As a job seeker you may hear the term ‘transferrable skills’ discussed in an interview with either a recruitment consultant or hiring manger within an organisation. But what are transferrable skill sets defined as?
Transferrable skills refer to a set of your skills and abilities that go beyond your current job role or industry. These skills can be applied to almost any role regardless of the title. For example, if you are seeking to apply for a receptionist role and you are coming from a retail background, your customer service experience is something you should highlight as a transferrable skill set. To elaborate, you could mention your ability to build a rapport in a short amount of time, communicate effectively face to face or over the phone, listening to customers and providing them with appropriate information and feedback, etc.
How to apply this to your job seeking efforts
To apply your transferrable skills to your job seeking efforts, we suggest the following:
- Tailor your cover letter and resume to the job you are applying for. Highlight keys words from the job ad in your resume that you have experience with
- Prepare your responses for interview. Spend some time preparing your responses to typical interview questions specifically emphasising how your current skills can apply to this new position. Provide examples to the interviewer where possible
- Obtain qualifications/licenses. Even though you may not have direct industry experience but have transferrable skills to offer, adding a qualification or license required for your desired new role, will only better your chances in being successful for it
- Volunteering. Where possible, volunteering in the industry you are seeking to work in, is an excellent opportunity to gain experience and put into action your transferrable skills that you have to offer. It also provides a real-life example of how you can apply those skills in that new industry
How can you develop more transferrable skills?
If you’re looking for ways to develop more transferrable skills and even gain new ones entirely, we suggest taking some online short courses. Here is a list of reputable websites that offer free or affordable training on a range of topics and industries:
- Harvard University
- Udemy
- Microsoft Build
- Grow With Google
- Future Learn
- Open Learn – By Open University
If you would like to keep update with our job postings and connect with our ‘Facebook page’. For more tips and advice check out our ’job seeker help center’. The Recruitment Alternative operates Australia and New Zealand wide. Across Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, etc. If you would like to find out more about our services, contact us today on 1300 548 546.
