I want you to try something before you decide you need another certification or degree to get noticed by hiring teams.
Open your resume and search for these words:
supported
helped
assisted
collaborated
partnered
contributed
Then, every time you find one, ask yourself:
What was I actually responsible for?
I’m serious. This is one of the simplest resume changes I made when I was trying to move out of education, and it changed how I talked about my experience.
Back then, I was doing what most teachers do.
I talked about the team. I talked about what “we” accomplished. I wrote about the programs I supported and the people I partnered with.
That made perfect sense to me because that was how I had been taught to think about good work. Be helpful. Be collaborative. Give the team credit.
The only problem with this is that my resume kept hiding me.
At one point, my school needed everyone using a our technology a whole new way.
I could have written "Supported staff with the implementation of new technology," which is what I did initially. And my resume kept getting ignored.
Then I realized, I didn't just support the school's staff. I did way more.
Matter of fact, despite getting into a passive-aggressive "argument" with my principal over how to use our limited technology, I became the person folks came to when they needed help with implementing this new way of doing things. I trained my coworkers. I gathered resources for them. I helped people get comfortable using something new.
I was basically the resident tech leader.
And when I started looking for my first corporate job, THAT story was useful.
Because I wasn’t sitting there thinking, Well, technically I’ve never been a corporate trainer before. I was looking at what I had already done and saying "hell yeah, I've trained adults. Here's how."
I was unafraid to just dive into a new system. I could enthusiastically share what I learned with my peers. I could explain it a million different ways for my peers' learning styles if I had to, and most importantly, I got people up and running.
That was my real experience. I was just burying it under words like “supported.” Once I realized that "team-player" language was stifling my actual experience, I started getting interviews and eventually, my first job outside of the classroom.
Yep. Happy to say this one shift helped me move from teaching into corporate. And once I got there, I kept doing the same thing.
New job. New title. Same question:
What did I actually do here? What did I truly own in this process?
These questions helped me move again. And again.
It is still how I think about my resume now.
So when I see a career changer with a resume full of “supported,” “assisted,” and “collaborated,” I don’t immediately think they need more experience. I ask them to dig deeper to uncover what they are leaving out.
Maybe “collaborated with leadership on professional development” really means you planned the session... or built the deck... or ran part of the training.
Well... say THAT.
You don’t need to pretend you did everything alone. I certainly didn’t. But there is a big difference between giving your team credit and erasing yourself from the story.
I had to learn that. You might need to, too. So this week, don’t redo your whole resume.
Just search those six words.
Every time one pops up, ask: What did I actually do?
Then write that instead.
That one little habit helped me stop sounding like the person standing next to the work and start showing the work I was actually doing.
And yes, it helped me get out of the classroom.
STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU COULD DO NEXT?
That’s exactly why I made my What’s Next? Career Quiz.
Answer a few questions about the work you like, what you’re good at, and how you want to work. I’ll show you areas of corporate work that are worth a closer look.
Take the What’s Next? Career Quiz →
Hope you'll give this a (well deserved) try.
Steph Yesil
Find me on LinkedIn, Get My Career Change Kit,
Book a 60-Min Strategy Call
