If you are a college student, a recent graduate, or even an experienced professional, you have skills that are transferable to many types of roles. You need to understand what they are and how to leverage these to new positions and industries.
What are transferable skills?
It is a skill you use in one role or industry that would be useful to another type of role or different industry. Transferable skills can include hard skills (generally technical or functional skills) or soft skills (generally your strengths and character traits). You have developed these skills over time whether from past jobs, volunteer roles, sports involvement, hobbies, and beyond. You need to be able to highlight these and market yourself when applying to new jobs.
To identify your own transferable skills, think about what you are using in your current job or internship and look at job descriptions to see what qualifications are listed for jobs in which you want to apply. Remember to think about those hard and soft skills, but don’t forget your interpersonal skills. These are skills you might not realize you have. You just think this is just who I am, but it doesn’t always come as easily to others. These can be extremely valued in the workplace.
How do I include these on my resume?
Include these in your summary statement at the top of your resume, or even add a skills section in your resume and include them there. Don’t forget to include them in the bullet points describing your experiences.
For college students or those with less experience in the workplace, reflect on the skills you utilize on a regular basis within your network of friends, professors, bosses (examples could include being proactive, organization, attention to detail, communication, time management, adaptable, critical thinking). The list is endless but focus on the skills which are required for the positions that interest you.
When you can correlate your purpose and passion in your career, it can be very rewarding. You might think a certain job is not attainable, but it might not be as far off as you think.
