Resume Tips For Moving From Government To The Private Sector

The ownership structure, funding, and purpose of the public sector and the private sector differ significantly, and transitioning between sectors can be a challenge. Like any job search, the basic steps are the same, and you’ll need to update your resume and LinkedIn profile. But transitioning from the government to the private sector, or vice versa, may require a more in-depth rewrite.

Public sector and private sector employers have different missions and objectives. In the public sector, organizations are owned and operated by the government and funded by taxpayers, to provide services that benefit the general public and are considered in the public interest, such as education, law enforcement, fire departments, and infrastructure like roads, bridges, and airports.

In the private sector, organizations, mostly businesses, are privately owned and are operated to generate profits. Publicly traded companies are legally obligated to act in the best financial interests of their shareholders.

There is a third sector, that comprised of nonprofits. Like the public sector, non-profits are mission-focused and serve the public good. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have social missions that are independent of any government (e.g., Doctors Without Borders). In any event, nonprofits tend to be donor and/or taxpayer funded.

If you’re switching careers from the government to the private or nonprofit sectors, it’s advantageous to do the extra legwork needed to make the transition. Here are recommendations to get you started.

1. Draw a direct line from your government skill set to the private or nonprofit sector. For some, this won’t be difficult. If you work in universal fields, such as administration, labor relations, information technology, and finance, there are parallel jobs and job titles. If you work in a specialized legislative, research, or policy job, for example, drawing a direct line is more of a challenge. Think about how your government skills translate to the private sector and understand what those connections are. For example, professionals with government experience are desired by many private sector businesses because some vital aspect of their bottom line involves government knowledge or interaction, such as private think tanks, lobbying, and legal compliance are just a few areas that recruit people with public sector experience.

• Public sector and private sector resumes are different. If you’re leaving government for the private sector, there is no shortage of private sector resume guides, applications that help you create a resume, AI-powered resume builders, and professional resume writers. If you’re applying for government jobs, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Labor have resume writing guides, and here and here are links to websites that specialize in government resumes. Note: The US Government is changing the Federal resume format and approach, you can learn more about that here.

• The language of the public sector and private sector is different. Enough so that you need to express your professional achievements and narrative in terms familiar to the people (and robots) reading your resume. Government simply operates under different language, in many cases. Do the research and use your best judgment to determine which terminology to drop and which to adopt. Analyzing the terminology used in published job descriptions are a great place to start.

• Think about what is important to a private company. Usually, the goal is to maximize profits, and companies want to hire people who are going to help them achieve that. Redirect the narrative of your resume toward private sector thinking/goals. For example, if you worked in a department that reduced poverty, that’s a noble achievement, but it doesn’t pay dividends. If you frame what you did in terms of its positive economic impact and have the metrics to back it up, now you’re speaking the private sector’s language.

Photo credit: iStock Photo – YangYin

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.