7 Essential Transferable Skills to Become Easily Employable

97% of employers say that soft skills are either as important or more important than hard skills

+50% of new employees who are unable to perform optimally are considered “below par” within the first 18 months due to the lack of soft skills.

With business challenges in 2023 companies big and small are restructuring to keep their lights on.

DID YOU KNOW?

5.7 million people lost their jobs in January 2023

However, some industries like health care, financial services, IT, manufacturing, supply chain, transportation, accommodation, and food services are currently looking for top talent to add to their fold.

If you are at risk to be eliminated or are already unemployed, you need to prepare to work outside your industry that might not be your forte.

Layoffs are inevitable, however, to correctly position yourself, and enhance your value to be marketable to employers and have job security, you need to identify transferable skills.

Here are 7 essential transferable skills that will help you at your current job or land a new one fast!

What Are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are the skills and qualities with regard to any industry or position. Simply put, you could take them with you or transfer them from one job to another.

1. Leadership and People Management

People are often at the heart of any organization, and how they are managed and led defines and determines the success of a company. Effective leadership and people management skills can help boost retention, employee engagement, organizational effectiveness, and bottom and top-line growth.

2. Emotional Intelligence

Whatever industry, job, or career you are in, an improved EI can have a profound effect and longevity. An individual’s EI has proven to be 2x more important for business success than mental ability in today’s workplace.

3. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

Employees are frequently required to make decisions that impact the company’s overall health and well-being. Business success depends on a person’s ability to analyze and evaluate information that leads to informed decision-making.

4. Data Analysis

With the workplace becoming more tech-driven and fast-paced, the importance of data analysis is increasing and becoming pivotal. Companies depend on professionals who excel in data analysis to help them optimize their annual ROI performance.

5. Teamwork

The rise of remote and hybrid work has increased the need for dynamic team environments. Productive teams make work more efficient leading to reduced costs, increase in process improvement, and enhanced employee morale.

6. Communication and Public Speaking

An ability to communicate is what allows us to share ideas, tell stories, and influence change. It defines our interactions with stakeholders such as coworkers, investors, partners, vendors, employees, and clients. Effective communication can have a tremendous impact on an individual’s career growth and success in any industry.

7. Copy Writing

To advertise or market products and services companies require creative individuals. Knowledge in SEO content and copywriting that tells the brand’s story and builds awareness can be an invaluable skill.

How Can You Use Transferable Skills to Land a Job?

Step 1 – Identify Them

1.1. Reflect on Your Past Professional Experiences

It can be jobs, internships, projects, extracurriculars, or anything related. Make a note of the tasks you really excelled at and the ones you struggled with. This exercise will help you understand what your skills are. For example, you might find out that you’re more of a big-ideas person than a details person, that you enjoyed speaking publicly or liked writing and creating content, once you know what you are good at start working on it.

1.2. Look Back at Past Feedback

Get some outside perspective on the process to acquire a more realistic grasp of what you offer. Go through previous performance reviews and comments from your supervisors, colleagues, or subordinates. What are the compliments you received and improvement areas that were identified?

1.3. Take a Formal Assessment

If you’re still feeling stuck, taking a formal strengths assessment can illuminate some qualities you might not have identified yourself. A few popular strength or personality assessments include:

Step 2 – Leverage Your Transferable Skills on Your Cover Letter

The cover letter is the best place to leverage your soft skills and illustrate your proficiency.

Have some leadership experience? Here’s how you can work that into your cover letter.

I have experience conducting several projects simultaneously in my current role. In the first project, I analyzed a large dataset to deliver a year-over-year report to board members to create a five-year plan. In the second project, I managed direct and indirect reports and a budget of 20 million to meet a new company initiative.

Step 3 – Include Transferable Skills on Your Resume

There are several different places you can highlight your transferable skills on your resume like your career summary, your skills section, and your past job experiences.

Step 4 – Optimize Your LinkedIn to Match Your Resume and Cover Letter

Share the right skills to justify your value. Make it specific, do not generalize, and don’t dilute your effectiveness.

Transferable skills must be front and center on your LinkedIn profile:

Brand headline (1-2 keywords that are hard skills) i.e., Copy Writer
About section
Add bullets to exemplify your top 3 transferable skills from the previous role
Ask for recommendations from a decision-maker
Keep the Skills & Endorsement section up to date

BONUS: The number one piece of advice we have for professionals at risk of losing their jobs or wanting to change their careers in 2023 is to surround yourself with the people who can support your journey. This means getting assistance from professionals or job search experts who can evaluate your unique situation and offer accountable and reliable services.

That’s why we offer a guarantee of 4 interviews for 10 job submissions for every resume we do!
*Or we will redo the resume and cover letter up to 5x a month till the client lands a job.

The Job Helpers have 50,000 + client success stories, written 25,000 + job-winning resumes, and helped 15,000 + senior-level leaders find their dream job.

Want to find out how your resume will perform in the current job market?

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I was in the middle of some earnest jobhunting.

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