How Do You Showcase Your Transferable Skills in Your Job Hunt?
Brent Jones
For job seekers, transferable skills can be your ticket to proving that you’re the right candidate for the role. After identifying the transferable skills you need to succeed in your next job, consider how you’ve demonstrated those skills at work and in your personal life, and prepare to relate them accordingly throughout the hiring process, Smith says.
“Don’t be afraid to showcase the journey of how you’ve acquired and utilized these skills throughout your career, inside and outside of the office,” Owens says. Your LinkedIn profile, resume, cover letter, interview, website, and any networking opportunities are all places you can highlight these skills to show why you are the best person to hire.
Adding critical transferable skills in your LinkedIn headline or “About” section About” section on LinkedIn is an essential step to being discovered by recruiters or hiring managers. Pro tip: The skills section on LinkedIn is keyword searchable, so be sure your top three skills are relevant to where you want to go!
On your resume, designating a skills section can pay off in more ways than one. “Giving the transferable skills their own real estate on the resume will make it easier for employers using key search words and shine a spotlight on your areas of strength,” Owens says. She also suggests that soft skills, such as problem-solving and multitasking, can be included, as long as they aren’t too general (e.g., “people skills”) and align with the role’s requirements. It would help if you also expanded on how you’ve used your transferable skills in the bullet points describing your past jobs and other experiences.
Though skills sections commonly go on the bottom of a resume page, you might consider moving yours up if you want to lead with your transferable skills. You also have multiple resume format options to choose from. Entry-level and career-changer candidates may decide that a combination resume (or even a functional one combinationcombination resume (or even a functional resume)—which gives space to detail your skills front and center—is best for them. In contrast, candidates with relevant work experience may opt for a chronological resume.
Smith also encourages candidates to be strategic about their cover letters. She says it is the perfect place to tell a story about how you plan to leverage your transferable skills to add value to the team.
You should also create an elevator pitch around how you’ve shown your abilities in the areas most crucial for your next role. For example, if you’re looking for a job where leadership is essential, you might craft your spiel around instances when you demonstrated that skill—both in and out of the office. Maybe you took the lead on training new hires at your last company, or you manage a recreational softball league on the weekends. Then, use your elevator pitch in networking opportunities or an interview. If there’s a specific job description to reference, you can frame your elevator pitch around it.
Interviews are also an opportunity to use the job description to anticipate the skills the hiring managers will be likely to ask about, Smith says. You can practice your elevator pitch and answers to common interview questions, so they include how you leveraged your transferable skills to achieve results.
Throughout every stage of the application process, “be sure to reflect the tone and language from the job description,” Smith says, whether that’s in your resume, cover letter, or interviews. “For example, if you are highly independent and have a knack for getting the job done without direction, and the job description asks for someone self-motivated—use the wording ‘self-motivated’ versus ‘independent,’” she says. “The more you can speak the language of where you’re going, the better you will position yourself for success in your search.”
What Are Some Examples of Transferable Skills?
Here are some examples to get you thinking about your transferable skills. Remember, this list isn’t exhaustive, and many skills can be mobile if they’re relevant to the next step in your career.
Communication Skills
Communication skills help you exchange information with people inside and outside your company. The ability to get your point across well will be relevant in any role where you have to interact with people or create or present content on behalf of or to your team or company.
Content Writing/Development/Creation
Editing
Grant Writing
Language Proficiencies
Phone Screening
Proposal Writing
Public Speaking
Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills help you work well with team members, managers, direct reports, clients, and stakeholders. If your job requires interacting with people in any way, these are likely to be highly important.
Business Development
Client/Account Management
Collaboration
Conflict Management and Resolution
Customer Service
Partnership Development
Process Development
Relationship Building
Sales Skills
Teamwork
Leadership Skills
How you have exercised your ability to manage and lead can set you apart and are also industry-fluid.
Change Management
Company Culture Leadership
Employee Training and Development Facilitation
Mentorship Skills
Team Management or Leadership
People Management
Project/Program/Operations Management
Strategy Leadership
Talent Acquisition/Hiring Committee Leadership
Other Soft Skills
These talents and strengths can tell your future employer where you shine outside the job’s technical requirements.
Adaptability
Agility
Attention to Detail
Creative Thinking
Goal Setting
Independence/Self-Motivation
Innovation
Multitasking
Organization
Problem Solving
Resourcefulness
Time Management
Technical and Task-Oriented Skills
The tools and tasks you are proficient in could add value to your next opportunity, regardless of industry.
Accounting
Adobe Creative Suite
Bookkeeping
Content Management Systems (such as WordPress, Drupal, and Squarespace)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software (such as Salesforce)
Database Management
Equipment Installation
Google Analytics
Graphic Design
HTML/CSS
Ideation and Concepting
Microsoft Office Suite: With software this broad, you might want to do specific tasks such as making pivot tables, creating macros, performing data analysis in Excel, or creating presentations in PowerPoint.
Project Management and Collaboration Software (such as Trello, Asana, Jira, Slack, and G Suite)
Reporting and Analysis Skills
Social Media Management and Scheduling
SEO
Professional Certifications: Certifications often speak to skills that can be transferable to other industries, such as Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications indicating that someone has project management skills, organization skills, and leadership skills. Credentials like Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) or Google Analytics Individual Qualification can prove you’re an expert in the skills they’re named for.