Transferable Skills: The Little Known Secret to Getting the Job You Want
When you graduate from college, your GPA isn’t the only thing that will be important for your post-graduation plans. Is your education and the content you learn in your classes important? Of course, it is. Is it the only thing that should be your focus? No.
Based on my experience, I think for most post-graduation plans, such as a job or further education, your GPA is the second most important item, while the experiences you have during your time in college as a student are the most important. I know this may sound crazy but let me explain.
What do you talk about during an interview, on a personal statement, or on your CV/Resume? Your experiences outside of the learning in your courses. By having meaningful quality experiences, you are putting yourself in a strong position for your after-college plans.
According to a yearly survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, in 2020, nine out of ten of the skills desired on a resume post-graduation can be categorized as a transferable skill. This survey was sent to employers and career-development professionals at different colleges to learn this information. But what are transferable skills and why are they important for you to have and how do I obtain them? That is the topic of this week’s post.
What are Transferable Skills?
Transferable skills were previously called “soft skills.” It is an ability that you can develop and use throughout different experiences in your life that are typically non-quantitative. These abilities are used in every job you will have. So what are things that a farmer, a stock market broker, and a filmmaker all have in common? Skills like communication! Other examples of transferable skills are leadership, working in a team, problem-solving, and organization, to name a few.
A transferable skill is the opposite of a technical or hard skill that is typically limited to a specific career or industry. Technical skills include: using a specific software, mastery of a programming language, or tool. A common example is Microsoft Excel for financial analysis or Python for computer coding. So basically, think about anything but those! In a way as well, transferable skills complement hard skills; if you need any type of technical skill, you will also need transferable skills as well.
Too long and didn't read that? Basically:
Transferable skills → Bullet points on your resume → Job application → Interview → Hired!
How are Transferable Skills Acquired?
There are many ways to gain transferable skills while you are in college. You just need to decide which option you want to pursue first. And, just to make it clear, an experience does not need to be through a formal job or internship with a company in order to be meaningful and provide you with the transferable skills you are looking to acquire.
A great place to begin acquiring transferable skills is by serving as a student leader in an organization on campus. For instance, if you are looking to get into finance and have an interest in kickball, a great option would be to serve as the intramural kickball team’s finance chair. Do not worry about the exact focus of the club. Instead, think of the leadership roles you could hold within the organization itself. Do you love singing acapella and want to gain some marketing skills; maybe you can manage the group's Instagram account. In other words, transferable skills can be obtained while you also engage in activities that you are passionate about. They do not need to be separate!
Other ways to gain these skills can be through finding research positions in a lab on campus, such as serving as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for a course, becoming a Resident Mentor or Resident Assistant for your campus dorm, tutoring other students on campus at one of the academic centers your university has, or volunteering within the community. All of these experiences will all help you to gain transferable skills. Another way to obtain transferable skills outside the classroom on campus is through a part-time job.
There are even some courses that may help you to develop strong transferable skills. Examples of these include a course to write a thesis or dissertation, leadership development classes, and courses that you complete while completing a co-op or internship simultaneously. There are also websites that provide free online courses to help develop these skills. Some of the best websites include Skill Share, edX, Coursera, and Udemy Many of these sites provide, upon the successful completion of the course, you with a digital certificate that can be used to prove you took the course and obtained a passing grade. Best of all, many of them are free - and who doesn’t love something that is both free and useful.
For off-campus experiences, you can consider a summer internship, summer job, or job shadowing. Job shadowing is usually a maximum of 1 week where you shadow someone in a field of interest and witness first-hand how someone in the field does their job.
Pro Tip: Job shadowing can be a great way to see if a certain career is something you are actually interested in. All you would do is shadow a professional for a day (or a few) as they complete their duties and ask them questions concerning how they do their job and advice they think would be helpful for you to know. This would give you a first-hand perspective of a day in the life of that specific job.
Pro Tip: If you want to job shadow, but the person you ask says they do not have the time, ask if you can talk over the phone, Zoom, or in-person for an hour or two for an informational interview. In this interview, you can ask about transferable skills needed for the role and experiences to pursue in college.
Which Transferable Skills are Most Important for my Future Plans?
How do you know which transferable skills are important for you to obtain? Well, it depends. There are a few ways that you can decide which skills to focus on gaining and enhancing first. One is just following your passions and interests. Have you always had a passion for academics and want to help others with succeeding? You could serve as a scholarship chair within a student organization, volunteer with homework help at a local middle school, assist incoming students with course selection in the summer, or find a mentoring role on campus to help first-year students transition to college-level work.
Another option is to pursue the skills that would be required of your field of interest post-graduation. If you already know you want to be a Sales Associate for an insurance company when you graduate, find opportunities that will enhance your teamwork and communication skills.
Pro Tip: Do you know what you want to do post-graduation but don’t know the skills you need to acquire? Google search OOH for Occupational Outlook Handbook (it will always be the first result after the advertisements) and search the career(s) you are considering. Under the job title, you can view the skills required for this career.
Pro Tip: Are you not exactly sure of your post-graduation plans? Search for existing post-graduation job postings that seem of interest to you. Go through the job descriptions and highlight the transferable skills from the postings. Then go find opportunities to develop those skills during your time as an undergraduate.
Lastly, you can connect with people in a field of your interest and ask them what transferable skills (or even the technical skills) they wish they had acquired before they entered into their career. I suggest reaching out to your parents' friends, asking your family members if they have anyone you could speak to, working with your campus career center to get in touch with alumni from your institution, or finding some local companies and using LinkedIn to determine some individuals to contact and message.
Pro Tip: Talking with people in the specific field you are interested in is an excellent way to network, which can help you gain valuable information before applying for jobs in the field. For instance, you may learn that although every entry-level job description states the same skill as “preferred” your connections may share that, in reality, that skill is required because most companies will not hire someone without it.
Image credit: Andy Barbour via Pexels.