Are you looking to make a career change but not quite sure how to go about tackling writing a resume? Are you in the process of making a career change but you’re not sure how to put together a resume when your experience is a bit lacking? If you can identify with either of these statements, then let me walk you through step-by-step how to put together a resume that really helps you shine and get noticed by hiring managers and recruiters.

I totally understand how scary it can be to transition jobs, especially when you feel like you don’t necessarily have a ton of relevant experience to that new job. I did it myself. I transitioned from a legal career into a marketing career back in 2011. It was definitely nerve wracking and I could feel imposter syndrome setting in hardcore.

I can completely understand if your career aspirations don’t necessarily align with your current experience or even your education. I’m going to walk you through some ways and some techniques for you to put together a resume that will really help you shine.

Step #1: Evaluate your transferrable skills.

What are transferrable skills? Transferrable skills are the skills that transfer from position to position. These skills are usually not technical or hard skills like coding or learning a language, but rather soft skills, like communication skills, organization skills, teamwork, and team management. Soft skills tend to transition careers are transferrable across all careers.

Think about it. We need people who can communicate no matter what the job is, right? So it’s so important that you identify those transferrable skills that are most aligned with your experience and your career aspirations.

Step #2: Use a functional resume or skills-based resume format.

You’ll hear some people call this resume format a functional resume, while others will refer to it as a skills-based resume. The important thing to know is they are the same type of resume format.

A traditional resume or chronological resume is formatted to highlight your experience going backwards. Starting with your previous jobs and includes experience under each position. Alternatively, a skills-based resume or functional resume instead highlights the skills you have and includes bullet points of experience underneath each of those skills. The goal of a functional or a skills-based resume is to highlight the experience you have that relates to that transferrable skill.

Step #3: Write strategic value statements.

What is a strategic value statement? It’s a format essentially of writing your bullet points under each transferrable skill that highlight (a) the industry, (b) the scope, (c) the magnitude of the role you had, (d) the impact it had on the goals of the organization you worked for, so your future hiring manager when they’re reading your resume can see the actual work that you did and contemplate you in that role. Envision you in that role, actually performing that work for him or her.

Using strategic value statements ensures that you’re communicating your true transferrable skill and how it relates to the goals of the organization that you want to work for.