Do you have to start again to do work that matters?

A candidate once made it all the way to the final interview for a programme that helps people launch new charities, only to be rejected partly because the recruitment team couldn't see evidence of experience running a startup. During a feedback conversation afterwards, it emerged that the candidate had, in fact, run a small startup. They just hadn't mentioned it in their application or interviews.

It's a real example shared by Ben Williamson, Director of Recruitment at Ambitious Impact, in an article about hiring people into work tackling important problems. And it's a rather painful illustration of how easy it is for years of useful experience to get lost somewhere between one career and the next.

For anyone considering moving into climate, global health, education, poverty reduction or another field they care about, there's an interesting question here. How do you make the career you've already built relevant to an organisation doing something completely different? And how much of what you've spent years learning is likely to be useful somewhere new?

The strange business of being experienced and inexperienced at the same time

There's something quite peculiar about career change when you've already spent ten or fifteen years becoming good at your job. Perhaps you've managed a department, built a business, led difficult projects or become the person everyone turns to when something goes wrong. You know your industry, understand how decisions get made and have learned a considerable amount through experience.

Then you start looking at a completely different world of work. The organisations are unfamiliar, the terminology is different, and suddenly it's difficult to judge which jobs you're qualified for. Many fields tackling the world's biggest problems have their own specialist knowledge, networks and ways of working, which can make it surprisingly difficult to see how experience from another industry fits.

But there's quite a lot of variety in the work these organisations need people to do. An organisation working on climate change might need somebody with experience building partnerships with major retailers. A charity expanding an effective programme might need someone who knows how to manage growth without losing the quality of its work. A research organisation might need people who understand finance, HR or how to communicate complicated ideas.

Some roles will require substantial new knowledge, qualifications or technical expertise, while others will draw heavily on capabilities developed somewhere else. The difficulty is working out which is which, particularly when a job description is full of unfamiliar language.

And then there's the question of how employers see that experience.

Imagine someone who's spent eight years managing field teams for a commercial maintenance company. They're interested in an operations role at an organisation helping households make their homes more energy efficient. Their previous experience might include coordinating engineers, improving scheduling, handling unexpected problems and making sure customers receive the service they've been promised.

Those are potentially useful capabilities. But an employer unfamiliar with the candidate's previous industry needs to understand exactly what they've done and how it might apply. Perhaps they changed a scheduling process that reduced missed appointments, or introduced a better way for teams to coordinate across different locations. Those examples help somebody assess their experience, even if the setting is unfamiliar.

There's still plenty to learn about the new organisation and its work, of course. But the conversation can now be about actual experience and how it relates to the job, rather than relying on a general enthusiasm for the cause.

That's particularly important when applying to organisations working on problems people care deeply about. A genuine interest in climate, health or education might explain why somebody wants to make the move, but the employer also needs to know whether they can do the work, what they'll bring to the team and where they might need support.

Does changing fields mean taking a step backwards?

One of the assumptions worth questioning is that moving into an unfamiliar field automatically means finding a junior role and working your way back up.

Sometimes that will make sense. A move into a specialist profession might require qualifications, practical training or experience that can't easily be skipped. But there are also situations where taking a substantial step down creates more complications than expected.

Probably Good, an organisation that provides career advice for people looking to do good through their work, has written about the difficulties experienced professionals can encounter when applying for jobs they're technically overqualified for. From the hiring manager's perspective, there are some understandable questions. Will somebody who previously managed an entire department enjoy the day-to-day responsibilities of a much more junior role? Are their salary expectations realistic? Will they want to stay once the initial excitement of a new organisation wears off?

These are things that can be discussed, and there will be plenty of people who genuinely want a change in responsibilities as well as a change in direction. But they're a useful reminder that having more experience doesn't automatically make someone the strongest candidate for every role.

It may be worth looking for a position where that experience is a real advantage, even if the organisation or field is completely new. That could mean pursuing a comparable role, finding an adjacent position that helps build relevant knowledge, or considering a different type of organisation where the work is a particularly good match.

There's also the practical reality of changing careers. Salary, security, location and family responsibilities don't disappear because a new direction sounds worthwhile. Moving into work that matters can take different forms, and the best route will depend as much on someone's circumstances as it does on the opportunities available.

How does your experience look from the other side?

The story about the candidate who forgot to mention their startup is a useful reminder of how differently our experience can look to somebody else. Something that feels like a small or fairly ordinary part of a career might be exactly what a particular employer is hoping to find.

And when years of work have taken place in one industry, it's easy to take for granted how much context somebody from outside that world might need. A job title that carries a lot of meaning in one organisation may mean very little in another.

One useful way to explore a possible move is to take a job description that interests you and read it from the employer's perspective. What is this person actually being hired to do? Which responsibilities relate to work you've done before? What examples could you share that would give somebody confidence in your ability to do it?

It's worth being fairly specific. Having managed a team of twelve people is interesting, but so is knowing what you helped that team achieve, the difficult decisions you made and what you learned along the way. The same goes for building partnerships, managing budgets, improving services or launching products. The details help people understand what you actually bring.

Then look at what's missing. Perhaps the job requires a qualification, technical knowledge or experience of a setting you've never worked in. Perhaps there's a connection that looks promising but needs checking. Speaking to someone who knows the field, particularly someone with hiring experience, can help make sense of those differences.

They might explain that a particular part of your background is highly relevant, suggest a more realistic route in, or identify an area that would take time to develop. And if applications aren't progressing, understanding how your experience is being interpreted can be much more useful than simply sending out more of them.

The aim is to get a clearer picture of where the career you've already had could take you, and what would help you make the move.

Putting your experience towards something that matters

This is one of the questions we're exploring through Escape to Impact, our new accelerator for experienced professionals who want to use their careers to tackle some of the world's most important problems.

Escape has spent years helping people navigate the human side of changing careers, and this programme brings that experience together with a focus on finding your way into work that could make a substantial difference. Over nine weeks, participants will explore where their experience could be useful, learn from people working on important problems, investigate real opportunities and work on making a credible move.

There'll be practical career-change support, perspectives from practitioners and people with hiring experience, and a small group of other professionals working through their own transitions. Some people will arrive knowing the kind of work they want to pursue, while others will have a strong desire to make a difference and need help finding a direction. Both are welcome.

Applications for Escape to Impact close on Thursday 22 October. The programme begins on 3 November and is heavily subsidised, with a participant contribution of £195 for the full nine-session experience.

If you've been thinking seriously about putting your experience towards something that matters, we'd love to hear from you. Find out more and apply for Escape to Impact