Whether you’re seeking to hire a change management professional or looking to showcase your career as a change management leader, knowing what to watch out for is essential to choosing the right employee or job. Below, we share how to spot change management requirements and skills included in job listings.
One thing is for sure: there isn’t a universal path to becoming a change management professional.
Practitioners in today’s change management community have a mosaic of backgrounds and experiences. Take a look at a few real-life examples of successful change management in the business world here.
Oftentimes, change management expertise tends to be more aligned with their soft skills than their career journey. Effective practitioners are often adept in:
- Emotional intelligence
- Conflict and stress management
- Perception and understanding of company culture
- Strategic thinking
- Communication
- Relationship building
- Nurturing trust and openness
Demonstrating soft skills on paper is more challenging than showcasing experiences, education, and certifications. This makes it difficult to prepare concrete yet descriptive job descriptions or resumes for roles related to change management.
As the discipline continues to become formalized and understood, we can expect more consistent roles and titles. Until then, this is what change management looks like on paper.
How to include change management in your resume
For job descriptions or resumes, it’s best to convey sought-after change management skills by including certifications, recognized keywords, or related skill sets.
Certifications
Certifications are a fantastic starting point for any individual interested in learning about change management. Such certifications indicate to possible employers that you have studied and applied change management to real-life problems and situations.
Similar to project management accreditation, change management certifications demonstrate that you understand the many nuances of implementing projects and guiding transformations. They illustrate to future employers that you have likely been successful in implementing change management plans and are familiar with traditional change management tools and frameworks. Even if your dream role does not involve managing changes directly, training and experience handling change and transitions empower you with a data-driven approach to success, even when working with a variety of teams.
Here at LaMarsh Global, we offer internationally recognized group certifications and workshops as well as virtual and on-site corporate transformation management training. Find out more or sign up to get certified here.
Keywords
It is best practice to match the words you include in your resume or job description with your goals. So, let’s take a step back and review the responsibilities of change practitioners.
Change management job descriptions often include skills such as:
- Collecting and evaluating stakeholder and organizational data
- Preparing risk mitigation plans and implementing the plans.
- Monitoring and evaluating the transformation at every stage.
- Training, supporting, and communicating with leaders.
- Training, supporting, and communicating with individuals who might be impacted by the transition.
This list can be translated into skills that are crucial to change management:
- Certification: Has achieved change management accreditation.
- Knowledge: Understands the transformation process and change management principles.
- Experience: Has been involved with or managed change.
- Leadership: Is goal-oriented, influential, and effective.
- Envisions the big picture: Understands the goals and culture of the organization.
- Team player: Maintains strong relationships with employees and managers.
- Communication: Has excellent communication management and skills.
- Problem-solving: Uses data, conflict resolution, and processes to find solutions.
- Coaching: Provides training and support.
- Management of teams: Sets expectations and standards, influences and communicates with employees, and prioritizes work based on time and capability.
It is crucial to understand that job titles can indicate change management skills without mentioning “change management” verbatim.
Below is an array of common skills and positions many change leaders are equipped with:
- Business readiness
- Organizational readiness
- Change adoption
- Change readiness
- Change realization
- Strategy realization
- Transition
- People-focused
- Manager
- Coordinator
- Analyst
- Advisor
- Practitioner
- Consultant
- Facilitator
- Lead
Integrate related skills
Leverage the skills, knowledge, and experiences in your professional background that are related to change management, including:
- Business acumen
- Leadership
- Effective change management communication
- Coaching
- Instructional design
- Training facilitation
- People management
Stand out with Certifications and Experience Managing Change
The many roles that utilize change management are expanding even further to include top executives interested in improving the financial and competitive viability of their organizations. Change management skills are necessary for many positions, especially project team members that want to improve the success of their initiatives.
For many, change management positions are an extension of their current role or responsibilities. Here is what the resulting career path might look like:
1. Begin with the basics
Nobody is born with all of the skills necessary to successfully guide themselves or their team through a transformation. Understanding of Managed Change methodology and best practices of change management can be accumulated with time and experience, or achieved via straightforward courses, certifications, and training.
At LaMarsh, we provide the resources needed to level up your resume and interview skills, making you a competitive contender for any job in various professional fields.
Our workshops include a Managed Change Workshop, which equips transformation practitioners with fresh concepts and a deep understanding of common-practice processes used to successfully manage any transformation.
We also offer a Managed Change for Project Managers, which gives managers the resources to introduce projects, guide team members through the transformation these projects inspire, and achieve their project’s desired outcome. Read more about our courses here.
2. Master advanced concepts and strategies
For experienced practitioners, our workshop Leaders as Sponsors of Change expands on prior experience so you can be confident leading and training others while selecting and adapting Managed Change methodology to a variety of situations.
This workshop is designed for individual executives and top leadership teams to meet their unique industry needs. Here, conceptual learning combines with years of personal experience to create an advanced course. Find out all of the details this workshop includes here.
Even the most polished resume is still just words on a page. Your learned capacity to manage change will set you apart from other candidates, so be sure to include detailed descriptions of transformations you have been involved in and their measurable success. Just in case, here’s a list of what not to do during a transformation or transition.
If you’re still wondering “What’s change management?” don’t worry, we’re here to help. Learn more about how to manage change, transformation, and LaMarsh’s transformation management training and certification opportunities. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, be sure to contact us directly for more information.
