Career change supporting statement: transfer your evidence

A career change supporting statement should show how your previous work meets the new job's criteria, with a brief explanation of why you want to move. Choose actions the new employer can recognise and state where you still need training or experience. Keep the original setting visible so the reader can judge how far each example transfers.

Read the new criteria before reviewing your old job

Put the new person specification beside a blank evidence list. Copy its requirements into that list, then look for relevant work you have done. Starting with your old job description can leave you describing responsibilities that the new employer has not asked about.

The National Careers Service's advice on losing your job explains that you may have transferable skills you could use in a different job. The page addresses redundancy and unemployment; you can use its skills-review approach without suggesting that you were made redundant if you were not.

For each requirement, distinguish what you have done independently, what you have helped with and what you have only studied. If you are moving into care from an office role, organising appointments might support an organisation criterion. It does not establish competence in a clinical task. Keep any required qualification or specialist experience as a separate check against the vacancy.

Translate actions into evidence the new employer can assess

Careers Wales' application statement guidance advises choosing examples relevant to the job description. It asks what software or equipment you have used and how you used it. Start there when an old job title hides useful experience.

This table is an editorial planning exercise. The new criteria are illustrative prompts, not requirements taken from an employer's vacancy. Use a row only if it matches both the real vacancy and your experience.

Old-role action to look for	Possible new criterion	Evidence to retain	Gap to check separately
Explained a complicated process to a customer	Clear communication	What the person needed, how you explained it and how you checked understanding	Specialist advice you were not qualified to give
Scheduled work for colleagues	Organisation	How you handled competing commitments and informed people of changes	Experience of the new employer's system
Checked entries against an original record	Accuracy	The checks you performed and what happened when something differed	Any required technical qualification
Learned an unfamiliar system	Ability to learn	How you practised, used feedback and applied the skill	Training you still need for the new role

Replace internal abbreviations with plain descriptions. Explain your authority where it matters: arranging a team rota, for example, is different from being responsible for staffing decisions. Preserve the achievement without enlarging your role.

Keep the reason for changing career brief and specific

Explain what attracts you to the work in this vacancy and connect that interest to something you have actually done or learned. You might have researched the duties, completed relevant study or volunteered in a related setting. Describe only the steps you took.

Give the evidence enough space after that explanation. A long account of why you want to leave your current sector can displace the examples needed to answer the criteria. You can mention a change in direction without sharing private details about a former employer or colleagues.

This page concerns the application's supporting statement. Careers Wales describes a CV personal statement as a short summary of main skills and strengths. If the application asks for both a CV and a statement, check what each document must contain before reusing text.

Plan one example from your previous occupation

Use the vacancy's criterion as the heading. The wording below is an illustrative prompt, and the bullets show the shape of an answer rather than text to submit.

Criterion: "Ability to communicate information clearly."

• When and where: identify the previous role and the situation in which someone needed an explanation.
• What you did: describe the words, format or demonstration you chose and how you checked that it helped.
• What happened: state the outcome you observed, then explain its relevance to the communication required in the new post.

Keep the connection precise. If you explained an account process to customers, use that description. Do not rename customers as patients or claim that explaining an account proves you can give clinical advice. If the reader needs unfamiliar context, add enough to make your action understandable.

Be clear about the remaining gaps

Read the essential and desirable criteria guide alongside the actual requirements. An adjacent skill can be worth describing, but do not mark a missing requirement as met. Where the wording is unclear, ask the recruitment contact whether your experience is relevant.

The National Careers Service points readers who need new skills or qualifications towards courses and apprenticeships. In your statement, distinguish a completed course from one you have begun or intend to take. Check any dates, qualification titles and claims about results against your own records.

Before you submit

Read the draft as someone unfamiliar with your old sector. Check that each example answers a new criterion, identifies your own contribution and retains its real setting. Follow the form's length instructions, as Careers Wales advises.

The general writing guide covers assembling the full draft. You can check your draft against the person specification to find requirements that your examples have not yet addressed.