Sometimes, job seekers find out that they are no longer able to apply solely for jobs that they are trained to do or that they have experience in. The economic climate means that people must look for employment in areas outside of their comfort zone, where they have little or no experience. They often must compete for posts against large numbers of candidates; some of whom will have greater direct experience.
What are transitional skills?
These are the skills that you have acquired throughout your academic, working and even social life that can be applied successfully to other situations and other working environments.
HOW DO I IDENTIFY THESE TRANSITIONAL SKILLS?
Identifying your transitional skills will require some thought and may take some time initially. Firstly, consider the personal qualities that you possess, perhaps qualities or skills that others comment on. Your friends may frequently comment on your punctuality or your ability to organize a group of people or an event. You may have been unemployed for some time but if you have managed to keep a structure to your day, then this shows a definite degree of self-motivation. These are all examples of transitional skills that employers are happy to find in a potential employee.
Secondly, consider the technical skills that you possess. These may initially seem to be very job specific from a previous role but if you analyze the actual skills used you may find these are transitional skills that could be applied to a completely different role. For example, when you start your career as a bartender and want to switch to a sales position, in some cases this could be difficult as you don’t have enough experience, but the skills you gather help you to convince clients to buy products and hit sales target. Another example could be if you may have worked on a piece of software developed specifically for your previous employer so that all the fields used, and your knowledge of the system was completely unique to that company.
However, if you analyze the skills required to use this software you will find several transitional skills. Were you required to learn and use a totally new software package? Were you maintaining databases? Were you analyzing information? Were you required to accurately enter data? Were you required to train or mentor others on the use of the software?
Considering questions like these will help you to realize that you have many transitional skills, so that even if you have no direct experience in a certain role you should be able to submit a resume to a potential employer and be able to demonstrate that despite that lack of experience you do have the necessary skills to do the job and are willing and able to learn quickly.
A list of transferable skills to highlight when looking for a job:
- Ability to delegate
- Ability to plan
- Classify data
- Compare, inspect, or record facts
- Computer Skills
- Customer Service oriented
- Design
- Detail-oriented
- Get results
- Support others
- Meet deadlines
- Results oriented
- Self-motivated
- Speak in public
- Supervise others
- Take inventory
- Work independently
- Write clearly
- Written communications
However, if you as a candidate can realize your transitional skills and highlight them successfully within your resume and your application form, then your chances of success within the recruitment process will be improved greatly, even when applying for jobs that may be alien to you.
How do I highlight these skills in my resume?
Always refer to your transitional skills by giving examples of how you demonstrated them. Simply stating that you have, ‘good IT skills and are able to analyze data accurately’, will not be enough to succeed in this highly competitive job market. You need to give examples and if necessary highlight how these skills would be useful in the post you are applying for. Don’t give the employer an excuse not to consider you.
If you can identify these transitional skills, then your eyes will be opened to a whole new set of opportunities and you will find the confidence to apply for jobs that you would have previously dismissed. If you can then successfully include these skills within your resume (even if you had no experience) or application form, then your chances of success within an unfamiliar industry or position will be vastly improved and you may even find your perfect career.
This article contains 3rd party information, CaribbeanJobs has the right to use.
