Repurpose existing skills

1 “The skills you have should be sector-agnostic,” Hilary Husbands, a change programme manager, said. “If you’ve got an IT skill, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the public sector or the commercial sector.” Graham Holley, chief executive of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, which has had a surge of interest from those seeking to join the public sector, said: “Teaching enables career-changers to use talents honed in their current job, from communication and leadership skills to team management.”

Try it for size

2Volunteering is a good way to experience another sector, according to Jonathan Jenkins, director of ventures at Unltd, a charity. If you want a formal experience, do a secondment, John East, a planning director for Central London at Savills, said: “I was head of planning and transport at Southwark council, but I spent my last six months effectively acting as an in-house consultant for the regeneration arm of the council, which helped to smooth the transition and prepare me for private sector.”

Be realistic

3 Derek Browne, previously an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, said that he researched the not-for-profit market extensively before setting up the social enterprise Entrepreneurs in Action (EIA) in 2003: “It’s easy to get carried away with romantic notions of switching sectors, but I did a lot of research on how the sector works and how it does business,” he said.

Understand the legalities

4 Jonathan Flowers, now a managing partner at Veredus, a recruitment consultancy, moved from NatWest to the London Borough of Lambeth. He said that understanding how decisions are made in the public sector was crucial: “This is public money. Checks and balances are important — and legally enshrined. No one will tell you the legalities because they take them for granted, and so it’s not obvious what you can change by lunchtime and what you can change by an Act of Parliament.”

Be adaptable

5 Shelia Lewis, the founder and managing director of Volanti, a management consultancy, previously worked in the voluntary and public sectors. She said that adaptability was key: “I was working with a small local authority, trying to get them to be more strategic, but I could not impose that on them because they were short-staffed. I had to find different ways of working.”

Identify your passions

6Paul Vousden, the interim director of corporate affairs for Hounslow Primary Care Trust, previously worked in public relations and marketing: “I’m particularly interested in health and social care as a subject, and that can serve as a springboard into a new sector.”

Foster entrepreneurial spirit

7 “Just because you work in the public sector, it doesn’t mean you’re not entrepreneurial,” Mr Vousden said. He pointed to healthcare practitioners who have set up commercial businesses, such as Roisin Isaacs, a former nurse, who made her fortune in the healthcare industry and recently appeared on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire.

Focus on people

8 “Many problems you have to solve — in any sector — are people problems, rather than technical issues,” Ms Husbands said. Mr Browne points to people as your “biggest resource” when making a switch. “Network like crazy. Network with people who are mentors, leaders and thinkers within your [chosen] sector,” he said.

Be prepared to negotiate

9 Switching from the public or voluntary sector to the private sector can mean enjoying benefits such as private healthcare and bonus payments. But in the present financial climate, expect to negotiate over bonuses and salaries. And if you are moving from the private sector into the voluntary sector, non-monetary benefits often can be negotiated. “The third sector has a particular openness to personal development, such as people taking sabbaticals or learning new skills,” Brent Thomas, the director of PrimeTimers, a social enterprise, said.

Don’t burn your bridges

10 “You’ll never know when you’ll need to transfer back,” Mr East said — and having experience in different sectors makes you a more enticing prospect to potential employers. “You can move backwards and forwards between sectors,” John Wood, the interim performance and information director at the South London Healthcare NHS Trust, agreed. “You’re not committed to moving on one direction.”

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