Transferable skills

Many skills and competencies are transferable from one work situation to another and you will need to be able to both identify and sell these to prospective employers.

Transferable skills are the general abilities you develop that are useful across a range of different jobs and industries. They might be role-related, technical or general. If you know you don’t have a huge amount of experience, it’s still possible to bag your ideal job by identifying which of your skills are transferable and therefore valuable. Once you have identified them you need to emphasise them when you make applications.

What are some of the key transferable skills?

As well as numeracy ICT and good communication skills, most employers will be looking for:

• Commitment and motivation
• Interpersonal skills: can you relate with others and form good working relationships?
• Self-awareness: knowing your strengths and weaknesses
• Management and leadership
• Decision-making ability
• Organisation, research and thinking ahead

Employers everywhere value these skills because they mean you can solve problems and satisfy customers. Good interpersonal skills and organisational ability are probably the most important abilities you can offer, along with high energy and the enthusiasm to work as a part of a team.

Don’t forget the essentials:

• Punctuality
• Good time management
• Attention to detail
• Ability and willingness to enlist help when necessary
• Willingness to accept responsibility

You can develop all of these in just about any role. If you’re just starting out in the job market, you can explain how you developed them during your education or as part of hobbies and activities. To get a better idea of the requirements employers are looking for, look at adverts for the sort of jobs you’re interested in. See what skills are mentioned: which do you have and which do you need to work on?

Helpful jobsite:

• https://www.gov.uk/jobsearch
• http://www.monster.co.uk/
• http://www.fish4.co.uk/