Promote the skills you can transfer

The leap is not as big as you may think

A CAREER change into a new industry may seem like a major leap but often there are skills learnt in the first career that lend themselves to the second.

Still, many workers do not realise how transferable their skills are.

Sabina Read, psychologist and presenter of SEEK’s television series Dream Job, says it is crucial for workers to identify their transferable skills then highlight and sell them to prospective employers.

“There are literally dozens of skills we may develop from studying, hobbies, volunteering, sporting pursuits, and parenting,” Read says.

“Even the most elementary job you may have had as a student or early in your career will have helped you develop some valuable transferable skills.

“Examples include negotiation, delegation, organisation, collaboration, conflict resolution, rapport building, teamwork, budget management, problem solving, time management, report writing, IT troubleshooting, research or critical thinking.”

Read says it is common for jobseekers to focus on a role’s required experience and formal qualifications rather than the transferable skills that also are important.

KEEP A NOTE OF THE TRANSFERABLE SKILLS MOST COMMONLY MENTIONED SABINA READ

She says other jobseekers are aware of their transferable skills but wait for potential employers to identify them, rather than actively promoting these skills themselves.

“Discovering and highlighting your transferable skills requires some diligent matchmaking,” Read says.

“Research job ads that appeal and keep a note of the transferable skills most commonly mentioned.”

Dream Job participant Elise David is making the transition out of nursing and into floristry

after a back injury prompted her to reconsider her choice of work.

Although there is still some lifting involved in floristry, she says she can work at her own pace, because she is working

for herself.

David says there are many transferable skills between her two careers.

“I have a lot of compassion and understanding, that’s probably the biggest one,” she says.

“I am getting people in emotional situations, whether a death or the pressures of a wedding or buying flowers for a loved one who is sick or having a birthday, there is always emotions attached.

“It’s about working with those people and showing emotion and understanding.”

She says people skills and attention to detail have also been refined in nursing and proven useful in floristry.