So you’re looking to find a new career or start your own side hustle. What’s the best way to stand out? Use your transferable skills.
What are transferable skills? These are skills that you’ve developed throughout your entire career that travel with you (or transfer) to a new company, new role, or new side hustle.
This is the added value, only you can bring.
For many, transferable skills can be a bit ambiguous or unsure how to highlight them. Using the list below you can identify which ones fit you and how to make them your selling point.
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Examples of transferable skills:
Decision Making
These are skills that demonstrate the way you go about making critical and sometimes difficult decisions. This is often process-based thinking that requires several steps including identifying opportunities, evaluating outcomes and then making a decision.
- Emotional intelligence (EQ)
- Attention to detail
- Conflict resolution
Situational
More often than not, these are planners. People who are comfortable with ambiguity, looking into the future and having things change frequently. Situations change often, those who are situational in their thinking can often demonstrate a way forward and provide direction for the rest of the team.
- Project management
- Adaptability
- Defining needs
- Planning
Interpersonal
Leaders are often associated with high positions and top-tier titles. While that may be true, leaders are also those who are frequently approached by colleagues with questions about career advancement, those who are eager to serve as coaches or create safe-spaces for conversation.
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Strong listener
- Relationship-building
Finances
Numbers can be terrifying for many. Understanding spreadsheets, projections, forecasts and inputting data are things many would rather run away from. For those who love numbers, being able to put them into a story and educate others is a skill that will take you far.
- Budget storytelling
- Software training
- Grant writing
- Risk assessment
Vision
Entrepreneurs are frequently praised for their vision and ability to get people energized about their product, service or mission. But buying into a vision requires skills to convey that excitement, any of the below skills are valuable transferable skills that help you in almost every facet of your career.
- Leadership
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Public Speaking
Business
Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or own your own business, there are key skills that help you build a team, secure sales, create marketing plans and gain employees. These skills cross functions and will set you up for success as you build your empire.
- Teamwork
- Negotiation
- Facilitating group discussions
- Interviewing
Strategy
Achieving a goal takes a strategy. Building out a strategy requires skills that push boundaries, force new ways of thinking and defines outcomes. If you are someone who can create that plan which is easy to understand and simple to follow, your value to the team and organization can be immeasurable.
- Critical Thinking
- Problem solving
- Creating roadmaps
- Results-oriented
Why are transferable skills in demand?
As a candidate your experience will get you an interview, your transferable skills will get you hired.
These are the individual-specific skills that you bring with you from experiences you’ve gained throughout your career. You already have them, your new role or side hustle will benefit from them, which means your value increases.
Being able to highlight transferable skills on your resume and during interviews is a critical part of maximizing the value of these skills.
Everyone has transferable skills, though not everyone is skilled in speaking about them and framing them appropriately.
Identifying stories that demonstrate your experiences and highlights how your transferable skills will set you a part from all other candidates will be key in landing that next gig. Being able to share those examples in short, well rehearsed stories will be the differentiator between you and everyone else.
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How do you showcase your transferable skills on your resume?
According to LiveCareer, 57% of people don’t know how to demonstrate these skills to get them past algorithms. So how do you make them stand out?
- Give them headline status – commit to finding room on your resume to highlight your skills and your proficiency in them.
- Optimize skill keywords – you have more transferable skills than you think. Choose wisely to fit the position and the job posting.
- Prepare a story – if you’ve listed a transferable skill, be prepared to be asked about it. Identify and rehearse a concise story that highlights how you used the skill and the outcome from it.
At the end of the day, transferable skills are the ones that will advance your career, allow you to change industries, find new paths, create a side hustle and set yourself apart from others.
Spend time reflecting about which skills you bring to the table, prepare some talking points for yourself and then shine in your next interview.
