Top 2021 Guide | Best Tips for Finding & Scoring a Top-Paying Job in a Change Management Career Field
If you’re looking for a stable career that pays well and is on an upward trajectory, a change management career path is a great option. According to Salary.com, the median annual salary for a change management specialist is $127,202.
Change management jobs (full-time and also consulting positions) are in high demand. On a search of Indeed, we found over 412,000 listings for change management consultant jobs.
But wanting a job in change management and finding organizational change management jobs are two different things.
Finding the Best Change Management Jobs: Entry Level, Low-Mid Experience, and Very Experienced Change Managers
How do you know where to find entry-level change management jobs? What if you are already experienced and are looking to switch jobs – what is the best process for that? What keywords should you use in your change management resume to attract an HR person? Are there any great remote change consultant jobs?
Organizational Change Management Jobs
As experts in change management, AGS has put together this guide to help you find the best entry-level change management jobs and best business change manager jobs for any level: low to very experienced change managers.
We’ll let you know where to look for change management contract jobs and give you tips on creating a resume that can give you a head start on a change management career path.
We’ve also got some sample questions for those interested in change management interview questions and answers (PDF) that can help you prepare to make a great first impression.
If you’ve been interested in finding change management jobs remote or traditional, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to get started on a lucrative career in the change management field.
See Also: Change Management versus Project Management
How to Make the Case for Change Management
Easily explain the value of change management to your leadership, key stakeholders, sponsors, and management with this ready to use Change Management Presentation PPT Deck: Making the Case for Change Management.
First, Change Management Job Description
Let’s begin with the job description for change management positions. These will, of course, vary by organization, but many will include similar descriptions of what they’re looking for in a change consultant, change manager, or change specialist.
Two things will impact the typical job description for change management jobs:
- The level of position you’re looking for in change consultant jobs; and
- The specific needs of the organization
Some organizations will have change happening all the time within different areas of their company. In this case, they may offer more entry-level change management jobs to train people to grow within their company.
Other organizations will have a limited need during just a single change project, in which case they may be offering change management consultant jobs and need a more experienced person.
Some of the general things you’ll find being requested in job listings for organizational change management jobs are:
- Knowledge of a structured methodology to lead change (e.g., Prosci, Lewin, etc.)
- Ability to manage day-to-day activities of a change process
- Tracking and reporting on a change project
- Assess the impact of a change and readiness for a change
- Plan and execute change communications
- Support change training efforts
- Create and execute a change management strategy
- Problem-solving and risk mitigation
- Work with project managers
- Coach leaders on how to facilitate change
- Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
- Monitoring and management of change project success
What are Educational & Training Requirements for Business Change Manager Jobs?
When seeking change management positions, you’ll find that many job listings request certain experience and educational requirements. Some change management contract jobs might also ask for a change management certification.
Qualifications can differ according to each of the change management jobs you’re applying for, but here is a general idea of types of requirements listed for experience and education.
- BS degree or higher in organizational psychology, leadership, communications or similar
- 3-10 years of either change management or project management experience
- Change management certification (sometimes requested)
In a sample of change management jobs remote or onsite, we found that approximately 30% of them requested some type of change management certification, with Prosci ADKAR and CCMP™ being the ones requested most.
Don’t Miss: Tips for Finding & Scoring a Top-Paying Job in Change Management
How to Get Into Change Management
If you’re interested in a change management career right out of college or are thinking of changing careers to head down a change management career path, here are some ways you can start.
Study Change Management Models & Concepts
You’ll first want to “learn the lingo” that is used by those with organizational change management jobs. This includes things like knowing what a change champions network is and the purpose of resistance management.
It will help by studying change management strategies and resources. We have plenty right here on AGS that are designed to introduce you to the world of change management and can get you ready for change management consultant jobs.
This includes different change models and methodologies, as some companies use a specific methodology for all their change projects. Knowing the difference between something like the Kotter 8-step model and the McKinsey 7S model can help you win over an interviewer.
Get Some Change or Project Management Experience
If you have the opportunity in your current position, try to get some experience that will prepare you for business change manager jobs.
This could be agreeing to be a change champion for a change happening in your organization or trying to get experience managing some projects.
Having some experience in change management or project management is a requirement listed in many change management contract jobs.
Take Change Management Training
If you’re light on experience in change management, taking change management training classes can help your resume look a little better and give you an entry into a change management career path.
You can take either certified or non-certified change management training, which will go a long way towards helping you learn the concepts of change management and getting some practical experience with the duties involved in change consultant jobs.
Look for Change Management Positions
Once you’ve become familiar with what’s expected of those in change management jobs remote or onsite, you’ll be ready to update your resume and look for open change management positions.
We’ve got several tips below on where to find the best organizational change management jobs and how to get your resume ready for a change management career.
Tips for Finding the Best Change Management Jobs
Change management consultant jobs are in demand and are needed at just about every organization. The fact that all organizations go through change and the speed at which technology forces change are drivers for openings in business change manager jobs.
One important note to make when you’re searching for change management contract jobs is that IT also uses the term “change management,” but it’s more about how requested technology updates are handled. So, as you’re searching for change consulting jobs, you’ll most likely see some IT jobs come up as well for that reason.
Keywords you can use when searching change management positions are:
- Change management
- Change management consultant
- Change manager
- Change management specialist
- Organizational change management
- Change management analyst
Here are some places you can look for jobs relating to a change management career.
Indeed
Indeed.com currently shows over 412,700 results when searching on change management positions.
The site boasts 250 million unique visitors and states that 10 jobs are added to the platform every second.
Benefits of the platform are that you can search for jobs to fit a change management career path and filter on things like salary, location, company, and job type (full-time, part-time, etc.)
You’ll also be able to filter for entry-level change management jobs and change management jobs remotely.
Monster
Another popular job site is Monster.com, which has over 32,600 organizational change management jobs listed on the site.
Monster states that every second there are 29 resumes uploaded and 2,800 jobs viewed on its site.
There are not quite as many filtering capabilities as with Indeed, but you can filter change management consultant jobs based on location, company, and full or part-time.
ZipRecruiter
There are currently over 395,900 jobs for a change management career at ZipRecruiter.
The site has over 9 million active job postings, and the company states that the site is rated #1 with U.S. employers.
Options for filtering change management consultant jobs here are by location, salary level, employment type, title, and company.
Over the past few years, LinkedIn has built up its job search capabilities and currently has over 109,700 business change manager jobs.
LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional network” and has over 690 million users worldwide.
You’ll find the ability to filter by company and look for entry-level change management jobs. They also have another unique filter that allows you to find jobs that are:
- Easy to apply for
- Under 10 applicants
- In your LinkedIn network
- Are with a Fair Chance employer
Within Your Organization
Don’t overlook potential change management contract jobs within your own organization. If you work for a government agency or larger company, there may be an opportunity for you to transition into a change management career path without changing employers.
Change Management Consulting Firms
Consulting firms that provide change management services to other organizations are another great place to find change management contract jobs, as well as get some experience learning from professionals.
Read our AGS article on the “Top 10 Best Change Management Consulting Firms for Consultants” to get some ideas of consultants that you can send your resume to.
Related: HR’s Role in Change Management Success
Requirements for Entry-Level Change Management Jobs
If you don’t have much or any change management experience, then you’ll be looking for entry-level change management jobs. What types of requirements do they have?
We’ve used the filtering capabilities on LinkedIn and Indeed to see what requirements employers listed for change consultant jobs considered “entry-level.”
Here’s what we found as typical entry-level requirements:
- Consulting experience
- Leadership skills
- Technical skills
- Project management skills
- Bachelor’s degree
- Good interpersonal skills
- Good written and verbal skills
- Understanding of basic technical terminology
Change Management Jobs Remote
Change management requires coordination with multiple people, and traditionally that meant in person; however, there are plenty of activities in change management positions that can be handled completely remotely.
And in fact, many companies are using more remote workers than ever before, so the team you’d be guiding through a change may also be full-time remote.
Change Management Jobs Remote
Remote positions have taken on a whole new level of acceptance since the coronavirus pandemic changed the working environment. So, there are plenty of change management jobs remote opportunities that you can find.
On Indeed, we found over 17,600 change management positions that were listed as remote. So, if you prefer working from home, you can still do that and have a change management career too.
Here are a few more places you can search for change consultant jobs and especially for remote organizational change management jobs:
Popular Article: What are Typical Project Management Fees?
Change Management Resume Tips
How do you make your resume stand out when you’re applying for change management consultant jobs? One way is to ensure you’re using the right keywords that employers are looking for.
If your resume hits the right notes with a hiring director, you have a much better chance of it being moved to the “interview” pile.
Look over business change manager job listings to pick up on the keywords they put in job descriptions and use those when creating or updating your resume.
Secret Tip: If you happen to use Microsoft 365, you can use the Resume Assistant feature in Word to bring LinkedIn positions right into your resume document. You just type “change manager” into the role, and you’ll get:
- Descriptions from LinkedIn Profiles with that position
- Top skills for the position
- LinkedIn change management jobs listings
Use MS Word Resume Assistant for Change Consultant Jobs
Keywords to Use for a Change Management Career Resume
Here are some of the keywords/key phrases you can use to help your resume grab the attention of those hiring for change management jobs:
- Excellent communication skills
- Leadership coaching
- Change monitoring and management
- Change management KPI analysis
- Change training
- Problem-solving
- Resistance management
- Change model familiarity
- Thought leadership
- Assess change adoption
- Stakeholder management
- Creative thinker
- Work independently and with a group
How to Make Yourself Stand Out Above Others
If you find some excellent change management consultant jobs to apply for, you want to have the best chance of standing out both on your resume and when you interview
You have a better chance at a change management career if you can show that you understand the key components of change management, which include:
- Guiding people through change
- Helping get people past resistance to change
- Coordinating with multiple parties during the project
- Planning and organizing different facets of the change project
- Developing a team of leaders and change champions
- The importance of reinforcing a change, so it’s sustained
You can study our free AGS Change Management Strategic Playbook that will give you the key concepts to integrate into both your resume and interview answers. Many of the details you find there can be used when creating a change management interview questions and answers PDF as a “cheat sheet.”
Change Management Interview Questions and Answers
Anticipating what types of questions that you may be asked during an interview for change management jobs can help you be ready and stand out with well-prepared answers.
Of course, all interviewers will be unique, but here are some general questions that you can save into a change management interview questions and answers PDF to study prior to an interview.
Q: What are some of the ways to assess risk during a change?
A: Risk can be assessed by evaluating and scoring factors such as:
- The percentage of people within an organization that are being impacted
- The severity of the impact (e.g., a small adjustment in workflow or a large one)
- How resistant employees and other stakeholders are to the change
Q: How would you approach a situation where a department leader was resistant to a change project?
It’s important to understand the reasons why someone is resistant to a change so they can be addressed. Resistance can come from several emotions (as noted in the Bridges theory of change management). These can be fear of change, thinking a change won’t make things better, etc.
Once the resistance factors are identified, enlisting the help of someone they trust in the company to help address those and explain the benefits of the change can help convince them. It’s also important to tell them “what’s in it for them,” how they’ll benefit from the change.
Q: How do you keep the momentum for a long change project going?
Having a clear and powerful vision statement for how a change will benefit an organization is helpful in driving momentum. It’s also important to continually communicate about the change, how things are going, and what’s coming next.
Milestones celebrating small wins along the way also go a long way towards keeping people excited and motivated to see a change through successfully.
Q: How do you assess the success of a change project?
There are several KPI’s that can be used during and after a change management project to assess how successful it is. Some of these include:
- Training tests conducted several times and compared to see if users are getting better
- Participation level in group meetings, surveys, and trainings
- Whether project milestones are being hit according to the timeline
- Whether the project is staying on or under budget
- Productivity measurement after the change has been implemented
- Check-ins with stakeholders about 6 weeks post-change to see how the new processes are working
Q: What are some of the most popular change models used?
A: One of the most well-known is the Prosci ADKAR model of change management, which describes 5 stages that stakeholders have to go through for a successful change. (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement.)
A few other popular models include:
- The Lewin model, which uses an Unfreeze, Change, Freeze methodology.
- Kotter’s 8-step model, which focuses on creating urgency and sustaining excitement and momentum.
- McKinsey 7S model, which is more of a framework for keeping 7 key areas in an organization in alignment during a change.
Read More: Guide to the Best Change Management Plan
Conclusion: How to Find the Best Business Change Manager Jobs
Options are plentiful if you’re interested in a change management career. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, you can find plenty of companies offering organizational change management jobs.
The best way to get started down a change management career path is to study the concepts and models used in change management. It’s also a good idea to try to get any project management experience you can, as this often translates to many of the same skills used in business change manager jobs.
Most listings for organizational change management jobs that we’ve seen require at least a BS degree. They also ask for some type of experience in change management. If you’re light on experience, getting a change management certification can help your job chances.
We hope this guide is a helpful resource when it comes to finding the best change management jobs to apply for and that our tips give you a leg up over other candidates. Best of luck in your change management job search!
Free Change Management Templates Get Your Free Change Management Templates Today How to Make the Case for Change Management
Authors: Ogbe Airiodion (Senior Change Management Lead) and Francesca Crolley (Content Manager)
Note: Content on OCM Solution (Formerly Airiodion Global Services (AGS))'s ocmsolution.com website is copyrighted. If you have questions, comments, or tips about this OCM Solution (Formerly Airiodion Global Services) content or product, please contact OCM Solution today.
Easily explain the value of change management to your leadership, key stakeholders, sponsors, and management with this ready to use Change Management Presentation PPT Deck: Making the Case for Change Management.
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