of your corporate IT background! Being able to demonstrate why you need math skills for employment is a huge boost in a high school setting, and it makes you a much more attractive candidate.
So, worry less about setting off alarms at your current employer and more about determining if you really want this career change and how you can take a networking approach that goes beyond LinkedIn. Good luck!
