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Transferable Skills: What are they?

Transferable skills are things you have learned from your past jobs and life experiences that can transfer to the job you're seeking. All the things you do on a daily basis- being a parent, coach, volunteer, student, friend, or employee- help you acquire the skills you need to succeed in every job. The trick is being able to portray those skills to employers.

Whenever you apply for a job, your goal is to use your resume, cover letter, and interview to demonstrate to potential employers that you can effectively do the job they're hiring for. If you are moving to a position in the same field, or looking for similar responsibilities, this task can be relatively straightforward. However, if you are trying to make a more drastic career change, or if you have little to no prior work experience, showing an employer that you can do the job becomes a little more challenging.

Skills to Highlight

Marketable Skills

Transferable Skills for Students

Applying Transferable Skills to a Cover Letter

Skills to Highlight

Your resume and cover letter are the first tools you have to describe yourself to an employer. In order to use them effectively, you need to craft them as much as possible to what you know the employer is looking for. Read all job descriptions carefully, and circle or highlight the skills needed for the position. Regardless of what else you might be able to bring to the table, it is most important for you to address as many of these highlighted skills as possible.

When describing your transferable skills in a resume and cover letter, be particularly aware of word choice. Even if your experience seems to align directly to the responsibilities of a position, the more clearly and accurately you can describe this connection, the easier it will be for an employer to pick up on it. In his book From College to Career , Donald Asher demonstrates how resume bullets can be written so that seemingly unrelated work experiences transfer to other jobs, just through the choice of words used to describe responsibilities.

In this example, a women who was a receptionist is connecting her experience to her desired position in finance. Her resume bullets are:

• Proved ability to deal with a wide range of individuals, including high-net-worth investors and institutional money manager, in a stressful and time-sensitive environment
• Gained knowledge of financial markets and instruments, especially stocks, bonds, futures and options

In this example, a women with past experience as a waitress looks like a perfect fit for a job in marketing:

• Act as a "sales representative" for the restaurant, selling add-ons and extras to achieve one of the highest per-ticket and per-night sales averages
• Prioritize and juggle dozens of simultaneous responsibilities
• Have built loyal clientele of regulars in addition to tourist trade
• Use computer daily

In both examples, the job seekers were accurately describing the work experience they had, but using a very specific word choice they were able to prove to the prospective employer that their past experience applied to the open job.

Marketable Skills

If you respond to a generic job posting that doesn't give you a specific list of required skills, there are some universal abilities that your resume and cover letter should include. According to Quintessential Careers (www.quintcareers.com), all marketable job skills fall into five basic categories. These are skills that apply to almost everything we do- from being workers to parents to volunteers- and are helpful to call attention to when you are trying to demonstrate your transferable skills to an employer.

Communication: the skillful expression, transmission and interpretation of knowledge and ideas.

• Speaking effectively
• Writing concisely
• Listening attentively
• Expressing ideas
• Facilitating group discussion
• Providing appropriate feedback
• Negotiating
• Perceiving nonverbal messages
• Persuading
• Reporting information
• Describing feelings
• Interviewing
• Editing

Research and Planning: the search for specific knowledge and the ability to conceptualize future needs and solutions for meeting those needs.

• Forecasting, predicting
• Creating ideas
• Identifying problems
• Imagining alternatives
• Identifying resources
• Gathering information
• Solving problems
• Setting goals
• Extracting important information
• Defining needs
• Analyzing
• Developing evaluation strategies

Human Relations: the use of interpersonal skills for resolving conflict, relating to and helping people.

• Developing rapport
• Being Sensitive
• Listening
• Conveying feelings
• Providing support for others
• Motivating
• Sharing credit
• Counseling
• Cooperating
• Delegating with respect
• Representing others
• Perceiving feelings, situations
• Asserting

Organization, Management and Leadership: the ability to supervise, direct and guide individuals and groups in the completion of tasks and fulfillment of goals.

• Initiating new ideas
• Handling details
• Coordinating tasks
• Managing groups
• Delegating responsibility
• Teaching
• Coaching
• Counseling
• Promoting change
• Selling ideas or products
• Decision making with others
• Managing conflict

Work Survival: the day-to-day skills that assist in promoting effective production and work satisfaction.

• Implementing decisions
• Cooperating
• Enforcing policies
• Being punctual
• Managing time
• Attending to detail
• Meeting goals
• Enlisting help
• Accepting responsibility
• Setting and meeting deadlines
• Organizing
• Making decisions

Students Entering the Workforce

If you have been taking classes for the past few years, you might not have work experience that applies directly to the job you are hoping to get upon graduation. However, that doesn't mean that the skills you needed in school won't help you in the workplace- in fact, you may be a lot more prepared than you think. In her book Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates, Katharine Hansen outlines transferable skills that students acquire exclusively in the classroom.

• Ability to meet deadlines, thrive under deadline pressure : College is full of deadlines. If meeting deadlines is an important skill in the job you seek, address this skill in your cover letter.


• Ability to handle multiple tasks : Remember how all your instructors required simultaneous major papers and projects? Multi-tasking is increasingly valued in the workplace, and your cover letter gives you the chance to boast of your ability to juggle many projects at once.


• Ability to achieve goals : Your good grades are proof of that skill, so do boast about them if they're exemplary. You may have met other goals while in school, too, such as graduating in three years instead of four (which may be why you don't have any job experience). Any goal you've met while in school may also be good to highlight in a cover letter.


• Ability to adapt : Your college years probably gave you your first opportunity to make adult decisions and act independently. How did you handle stumbling blocks and disappointments along the way? The way you rose above difficulties can provide solid examples in your cover letter.


• Writing skills : Jobs that require good writing skills are more common than you probably think they are. If you demonstrated your ability to write well in college, you can highlight that skill in your cover letter. And, of course, your writing talents should be self-evident from the quality of your cover letter as well.


• Research skills : How many people who've been out in the "real world" have research skills that are as fresh and recent as yours? How many know as much as you do about, say, conducting research on the Internet? Probably not many, so for jobs where this ability may be helpful, be sure to emphasize your research skills.

 

Applying Transferable Skills to a Cover Letter

As a job seeker, your cover letter and resume are the first tools you have to demonstrate to potential employers that you possess the skills their open position requires. Making connections between two seemingly unrelated jobs or experiences can seem daunting, but it's not impossible. Katharine Hansen provides the following examples of how students can use just a few sentences to explain how their college-level jobs or experiences prepared them for entry-level professional work.

Server in restaurant seeking entry-level marketing position
In addition to my marketing coursework, I have employed marketing and customer-service skills in the restaurant field. In my most recent position, I marketed appetizers, desserts, and other add-ons to customers and added value to their dining experience. I would like to apply the same sales savvy and interpersonal skills in the marketing position you have open.

Retail associate seeking teaching position
As a sales associate in a retail store, I successfully handled customers' needs every day. To succeed, I had to be a patient and diplomatic problem-solver. Because the same kinds of patience and creative problem-solving are required of teachers, I am confident I will be an effective third-grade teacher at your school.

Office clerk seeking entry-level accounting position
The office clerk job I held every summer throughout college demanded a high degree of organization and detail-orientation. My former employer can affirm that I am fully capable of applying these important skills at your accounting firm. My experience also taught me the importance of fitting into the office culture, and I stand ready to become a contributing member of your team.

Babysitter/nanny seeking position as management trainee
As a former caregiver to three active youngsters, I certainly know the importance of good time management. I've gained that skill, along with exemplary leadership, organizational, and communications talents that would contribute to our mutual success when I join your management trainee program.

Bank teller seeking entry-level position in a stock brokerage
I seized the opportunity in my bank teller position to learn as much as possible about personal finance and investments, while simultaneously honing the "people skills" that are crucial to success as a stockbroker.

Fitness instructor seeking entry-level position in health care
Having worked my way through college as a fitness instructor, I have already demonstrated my commitment to good health. Further, I have developed the solid customer-service skills that would enable me to effectively interact with patients.

Campus computer-lab assistant seeking position in consulting
My work-study position as a computer-lab assistant involved solid knowledge of the technology within the labs, the ability to teach that technology to fellow students, and the skills to assist those who had problems with the software and hardware. To me, that's what consulting is all about - possessing the knowledge to teach and assist clients and the interpersonal skills to do so successfully.

Resident advisor/Resident assistant seeking sales position
I am very excited about contributing my talents in the field of professional selling. I have heard a number of times that sales skills are taught, and there is no such thing as a natural-born salesperson. I couldn't agree more! I have served as a resident advisor for two years, and I was very surprised at how much selling goes on. I have learned quickly that the more you know about your customer, your product, and how to adapt to each situation, the easier the sale becomes. My success in selling my ideas to residents and administrators makes me an ideal candidate for your training program.

Telemarketer/phone survey taker seeking position in hotel management
My work as a telemarketer required me to communicate with a diverse array of people, some of whom represented difficult challenges. I refined my communication skills to the point where I was nearly always able to smooth ruffled feathers, solve problems, and provide satisfaction to customers. These are exactly the skills that are vital to effective hotel management, and I am eager to apply my talents at your hotel.

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