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"Connections and Why They Matter"
Most of what happens in our life will spark a connection. Life connects with what has been found in books. Books connect with what happens in life. Use the connections to help you see more clearly. A love of reading and writing is what motivated the creation of this blog. Thank you for coming to the blog.
Sharpen the saw and polish your skills as suggested by Stephen R. Covey, and study your industry. Take an inventory of all your soft and hard skills to understand what you have. Be sure to identify all the skills required for your job. Determine which of those skills have been allowed to get out of date and are less valuable now. Some of those will be a problem as your industry changes. It is likely time to update and add new skills that complement what you have.
In addition to your current skills, studying the industry will teach you what new skills are also needed in your career focus. Some research will be required. You can use the informational interview approach to determine what you need.
Identify others in the industry doing this, make an appointment to meet with them, and ask what skills they see emerging as necessary in your work. While doing this, learn about their company and point of view and add them to your network of contacts. If something happens that you can see would be of interest, then let your new network contact know and be a resource for them. Networking isn’t just about finding a job. It is also about staying current and connected in your profession. Spend some time fine-tuning your Soft Skills:
Expand your vocabulary
2. Embrace the plain language
3. Defeat your fear of public speaking
4. Improve your writing with practice
5. Perfect your listening skills
6. Practice dignity and respect
7. Stay Current - Know What is New in Your Industry that has Impacted the Skills Needed
In 2023, it was predicted that nearly half of the current workforce skills would become obsolete in just two years, primarily due to advancements in artificial intelligence. (New ways of doing things could also bring the need for new skills)
Key findings: Near-Total Transformation: About 49 percent of existing skills in the workforce today are predicted to be irrelevant by 2025.
LinkedIn can be a resource to see if you have missed some changes. Check out competitors and look at those employed in similar jobs and then at their profiles. What skills do they list? Are some a surprise, or are some the same as yours but with different titles? Are the titles and skills you find just different by name from what you have? Update your skill names, pick skills you need, and train for them.
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 and showcase those skills at work and in your personal life, and prepare to relate them accordingly throughout the hiring process.
“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,” 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,”
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.
Employment cocaches encourage candidates to be strategic about their cover letters. They say 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. 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, whether that’s in your resume, cover letter, or interviews highlight your skills. 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. The more you can speak the language of where you’re going, the better you will position yourself for success in your search.
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.
There is nothing new about the ideas behind Stephen Covey’s 7th habit that he wrote about in his 1989 book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. His message was that we should disconnect from the outer world to take time and recharge our batteries.
From Lincoln’s comment that If he had six hours to chop down a tree, he would spend the first four hours sharpening the ax, anyone who has ever chopped down a tree knows, of course, that time spent sharpening the ax is well worth it and will save more time than it costs. Dull axes mean you don't chop but instead just pound and pound. Time spent pounding suggests that recharging one’s batteries and rethinking would be wise.
Whether or not you are out of work, your skills have become dated. A close examination of your skills would be timely and before you draw any conclusions, remember: You don't know what you don't see, so you need to study your industry. Find out what is new. Find out what the competition is doing. Never stop learning.
