A simple elucidation of transferrable skills is all the random, as well as, professional skills that you have acquired during any activity at any stage in your life. This includes previous jobs, school and college projects, hobbies and interests, sports, even parenting, as you must have noticed. Transferrable skills include virtually any skill which is: (a) transferable and (b) applicable, to your next job! Some of the skills that could be transferred are communication skills, which include expressing your ideas clearly, that lead us to the question whether you have ideas or are you creative? Negotiation skills, persuading skills, ability to work in a team, managing skills etc are all acquired from experiences and candidates possess these virtues if they have faced complicated situations in the past — such situations bring out the best in people. So, whether you’re a fresher or someone pondering over a career change or have chances of facing a lay off from your current job, your transferrable skills will stand you in good stead. Read the following section to know more about what are the possible transferrable skills that are there and how to effectively hone them to grab the golden job!
Transferable Job Skills
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Most of the candidates applying for the same position, that you have set your hopes high against, may be having the same educational qualifications as you. What sets you apart from the rest of the applicants is the set of transferrable skills that you have picked up consciously or unconsciously as you passed different stages in your life.
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Not all the transferrable skills can occur to you when you consciously think about them. For example, when you sit down to edit your resume you might not remember that you have a long and wide friend group. This is called networking skills and every organisation is looking forward to having an employee with a vast network of friends!
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Interpersonal skills, communication skills, time management skills, organization skills, basic computer skills are the common transferrable job skills that can be included in your resume for all job purposes. The reason for that is that these skills are mostly present in all of us.
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Photography skills, budget management skills, knowledge of foreign language, expertise in a specialised and complicated computer language, teaching skills, etc are some of the off-beat transferable skills which you can include in your resume if you are well versed and competent enough.
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It is always best to give some thought and list all those qualities that you have accumulated over the years and which pertain to the kind of job that you are searching for. Rate your level of expertise and attach this to your resume.
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If you have years of work experience behind you and are eager to explore new avenues by switching job profiles then don’t see yourself at a disadvantage. As you must know by now, the job ‘title’ seldom does justice to all the functions and roles that you have to perform in real life. The responsibilities that you have handled all these years can get you brownie points wherever you go. Trouble shooting skills, problem solving abilities, maintaining composure under pressure and meeting deadlines are abilities that grow with time!
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With the progression of your personal, as well as your professional life, your transferrable skills add up as well. It is an ongoing process because once acquired these skills become a part of you and keep growing as your experience grows.
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If you are looking for tips or methods to help you acquire transferrable job skills then try volunteer for training skills workshops at institutions over the weekend or after work. For example, learn a foreign language at the Country’s embassy in your spare time or attend community schools and educational centres that offer certificates for a particular course that you have been eying. You can also enrol for a distance learning programme or an e-learning programme over the internet for a particularly interesting course.
An employee will not only look for marks, degrees and other educational qualifications on your resume, the ultimate clincher will always be the list of transferable skills mentioned. Give due emphasis to this section and see your career graph flying tall and high.
