personal training resume
I am switching career fields, but I have also stayed home with my daughter since 2012. I was looking for any input on how to best organize my resume. I am coming from the education field, and I want to remain concise without listing too many experiences from my former field. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
I know what you mean…. having worked in rather different areas I thought a lot about what to use and what to leave out.
The first thing I would suggest is before you decide what to keep of the old things really work on having some solid relevant current things: quality national certifications (people in the industry will recognize the difference), a few good CEC trainings or workshops, and so on…. you know the kind of thing.
Once you see how much you have that is relevant and current it gives a better idea of how much space you want to leave for the older things.
Your college and/or advanced degree is always appropriate. If it is in education there is a kind of connection, and if not, it still doesn’t hurt, as it shows a certain ability to work hard and communicate.
Then you might list things and rank them as to how pertinent they are for what you are doing, rather than how impressive they are on their own. For example, when I was head of circulation at an academic library I received a couple of fairly impressive performance awards. However, when I went to fitness full time the only thing they showed was that I was competent and hard working, and there were much better ways I could illustrate that that were more related to the field I was entering. Sometimes a single line or two stating that you have x years in such and such an industry and won awards or received promotions is the best way to go.
If you have writing experience you might use some of that, though it is good to have both new and old here. For example: co editor of district school newsletter 2009 to 2011, but also making use of writing skills on fitness blog and podcast. See? You make the connection between older skills and new uses for them.
Good luck with your new work. It is kind of a crowded field now, and hard to stand out, so really make use of what you know, and try to allocate your training and certifying budget to buy the best you can afford.
I am a former tax accountant who left accounting to have more time for kids. Fitness has been a wonderful second career because I can schedule my hours around their school hours.
When I submit a resume, I customize it to the job that I want. I’ve been out of accounting and in fitness for long enough that I have a substantial fitness resume so I don’t need my accounting stuff to fill a resume. I list my degrees near the bottom of the resume. Below that, I include a short blurb that reads: “Work history outside the fitness industry is available upon request. I’m a former tax accountant and CPA with a dual MBA / Masters in Tax and a B.S. in Psychology, all from University of Washington (1990 undergrad, 1994 grad-school).”
The only exception has been applying for a job where my ability to read and interpret directly from statutory law so I can comply with fitness grant requirements is a key skill. In that case, I listed more detail about my masters in tax because it’s a unique but relevant skill from another industry.