3 Easy Ways to Market Transferable Skills in Your Job Search

Now that you’ve identified your transferable job skills, you can use them to convince potential employers you are qualified for the job.

Tailor Your Resume.
Simply listing your old job titles on your résumé won’t cut it. Being able to relate your transferable skills with solid examples will help you stand out to a potential employer, especially if you’re making a career change. Instead of listing every transferable skill you possess, research the position you are seeking, and tailor the skills you list to the job description. For example, a fitness instructor seeking a health care position would emphasize his dedication to good health and his customer service skills to demonstrate aptitude for working with patients.

Craft a Killer Cover Letter.
To market yourself to a potential employer, further explain your skill sets in a cover letter attached to your résumé. Because a résumé is too short to thoroughly detail why your skills transfer, send a cover letter even if one isn’t requested. Pick two or three of your top transferable skills that are also listed in the job posting to describe in your cover letter. Explain how you have used these skills and how they’d apply in the new job.

Sell it In Person.
Once you land an interview, don’t forget your transferable job skills. Make sure you can go into greater detail about how they would help you. Be prepared to answer top interview questions using them, too.

Your past work and life experiences develop many great transferable skills that you can use from workplace to workplace, even when job duties don’t stay the same. So, take the time to identify your skill sets, and learn to market them effectively to employers so you can find success with a new career.

Comments

Tailoring your resume is a step that many people tend to forget. As a former HR personal we loved it when we got resume that people matched their skills with the job they where applying for, it showed they know what the job was all about and would be able to preform the functions required.