May 2010

When you're searching for a new job or making a career switch, one of the smartest things you can do is determine your transferable skills. These are abilities, like paying attention to detail, that are not specific to one type of job. They are something you learned in one context that you can apply to another. Being able to extract transferable skills, means you can submit resumés for jobs that you don’t have direct experience in.

Even if you don't have an extensive work history, it's likely you've developed abilities that are applicable to a number of jobs. Athletic activities, volunteer jobs, school, or family life can be a goldmine of transferable skills. So take a trip down your past, writing down activities you have done and listing beside them the skills you have used. To give you a head start, here's a shortlist of some of the most useful transferable skills.

Communication
Have you ever given a presentation in front of a group of people? Dealt with customer complaints or acted as the spokesperson for a community group? Do you write a blog or have you ever sent letters to the editor? If you've answered yes to any of these, it’s possible that you have great communication skills.

Leadership
Demonstrate ways you have taken action and achieved positive results. If you've taken on an initiative (set up a green bin program, organized a 40th birthday party) you may be a leader. Community activities like organizing neighbours to save an old building shows you have vision and can successfully enlist the help of others to achieve a goal.

Team Work
Playing baseball, doing a group science project, or joining the committee that set up the above-mentioned green bin, are all valid examples of teamwork. The ability to get along with others and work with them to complete a shared goal, shows that you can collaborate with colleagues and have emotional maturity to boot.

Analytical/Problem Solving
Not just for Sherlock Holmes, logical thinking involves being able to draw specific conclusions from a given situation or to devise a plan of action based on predictable outcomes. For example, if you've ever gotten your team out of a crisis (an unexpected deadline), it's possible that you have that extra sense that helps you to foresee problems and solve them as you go along -- even if thrown a curveball (a deadline on top of a deadline!).

Organizational
You probably have good organizational skills if you never run out of toilet paper, arrange your wardrobe according to colours, and don't have to scramble around looking for those pesky T4s during tax season. You may be messy -- but you know where everything is. Organizational skills are great for office careers, but they're also useful in other jobs that deal with keeping things in order. Carpenters, for instance, do need to know where to find their tools.

Flexibility
Flexibility in this context is less about being able to twist your body into a pretzel and more about how you respond to change -- a constant in this Twitternet age. Have you lived through an office renovation or been part of a team that was supervised by someone new every month? Being able to adapt easily to change instead of being thrown off by it, is sure to come in handy at any workplace.

Time Management Skills
Did you constantly bug your teachers for an extension or were you the type who handed in your assignments before they were due? If you were the latter, make it known to potential employers -- it's proof you can deliver a project on time. (For those of you who could bone up on time management skills, which include prioritizing, setting goals and focusing, check out Dumb Little Man's 11 Tips.)

Computer Literacy
Although not every job requires computer skills, these days most paid work requires at least some familiarity with computers. Make sure you let employers know that you're up-to-date with essential computer programs. Being computer literate is a must-have, according to Kathy Freeland, author of Navigating Your Way To Business Success. "We live in a technologically advanced world, and many of the processes that were formerly done manually are now automated," she says in this article.

Numerical
If you've ever worked as a cashier, planned a budget for your family, or completed your taxes, you have experience with numbers. In fact, numerical skills involve anything that consists of counting (budget), calculating (saving for vacation!), measuring (buying carpeting) and estimating (figuring out how much food you’ll need each week for your family of six).

Creativity
Bring on your talents! Since not everyone can paint or write or play the harmonica, let your prospective employers know that you are special. Give examples of how you've used your talents in the past (created your own Christmas cards) and how they may be useful in your new career (you can design a poster to announce an upcoming barbeque). Parents who have made a last-minute Halloween costume out of something they had around the house have displayed not only creativity but innovation and problem solving too.

If you want some help capturing skills you have attained throughout your life, take a look at NextSteps.Org's handy checklist.