Transferable skills are incredibly important, now more than ever, for any job seeker trying to find work or change their career path. Transferable skills are exactly what they sound like: the skills that you use in every job, no matter the title or the field.
No matter what you learned in school, or at a previous job, these skills are what every worker gain from each career experience. This includes volunteer work, internships, freelance jobs and more. These skills are ones you can use in any professional setting.
Here is how you can identify your transferable skills.
1. Take out your titles.
Remove the title of your last job and ask yourself: What was it that you really did, at the highest level? When you remove the title, you can see your skills more clearly.
Identify both your soft skills and hard skills. Do you understand the difference between the two? Soft skills are teamwork, communication, leadership, etc. Hard skills are things like project management, expertise in a particular software, etc.
Soft skills are typically the most transferable between jobs, so be sure to write a list of your top soft skills. Write down your hard skills and identify which skills are transferable beyond your industry.
2. Let go of your industry.
During this pandemic, a lot of those who were laid off are seeking work in different industries. Considering a new career today often means looking into a new industry. Releasing the identity that comes with the industry you previously worked with, allows you to move forward without restrictions. Identifying your transferable skills will also help you move into a new industry.
3. You always have other options.
The task of identifying transferable skills and letting go of the industry you may have spent decades in and perhaps consider yourself an expert in, is hard. For some people, it may feel downright impossible to do. But you must remind yourself that you always have other options. It may look like there is only one direction for your career, but when the career game has changed, you must look again. Are you still using the job seeking rules of the past to find your future career?
4. Remove the emotions and reflect.
Have you ever gone into a situation without any prior history and it turned out ok? Life is filled with experience that we have never had before. Reinvention can look tough at first, until you understand that humans are wired to reinvent. Despite your feelings, you can identify and do new things based on the transferable skills you already possess.
If you are struggling to find and identify your skills, consider talking to the MOLARI recruiting specialists who have decades of experience in career coaching and job placement. We are here to help you navigate this new job market and find your next job.