Author: Margaret Olatunbosun / Source: Lifehack
Most people grow up with dreams to go to college and graduate with high-paying job offers waiting for them the week after graduation. Others may favor non-traditional career paths. But the desire is the same: to find a job we love where compensation is commensurate with experience.
However, plans change. For instance, what started out as a dream to be a surgeon is cut short by a nasty injury and you’re debating how to transition into a new role. Or you might be facing being let go from your current employer and are anxious about “options out there.”
Whatever the case may be, switching careers can be intentional or unintentional. What matters is that you’re well-prepared, and the only way to do so is to hone in on your transferable skills.
Why hone in on your transferable skills?
There are several reasons you need to develop these skills if you want to go far in life and your career. In a nutshell, honing in your your transferable skills can lead to:
- Better job offers: Continuous assessment and improvement of your skills widens the pool of job offers for you to make selections from. You’re no longer tethered to one industry as you’re able to lead your career by design, not by default.
- Increase in pay and more responsibilities: You’ve heard the saying “with great power come great responsibility.” In your case, transferable skills make you more marketable to employers which could lead to pay raises. Although this isn’t an automatic process– you have to be proactive about what you want in the marketplace, there is a chance that these pay raises will come with change in titles and roles.
- A shot at entrepreneurship. Yes, changing career paths also includes the possibility of working for yourself. With these skills, you could live anywhere in the world and design a life and career you want.
We’ve talked about why you need to strengthen your transferable skills but what are some these skills, and how can you work on them?
13 tips to hone in on your transferable skills
1. Update your resume
You might be surprised to know this but yes, updating your resume is a skill. The very first thing you should do while thinking about switching careers is to highlight attributes that make you very desirable candidate to employers.
Think about your volunteer experiences, freelance projects, and school projects. Although they might seem insignificant, they demonstrate your ability to deliver results that several companies are looking for.
While you might have held several positions since college, switching careers will require you to have a different type of resume.
There are three different types of resumes: functional, chronological, and a combination resume. However, if you are looking to switch careers you’ll want to have a functional resume. A functional resume is strengths-based that emphasizes skills that are transferable rather than a collection of dates and job titles.
2. Brush up on your communication skills
Every attempt to get ahead in business and in life starts with the need to communicate effectively. Whether it is interpersonal, intercultural, or multi-generational, the ability to be seen and heard while respecting the boundaries of work relationship matters.
That’s why it’s one of the top skills you need to master. Strong communication skills allows you to effectively tailor your messages to specific audiences, which will make you a stronger asset to any organization.
To hone this skill:
Pay attention to your listening skills. To communicate effectively, you need to first learn how to understand others.
Your ability to decode overt and implied messages, no matter how nuanced they are, is key to knowing how to foster deep relationships with others.
3. Learn technical (or business) writing
Another form of communication, writing, is a skill that can take you anywhere. Companies communicate a lot through written memos, emails, newsletters, and other audio-visual means. But at the crux of this all is someone or some people who are tasked with translating the organization’s vision into statements anyone can understand.
To hone this skill:
Consider taking some free or paid classes…
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