1. Emphasize Your Transferable Skills
A managerial role involves much more than simply overseeing junior staff. In this position, you will also need to be comfortable with giving presentations, coaching and training, interviewing and recruiting, developing processes and policies and interpreting the same, creating timelines or schedules, as well as overseeing projects from start to finish.
Chances are, that you have already been exposed to at least some of the responsibilities above over the course of your career. Now all that you need to do is become comfortable explaining (in your resume and in person) how the experience you have translates into that leadership role.
If you have presented at a company training, planned and executed an event from beginning to end, pitched a new initiative to leadership, collaborated on a departmental policy rollout, or assisted with new hire onboarding, you already have some legitimate management-level experience under your belt.
If you can highlight these projects and skills on your cover letter as well as your resume, and you are prepared to talk about them in your next interview, this will help prospective employers see your true potential.
2. Highlight Your Expertise
If you feel that you are ready to take on a managerial role or assistant managers role, you probably already have some serious experience in the industry along with wisdom about your job, department, or team. And that is actually incredibly valuable.
Understanding the nature of your industry, the dynamic of your team, and the ins and outs of your current position will be incredibly helpful while navigating your first management role. These are also traits of an exceptional supervisor.
Highlight your expertise both on your LinkedIn profile and your resume. You can easily do this by listing your most relevant skills, highlighting the total number of years of experience that you are bringing to the table, mentioning the industry or industries that you have expertise in, as well as sharing relevant content on your public social media platforms.
3. Invest in Your Continuing Education
If you feel a bit light on transferable experience or would like to boost your leadership skills, you should consider taking a management class or working towards certification.
The fact that you actually took the initiative to sharpen your skills will be impressive to prospective employers and it is an excellent way to show your commitment. These trainings can be included on your resume even if you have not completed them yet – just ensure that you indicate that the coursework is in progress.
4. Be Ready to Explain Why You Are Ready
You will likely be asked why you would like to step into a managerial role a lot throughout the interview process, so you need to have a ready answer to that question. Are you full of great process-improvement ideas, passionate about employee development, or simply eager to challenge yourself?
Whatever your reasons might be, you need to be prepared to explain why you are interested, how you can be sure that you are actually ready, what transferable experience you are bringing to the table, and why a prospective employer should consider you.
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