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Any business professional pursuing a career in digital transformation will need a well-crafted digital transformation resume – but what should be included in that resume?
Digital transformation careers, after all, are not clearly defined and job responsibilities can vary greatly from one organization to the next.
Below, we will look at a few strategies for creating a resume designed for digital transformation jobs, but before we do, it is important to understand what types of jobs are available in this career track.
What Are the Top Digital Transformation Jobs?
Digital transformation jobs come in a variety of packages, and not all of these jobs include the term “digital transformation.”
In fact, many of those who manage and lead digital transformation efforts don’t have this phrase in their title.
Below, we’ll look at a few of the most common job roles that involve themselves in digital transformation initiatives:
Digital Transformation Specialist
Digital transformation specialists, as the job title suggests, focus specifically on digital transformation.
Professionals in this career track dedicate their time to tasks such as:
- Designing and coordinating digital transformation initiatives
- Consulting with businesses engaged in transformation
- Organizing and managing change teams
In many cases, these types of jobs will be available in digital transformation agencies, consultancies, or they can also be offered on a contract basis.
Within an organization, other roles will often be responsible for implementing digital transformation programs, since those programs, by definition, have time limits.
Digital Adoption Manager
Digital adoption managers help organizations and employees use digital technology to its fullest extent.
Among other things, these specialists assist with:
- Software onboarding
- Employee training
- The employee experience
- Digital transformation efforts
Digital adoption, or the integration and full use of digital technology within users’ digital environments, is a fundamental step not only in digital transformation, but in an organization’s everyday operations.
Digital adoption managers, therefore, are much more likely to have a permanent place within the enterprise.
Change Manager
A change manager focuses on business transformation and change programs. In today’s digital-first business environment, many of these transformations revolve around digital technology or include it in some way.
These jobs tend to focus on the human side of business change, and change managers often spend their time on tasks such as:
- Designing and coordinating organizational change programs
- Developing change management communication plans
- Reducing the barriers to change, such as employee resistance
- Optimizing change efforts
A career in change management may be more suitable for those who prefer to work with people, though this job does require other skills, such as data skills and project management skills.
IT Specialists
Naturally, not all IT specialists are involved in digital transformation.
Managers and executives, however, are much more likely to become involved in digital transformation projects.
This is unsurprising, since information technology plays such a crucial role in the modern organization.
CIOs, IT directors, and other IT managers naturally spend the majority of their time focusing on day-to-day operations, yet they also play a key role in digital transformation programs.
For those who are interested in the technology side of organizational change – and who want a secure, permanent job within an enterprise – IT is a good option.
What Goes Into a Good Digital Transformation Resume?
As we have seen, there are a number of job roles that are involved in digital transformation.
The first step when designing a digital transformation resume, therefore, is to set goals.
Namely:
- Clearly define personal needs, career goals, and interests
- Understand how those goals overlap with common digital transformation needs
- Pursue a career and create a resume that aligns those two needs
Many job paths can lead to involvement in digital transformation programs, as we saw above. For that reason, the best way to create a digital transformation resume is to be explicit about one’s career goals.
Here are a few examples of how resume sections can be tailored towards a career in digital transformation:
Objectives
Many resumes are prefaced with an objectives section.
In this section, professionals will outline their own personal objectives, in order to ensure that their goals align with the organization’s.
This is the perfect place to clarify one’s personal career goals around digital transformation – if those fit with the organization’s needs, then the company will be more likely to provide candidates with the experience they need. If not, then it may be better to seek out a different organization.
Experience
Resumes are typically customized to fit a specific organization or job category.
When applying for a digital transformation job, therefore, it is useful to emphasize characteristics and experience that would be useful in digital transformation.
For instance:
- Project management experience demonstrates one’s ability to coordinate and implement business projects
- Experience managing people demonstrates one’s ability to organize and manage teams, a crucial aspect of most digital transformation projects
- Past experience with digital tools or, more specifically, digital transformation, shows that one has aptitude for technology
As with the other resume sections covered here, it is important to shift the focus towards the specific job, the needs of the organization, and one’s own digital transformation career goals.
Education and Skills
Truly dedicated professionals will often spend their entire careers gaining new skills and education.
However, it is not always necessary or advisable to highlight all of those educational accomplishments.
Organizations are typically only interested in education or training that specifically applies to the job in question.
Irrelevant educational accomplishments, therefore, can often be omitted.
When considering what types of education are the most useful, it is best to follow the same guidelines set forth so far: pursue educational opportunities that support one’s own digital transformation goals.
Those interested in change management, for instance, can look to change management certifications.
Those interested in IT change management, however, can invest in IT change management training, such as ITIL change management courses.
