While checking out job postings, skimming through the job description to find out if you are a perfect fit is a must-do. However, scaling through this stage can be a bit tricky. Sometimes, the job descriptions shut the door in your face. But, do you know you can tailor your skills to suit any job? To do that is a no-brainer. The fact is, landing a job will seem like a catch-22 if you are clueless about your most attractive weapon; Transferable skills.
I bet the main question on your mind is: what are transferable skills? Here’s the short answer: your greatest asset in the professional world. This probably got you confused. Let’s run you through some transferable skills definitions for more clarity.
What are Transferable skills
Transferable skills, aka “Portable skills,” are skills or abilities relevant to all fields. Simply put, these skills are the foundation of any successful career. You can acquire them through past working experience, internships, volunteering, or even hobbies. Skills like communication and writing are examples of portable skills. The good news is: they are in high demand because of their versatility.
So, with experience in sales, you can land a job in product marketing. If you know how to harness these skills, you will easily slice through the barriers any job description may create. Let me show you how.
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Soft Transferable Skills Vs Hard Transferable Skills
These versatile skills are classified into two main types; hard and soft.
Hard portable skills are skills that are pertinent to specific industries or fields. For instance, a coding experience might be irrelevant to a social worker. Examples of Hard portable skills are:
- Software proficiency
- Experience in Management
- Typing
Soft transferable skills are held in high esteem by employers. They are flexible abilities that are pertinent to effective delivery in any field or line of employment. Some soft skills are:
- Ability to adapt
- Communication
- Creative problem solving
- Organizational abilities.
No rule states that you must be vast in both hard and soft portable skills, but it’s desirable. Hard skills represent specific abilities peculiar to the technical aspect of a field. On the flip side, Soft skills are generic personal skills.
What Transferable Skills Are Important
Even though this article’s scope hardly covers a very detailed list of transferable skills, I decided to curate the most important ones. Yea, you are welcome! Let’s just say all skills are equal, but some are more equal than others!
You probably have some of these skills at varying degrees while others are still in view (don’t worry! You can develop them). Here is a list of the important portable skills to amass.
- Creativity: Getting Ideas is different from being creative. While one only makes your problem more glaring, the other strategically bring solutions to life. You will need more than ideas to get employed at the drop of a hat. A creative mind attracts employers as flowers entice bees.
- Teamwork: The professional world is a conglomerate of people working together to achieve an aim and, of course, make money. If your teamwork game is weak, then you need to get it fixed. Employers will expect you to work efficiently with different people from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. The drill is: the team’s success is all that matters irrespective of your differences.
- Communication: This is a different ball game entirely. You either have this skill or knock yourself out trying to acquire it (not literally!). Communication skill is multifaceted and has 4 supportive skills embedded in it; verbal, technological communication skills, writing and listening.
- Critical thinking: Employers are in search of problem-solving machines on two legs. Here’s the deal, you should be able to solve problems In three stages; make a diagnosis, proffer a solution, and apply it. This right here is how to win the best employee of the century!
- Multitasking: I honestly didn’t understand the concept of multitasking until recently. It isn’t really about being a superman and getting multiple things done at once(without focus). Multitasking is about excellent organization and proficient time management skills.
Set your priorities, organize your day, and watch yourself cover more ground with ease. This had better be one of the transferrable skills on a resume because it’ll catch any employer’s attention.
- Technical: If you fancy staying employable, you need to be technologically competent. Technology has crept in and swept all tackiness under the rug. The truth is, no field is anti-technological. To stay employable, arm yourself with the transferable technical skills held in high esteem in your professional field.
- Leadership: a little bit of all the other skills will enhance your leadership skills. Assuming responsibility, a smooth work relationship with your team and proffer solutions will earn you followers. You should be able to take charge of situations and stay in control.
These skills will not only help you stay employable but will also make you promotable. So remember to include the development or grooming of these portable skills on your to-do list.
How to Highlight Transferable Skills on Resume
It’s not enough to just have the skills; you need to be able to showcase transferable skills on your CV. While applying for jobs, you have to adopt a game plan. The most effective one is presenting yourself as a picture-perfect candidate for the job. How do you achieve that? It would help if you customized your CV for any position you apply for.
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Don’t just make a long list of all your portable skills and dump them on your CV. Select the proficiencies similar to the position you are applying for. Tailor-make your CV in such a way that your employer will not doubt the relevancy of your abilities to the job in question.
Scrutinize the job description and fish out the skills in demand; write out your core skills as well. Identify ones that are relevant to the position. There is nothing wrong with picking out different skills from a single work or internship experience. Don’t overdraw your transferrable skills; be sincere.
You have ample opportunity to make your resume as convincing as possible. Showcasing your transferable skills on a resume is the real deal. To achieve this, you can employ the well-known STAR technique to pinpoint the advantage your transferable skills will offer your employer.
STAR means Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Delineate a situation, state the task you needed to complete, explain the actions you took and conclude with the result. This method emphasizes a stronger connection to the position in question.
Conclusion
Applying for jobs is tedious, and it gets even more frustrating when a failed attempt to land a job dumps you in dire straits. It takes even more courage to apply for a job that seems a little out of the box for your experience. Once you learn how to show transferable skills on your resume, you’ll have more competitive benefits than you give yourself credit for. It’s time to dust your resume, make it custom-made for that job posting and apply! This might just be the missing icing on your cake! So, what skill do you feel could land you that dream job? Let’s hear from you.
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