A Checklist of Transferable Skills

Employers find a great deal of interest in transferable competencies.  And the good news is, you probably have quite a few of these skills. When you apply for a job, it’s worth making the most of them.

So exactly what skills are transferable?

Transferable skills are a core collection of skills and abilities that go beyond a specific job or company – in almost any situation you can use them.  For example, great people skills would be important to your work, whether you are a customer services representative, a carpenter, an executive or an intern.

Transferable skills will help you stand out in your job search for jobs and even make a career change.

Have a look at the list below.  It has been built to help you define your transferable skills and to paint a better image of all the capabilities you can offer.

Organisational and Implementation Skills

These are the skills that help you organise, schedule, and get things done in the workplace. Putting these skills to use in your position is important to employers.  Here are some examples of the consequences of these skills:

• Time Management – Controlling your own time to get the job done. This is particularly useful for fast-paced work environments
• Research and Analytics – Study and data collection, and reviewing, reporting and making recommendations on your results
• Administration and Clerical – Effectively performing activities such as filing, paperwork and correspondence from phone calls or email, plus maintaining appointments and calendars
• Financial Management – Budget preparation and implementation, financial record keeping, fund raising or project management
• Sales and Promoting – Marketing and selling or controlling behaviours, a project or service
• Creative Thinking – Developing new ideas and producing creative approaches to problems
• Planning – Organising yourself, others and using the tools available with a purpose in mind, and building plans for projects and events
• Technology or Digital Literacy – Being able to use modern technologies, systems or resources, and adapting to them quickly.

Communications Skills

Workplaces rely on communication to ensure things run smoothly, and they can benefit from the skills you have here.  These skills may be used to connect to clients – both within the team or business and externally.

• Listening – Not only acknowledging what is conveyed to you, but reading into it and understanding as well
• Writing – This is not inherently creative writing. It is any kind of correspondence involving the written work, such as papers, emails, letters, sales materials, posts etc.
• Face to Face – Engaging in person, including arranging meetings, questions, persuading, negotiating, sharing opinions, plus speaking in public or to audiences.

People Skills

These are the qualities that help you communicate and get along with others – including colleagues, customers and clients.  People skills are especially important to companies as they put growing emphasis on the culture and success of teams.  Here are only a few examples:

• Cooperation – Being able to cooperate, to work together with others and to contribute efficiently to projects or tasks
• Empathy – Putting yourself in the shoes of someone else to try to understand them, or to connect them
• Patience – Willingness to manage challenging circumstances if necessary, repeat procedures, take time to make rational choices, accept delays or persevere
• Flexibility – Willingness to adjust or change approach to a new situation where necessary.

Leadership Skills

Good leaders will inspire and motivate their team. They will make decisions that are best for the company’s needs.

• Prioritisation and Delegation – To be able to step up and assess what needs to be accomplished first, then determine which jobs are needed and who can manage them the best
• Clear Thought and Problem Solving – Look at problems, evaluate them and come up with solutions
• Coaching, Mentoring and Encouragement – to assist and inspire people to accomplish goals, to help them progress through roadblocks and to provide input and performance information.

This is just a list a short list that can help you.  You might be able to come up with more items that relate to you, personally.

Identifying those skills and using them in your profiles and online applications as selling points will help you stand out from the rest.  List these transferable skills in your resume and in your career history, and make sure you include them in your cover letter.

It is also important to think about how you can give examples of different ways you have used such transferable skills.  Be as prepared as you can before going to an interview.