Transferable skills can help you succeed in any profession or job. These skills are very desirable by employers and can make you employable in any industry.
Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in your career? Every waking day is a nightmare to go to work and the only thing pushing you are the bills waiting for you at the end of the month. You definitely need a change of jobs and the first place to start is to identify your transferable and marketable skills.
You might feel as if there is no hope and that you’re stuck in that unpleasant job enduring a boring routine that you’ve repeated for years. But there’s hope and you will find the job of your dreams, and the first step is identifying your transferable skills.
The following are examples of transferable skills that employers lust over
Communication
As you look to move into a new job or into a whole new industry, you need to know how to communicate. Communication is a marketable skill that cuts across all industries. No work will be done, nor will there be any progress if communication lines are blurred or non-existent.
Communication has four primary facets. There is verbal communication which entails speaking to each other in empathetic, respectful tones. The other facet that goes hand in hand with verbal communication is listening. You need to develop the ability to listen to understand before you respond. Often people listen to respond and do not understand the gist of the conversation. As a result, they never solve any problems or conflicts.
Listening keenly is also important because you won’t miss crucial details, especially if you’re being given instructions on how to do something or a task that your boss wants to be completed.
Multitasking
Basically, multitasking is the ability to handle different tasks simultaneously and do it effectively. This ultimately saves a lot of time and costs.
Would you be able to handle two or three projects at a time effectively and there will be no gaps? If the answer is yes, congratulations! You’re a hot cake in the labor market. This is the mind of a business owner. “How can I accomplish this project in good time and with minimal costs?”.
First, you need to be multi-skilled so that you can be a good multitasker. Take courses that are particularly relevant to the field that you want to get into. Additionally, to multitask effectively you need to master organization, prioritization, and good time management skills. Every working day you need to lay out what you need to achieve. Formulate a good plan, execute it, review it and then repeat it the next day.
Critical thinking
Problems are a part of our daily life. In fact, all that you need to do to encounter problems is just wake up in the morning and go about your business. The workplace is no exception. There is a myriad of problems and that’s why people get into business. Critical thinking is the ability to peel the layers of a challenge like an onion so that you can solve it.
This transferable skill helps you analyze a problem, define it and prescribe appropriate solutions. Then with the available resources, they’ll tackle that challenge. A critical thinker asks critical questions and examines the most appropriate solutions while ignoring the least important ones.
Creativity, invention and innovation
You need to be creative and innovative in your problem-solving. Creativity is the ability to come up with new and imaginative ideas and turn them into reality. Innovation is the process of turning new concepts and ideas into assets that bring in revenue. Invention is the creation of new ideas, concepts or strategies.
Teamwork
This is an important marketable skill. When you get hired you become part of a team and is required to gel with your new teammates well and accomplish set goals. To be an effective team player you need to be a good communicator and you also need developed soft skills.
Soft skills such as empathy, listening and conflict resolution will help you become a team player that everyone wants in their team.
As a team player, you also need to have a cultured work ethic. Someone who has a good work ethic does their best to play their assigned role. When everyone plays their role the team moves seamlessly. It’s also hard to entrust a person who doesn’t know how to work well in a team because their people skills can’t be trusted.
Leadership
Can your supervisor trust you with a leadership role? Leadership is different from management. Harvard Business Review defines management as controlling a group or set of entities to accomplish a goal. On the other hand, leadership refers to an individual’s ability to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute toward organizational success.
A leader is someone who has a personal touch with their subjects and they’re human enough to guide their team behind a common vision. And when things become tough and people are almost giving up, they motivate them and inspire them to push against the opposition and see past the immediate darkness. No employer would say no to a person who has such a marketable skill. And they have demonstrated it in their work experience.
How to assess your transferable skills
Do an online search
Analyze yourself and take stock of what your boss and colleagues have said about you. It wouldn’t hurt to ask them what they see you’re good at. Go online and search for opportunities that are looking for skills that you already possess.
Later on, you can look at job opportunities to help you identify jobs that need the skills that you possess. The report can also reveal to you how you can improve and update your skills and expertise so that you can be relevant to the field you’re interested in. Usually, job advertisements have a section called desirable skills. Pay attention to that category because it will give you an edge.
Speak to friends and networks in the field you desire
Don’t stop there, look for friends and networks who are in this particular field. Ask them what skills you need and how you can leverage the ones that you already have.
Self-assessment tests
Secondly, you can also take self-assessment tests online. They’ll help you identify your interests, natural strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. It’s famously referred to as the SWOT analysis. Take some time to study and research transferable skills and develop the ones that you feel you don’t have.
