How to Get Your Transferable Skills Working For You
Author: Nicky J. Davies |
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Categories: Career Reset
When you find yourself in a job that you know is not where you want to be, what do you do? Well, first you start with identifying where you want to be. Get clarity on what it is you do want in your next job and create a bridge from where you are now to where you want to be. There are two tricks to this and they are related:
Trick Number 1: look at your skills as being transferable and to successfully do this you need to change the language and untie the skills from your current job role and industry.
Trick Number 2: look at any job description in your new career area and see the skill requirements there also untied to the industry or job role.
Research from Korn Ferry International has shown that 85% of skills are transferable from job to job. The problem is we tie our language of what we are doing to our CVs and to our interview stories, and then people just can't see it because we're not presenting those skills neutrally.So, what you need to be able to do is be able to communicate this effectively to recruiters. There will be core skills that all employers value and include:
People skills – your ability to communicate, motivate and lead a team, or successfully coach/mentor or train people.
Technical skills – knowledge of particular computer programs, practical skills to construct or repair things.
Data skills – good record keeping, detailed statistical analysis or research skills.
Go through your working day or week and do a quick analysis of what your tasks actually involve. How many are people related; how many have to do with data or technical expertise?
This will help you focus on identifying skills you may not have even known you had. Don't ignore things that come as second nature to you and that you don't necessarily see as key attributes - they might be of priceless value to a potential employer. As you go through this process, write each skill down and compare it to your findings from your job specifications for roles you are interested in. There's a high chance that you will already have provable experience called for by virtually any job.
The 'provable' factor here is very important. It's obviously not enough to say "I'm a great manager" or "I'm really good with figures". You want to be able to tell a series of stories about your accomplishments and the use of these transferable skills, without the industry specific or job role jargon. For example, how you managed a team of 6 people, got them to a point where they were working really well together and not only achieved set goals but also saved the organisation 10% on operating expenses year on year. From this you may have a question about how you achieved such results, and you can answer with how you communicated, motivated and delegated key responsibilities to build the team to a point where they were delivering these results. All of this without using any industry or job role jargon.
So, take the time to identify your transferable skills, listen them in your CV or resume, and come up with jargon free stories of achievements around the job specification you are applying for.
Before I set up my own business I transitioned from hotel and catering management to education to public health to psychology and therapy to organistional development. For one of those roles I re-trained in my own time, the rest were using transferable skills. And each role was a promotion so I always had a rise in salary despite them being very different industries. You can do the same.
By just being aware of your transferable skills and communicating in a way that is free of industry and job role specific jargon you are way ahead of the game. This gives you the confidence you are looking for when applying for jobs in other industries and will certainly mean you are more successful with your applications and interviews. If you would like some help with this, book a Breakthrough Session call with me using the link below.
Nicky works with managers who are looking to make a mid-career change, helping them make the changes needed to fall back in love with their lives.
CLICK HERE to book a Breakthrough Session call with me so we can identify what a great next step would be for you.