Transferable Skills for Resumes

By Clare Malcolm
May 12th 2021

Transferable Skills for Resumes

Transferable skills are often those inadvertent activities you do on a day-to-day basis that you may have missed recognising as an essential and vital aspect of what you offer to a prospective employer.

Seek offers a ‘Transferable Skills Checklist’ which is an ideal starting point to give serious consideration to what abilities you have and are perhaps missing out on highlighting in your resume that could tip the balance in your favour when vying for that job you are aspiring to.

Whether your first job was at McDonald’s or the local fish and chip shop you quickly developed the capacity for time management if you were reliable in showing up to your shifts and juggling your workload.

Time Management is an integral part of business operations and employees who can effectively manage their own time, coordinate their own workload and deliver results in a timely manner are a true asset to any organisation.

Research and Analytics are another skill set considered transferable and given the cyber world in which we now all live, utilising these skills has become second nature to most people who are adept at exploring and investigating the world through their smart phone or tablets and then interpreting what they discover into meaningful content be it for personal or professional use.

Think about the last bit of research you undertook via that magical world of Google and how much you discovered and learnt along the way. It is easy to take for granted just how much new information is at our fingertips.  Don’t underestimate the capacity you have to delve into a topic and harness knowledge from it which you can then interpret and present.

Administration and Clerical skills are fundamentals to every business, be that handling communications through email, phone calls and daily interactions, managing a diary or processing paperwork and allocating it efficiently.

These are highly likely key, essential and extremely transferable skills you have and utilise daily in making your current role a success.  Do not fail to mention in your resume your capacity for delivering on the administrative tasks of any role for which you are applying because this will be a basic requirement in delivering the job to a high degree of satisfaction for the organisation.

Particularly, present yourself as a strong communicator.  There are few jobs in today’s connected world that do not require interaction with others for you to be effective. Owning your ability to communicate proudly and highlighting it loudly on your application will help you stand apart from other applicants.

Creative and critical thinking are also skills that are often overlooked by people trying to present their best self to a prospective employer, but they are often a motivation for a company in advertising for new staff, to bring new blood into its operations and that means delivering fresh ideas and new ways of working.

Demonstrating your skill set as a creative and critical thinker is an opportunity to set yourself beyond the pack and present to the potential employer the additional advantage of gaining fresh insights, delving into new concepts and ideas and exploring new perceptions of change, development opportunities and alternative ways of working that may well be highly impactful.

Employing a new face with fresh ideas into a business is as exciting an opportunity for the employer as it is for the candidate and bringing the ability to think creatively and critically is going to establish you as someone offering that little bit extra.

There are also attributes, that if you own them, are worth noting as part of the process of selling yourself as the ideal candidate.  These include aspects of your personality such as being empathetic, cooperative and flexible which often translates into you being a great team member.  These abilities will showcase you as someone who can adapt, adjust and work inclusively within the organisation.

Team harmony is a critical element of business success.  Just ask any HR professional who has dealt with conflict in a team environment how overwhelmingly destructive this can be to morale, output and the achievement of business outcomes.  Conflict is a disaster for business so demonstrating your skill set as a harmonising force who can go with the flow and bring a cooperative spirit will be a welcome addition to any organisation and give you a definite head start as a preferred candidate.

This has been but a snapshot of the abilities that are perceived as necessary to do a job well and we challenge you to think about what your transferable skills are and how you can represent them on paper to highlight yourself as a standout, star performer who brings so much to the interview table that they simply cannot turn you down.

Executive Agents’ personalised service includes a detailed conversation with you about who you are and what you do and is designed to assist in identifying those transferable skills you may have overlooked when focussed on a job advertisement or position description but that may well be the edge you need to secure that longed-for opportunity.

Do not underestimate how much you have to offer a new employer and let us help you identify the strengths you already own to enable you to present your very best self.

Be brave and venture into this new world with an open mind and fulfil your potential in ways you may never have even considered.  Executive Agents are here to help you scope your options, explore your future and realise the promising professional horizons that await you. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for a free 15-minute consultation today.

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