Transferable Skills
As a recent graduate with little or no work experience in need of a professional experience, showing a prospective recruiter or employer that you possess certain transferable skills can position for your first job. Transferable skills have become as important as technical skills, as these skills are often asked or checked by many organisations during the job application and interview. These transferable skills are specific skillsets that can be transferred between jobs and utilised in many ways.
Transferable skills can be developed as you progress through employment or training. Here are other benefits of transferable skills to both employers and employees:
- Portability: By nature, transferable skills can be easily taken with you when you change jobs. Asides from the fact that they become better with time, it is also easy to develop new skills.
- Diversity: The more skills you possess, the more the number of skills you can use in any role.
- Employability: Highlighting transferable skills relevant to an organisation’s job description shows that you can meet their fit into their company culture, and this increases your chances of getting a job.
What are some examples of transferable skills?
Transferable skills vary depending on the sector. For instance, communication and ability to work in a team are required of a retailer unlike leadership skills in the case of a manager. The few lines below summarized some important skills invariably desired by employers:
- Communication: Strong verbal, listening and written communication is one of the most important skills an employer looks out for. In the corporate world, there are times you must articulate your thoughts and ideas to other people so that they can have a better understanding of your work.
- Teamwork: Although working in a team environment can be challenging, it is important to any organization as it allows the combination of different creative ideas and experiences. This in turn enables improvement of other skills like communication.
- Problem-solving: This is the ability to think outside the box for a solution whenever a problem arises. Effective problem-solvers do not focus on the negative results while trying to uncover the barriers affecting the team’s success.
- Time-management: This refers to carrying out your tasks promptly. Effective time management means keeping track of your deadlines and minimising or eradicating distractions.
- Leadership: This involves embracing teamwork and empowering others to learn or grow. Effective leadership requires delegation of responsibilities, planning different tasks, and a combination of some other skills.
- Technological literacy: in this present age, virtually every job role requires the use of technology. Technological literacy has to do with the ability of an individual working independently or in a team to navigate technology.
While trying to include these transferable skills on your resume, it is important to highlight these skills in the professional summary or skills section and make sure they are skills relevant to the job description and/or organisation. When writing your cover letter, write about how you have utilized the relevant skills in your previous job or past experiences or exposures.
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