Where next? Thinking outside the QMS box

[lk2012]

hello everyone,
in a recent discussion, I came across an interesting thought:
where else can you use the experience outside QMS?

Let's say we have a candidate who's had over 10 years of experience in Tier1 / Tier2 automotive Quality, some Aerospace experience, is a very experienced auditor against ISO, TS and VDA, and speaks several languages. This candidate feels that there is more to life than Automotive Quality and wants a change in career.

Unfortunately, recruitment consultants are rather narrow-minded in their criteria and push for job titles / specifications.
Which other jobs could this candidate do? Where do you think they could benefit a company, build on their existing experience and learn something new?

I came up with Project / Program Management so far but would love to hear your suggestions.

 

[Stijloor]

A Quick Bump!

Can someone help?

Thank you very much!!

 

[RoxaneB]

Without seeing this individual's resume, how has the candidate framed his/her experiences?

For example, to say "XXX years as a lead auditor" is rather uninspiring. It's like saying "I've been driving a car for XXX years." However, saying "I've been driving a car for XXX years, with no accidents or tickets, resulting in a YYY% decrease in my insurance rates"...well, now we're on to something.

The 'So What?' factor is a big deal to me when I look at resume. Does this individual address that with his/her experiences and skill set?

The reason I ask this is because those 'So What?' items could help either identify a field of interest and/or jump out to organizations for the potential opportunities with this individual.

After 15+ years in manufacturing, auditor status and experience (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISRS, OHSAS 18001, Sarbanes-Oxley), process analysis and redesign, cost savings initiatives, multi-national standardization of processes, blah blah blah, I hung up my steel toes and hard hat for the field of community healthcare.

Has the individual considered that perhaps it's not about WHAT the job is but rather WHERE the job is?

 

[lk2012]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by considering 'where' the job is. Could you perhaps give an example.

This candidate's CV ('Resume' to you ) has a list of achievements right on the front page.
The recruitment agents always ask to name a specific role

 

[RoxaneB]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by considering 'where' the job is. Could you perhaps give an example.

This candidate's CV ('Resume' to you ) has a list of achievements right on the front page.
The recruitment agents always ask to name a specific role

By WHERE, I mean the field. Again, I went from the world of hard hats and steel toes to the realm of business suits and stethoscopes. I apply my knowledge and skills in healthcare as opposed to manufacturing. So, while my 'what I do' has remained relatively the same, but the 'where I do it' has drastically altered.

How are the achievements framed? If they are not set-up in a way that is meaningful to the desired field/position, they will gain little ground no matter how impressive they may be.

Again, the 'so what' factor. It's not that I don't care about how on-time the candidate is for completing projects, but I'm also interested to see how much money the project saved overall. Let's face it, most organizations really care about the bottom line. Show me a candidate who can have a strong and positive impact there, and I'll show you who I'm calling for the next interview.

 

[RancherJuniper]

I've recently become quite a fan of the work of Liz Ryan with Human Workplace (I have no affiliation, I just read her articles on LinkedIn and elsewhere). She has written a few times about making career changes, and how to properly frame experiences within one specific arena to apply to the desired arena. Unfortunately, I only have a few posts, so I can't put links in here, but if you google "Liz Ryan -- You Don't Need Permission to Change Careers" you'll find the article I'm referencing. I think this technique is great, especially if you don't want to start over from the bottom.
She is also a big proponent of what she calls the "pain letter", where you skip the automated application process, and you get to define how you (whatever your background is), can help them with what ails them. One of her articles about that is titled: "Stuck in your job search? Try a Pain Letter."
One of the cool things about her methods, is that it helps you weed out the companies that you wouldn't want to work for anyway. If they hire entirely based on "well, this is what our job posting says, and you don't have exactly these degrees and certifications, so goodbye...", then that's honestly not the kind of workplace you would want to be in. At least from my perspective.
Just a few thoughts, hope they help! I hope to make a similar transition at some point, so here's hoping there are great companies out there who will appreciate us for what we can do, not what our old job titles say!

 

[lk2012]

Great stuff, I'll check her out.
The recruitment agents are absolutely hopeless!

 

[DRAMMAN]

I just wante dot add a note in relation to how hiring companies and recruiters think when it comes to hiring experienced people.

Independant recruiters (ie Head hunters)
Head hunters generally get paid when their candidate gets hired. As such, they only want to present 3-5 "perfect candidates" ro a client. Perfect means same title, same industry, same salary range, and a very close match in job duties. If you are an automotive industry Supplier Quality Engineer, almost no head hunter is going to want to present you as a candidate to a food manufacturing company ragardless of how good you are. Plus, they will likely have a hundred resumes from food industry SQE's.

Corporate Recruiters
These people are a little more flexible to talking to people outside ther industry. But, they still usually want people from their industry when filling experienced roles. Plus you have the same issue in that they will usually have plenty of resumes from people within itheir industry. These people have a job to do and that is to "fill the position". They are usually under staffed like everyone and don't have time to bring in candidates who are unlikely to be selected by the hiring manaer.

Hiring companies
Most companies simply want to increase the chances of the candidate being succesful and want to minimize the training period by hiring from within their industries. The quality field is unfortunatly a profession wher eit is difficult for experienced peopel to switch industries because many of the qualit processes are very specific. It is just as hard for a Medical industry person to switch to automotive and it is for the reverse. It can be even harder for a banking industry quality professional to switch to manufacturing.

That said, don't give up. Your best chances for making a big change is to network with people at target companies like potential peers and hiring managers. Recruiters are the least important people to network with.. Especially head hunters.

 

[Randy]

When I grow up I'm planning on delivering parts for O'Reilly's Auto

 

[lk2012]

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the advice.
I've checked our Liz Ryan, it sounds fab. Unfortunately, it's all US-based and I can't find anyone doing the same stuff here in the UK.
I seriously need to shift quite soon before this gets me landed in hospital again