Part 3: How to get experience, and how to leverage the experience you have

The best advice I can give is to start where you are. A lot of instructional designers transition in from other roles, and that's great! There's a lot of overlap in teaching (objectives, lesson plans), technical writing (facilitator guides, job aids), and other roles. But you don't need to try to get your experience to fit an ID job description if you can get more experience right where you are.

First, the existing experience:

Study job descriptions and write your resume to reflect how your teaching/technical writing/UX/training/HR experience matches their needs. Specifically, try to match the wording of the job description as closely as possible. For example, "created x objectives per day using Bloom's Taxonomy" and "wrote x lesson plans per week in Microsoft Word using the ARCS model", is better wording than "wrote objectives for classroom students" or "put together lesson plans for algebra classes". It's not that these things are bad. You should be proud of the work that you did! You just need to word it to match what the hiring manager is expecting to see.

Also, if you have experience in a specific field, even as a volunteer or entry-level employee (i.e. healthcare, technology, banking) see how you can add that expertise to your resume and apply for jobs in that field. You'll be more likely to be hired in a niche that you already know.

Now, how to get more experience:

Start where you are. Volunteer at your current workplace to lead a professional development presentation or three. List them as experience in your resume with the subject matter and the audience sizes, and (if possible) add the PowerPoints to your portfolio. Even better if you can get someone in the audience to take pictures of you presenting. Put the pics on your portfolio, too!

Make microlearning to solve a problem you see at your current workplace. Does the IT person at your company complain that no one knows how to use the ticket system? Make a video tutorial in Canva or Camtasia and send it to them to share it with anyone who needs it. Is there a process at your work that keeps getting done wrong because no one can remember how to do it right? Make a one-page job aid with pictures, share it with the team (maybe check with your supervisor first), and see if it makes a difference. Is there an important process that you yourself do at work and you'd like to make sure that it can still be done, even when you're on vacation? Make a very short interactive module to teach the skill and share it with anyone who might be filling in for you. Create a small, helpful guide to products to give to customers at your workplace (again, check with your supervisor first). Add all of these to your resume as proof of adult learning capability, and (if possible, don't get in trouble with your work!) add them to your portfolio. Alternatively, you can make a similar, unbranded mock-up of them with fake data/pictures/information so you have an example of your work that is not connected with the company.

Volunteer. Nonprofits, community colleges, and small businesses often need training materials and can't afford to hire someone expensive. You can offer to help in exchange for a testimonial and permission to display a copy of it on your portfolio. Just make sure that you hash out ownership rights beforehand: you get to display a copy on your site, but they'll have the rights to the real thing.

One more thing: I've found that people in this field are usually very generous with their time and advice. They will often go out of their way to help out. So, don't be afraid to reach out to someone in the field who's doing what you'd like to be doing with a friendly, professional request for information about what it's like, or their experience in Instructional Design. You might get some important insight!