How to Identify Your Transferrable Skills

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How to Identify Your Transferrable Skills

• UK Womens Forum Conference
• November 19, 2008
• 910 1010 am
• Penny Cox

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Plan for career successIdentify and enhance
your transferable skills to improve
employability.
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Job Search Plan
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Career Strategies Identify CareerTracks

• Within each major career or profession there are
• Entry level jobs little experience or skills
• Beginning management level
• Management trainee/education background
• Professional level requirement background and
  experience in the area

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Career Development Process and Job Search Plan
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Career Management
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Finding Balance in Your Purpose What you most
deeply want to create through your role Mindset
of Proactive vs Reactive despite the conditions!
P E R F O R M A N C E
Achieving Results
High
Adapted from You are the Leader youve been
waiting for Enjoying High Performance High
Fulfillment at work.
Low
Low
High
F U L F I L L M E N T
Meaning, Integrity, Joy
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Career and job changes are easier when
transitions occur between jobs that have and
require overlapping skills and abilities and
when there is alignment with your personal needs.
Making Changes - Transitions
Geography matters
Adapted from First Things First, Covey, 1994
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Basic criteria people want and lookfor when
changing jobs

• Good pay
• Decent hours
• Job security
• Utilize and expand skills
• To feel challenged
• Have input into decisions
• Variety
• Advancement opportunities
• Respect and acknowledgement from superiors
• Comfortable, friendly work environment
• Pride in what you do

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Emotional Responses over-time to Negative Change
Anger Try to regain control
Active
Acceptance Responds to Change realistically
Bargaining Try to minimize impact
Stability Change announced
Emotional Response
Testing Try new alternatives
Denial Defend against Bad reality
Depression Frustration, loss
Immobilization overwhelmed
Passive
Time
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What are Transferable Skills?

• We all have skills we take from job to job.
  These transferable skills (any can be broken down
  into categories.
• If you take time to identify your transferable
  skills, you can convince employers that you have
  the core skills necessary to excel in your new
  career choice.

• People
• Communicating
• Teaching
• Coaching
• Supervising

• Data
• Record keeping
• Researching
• Translating
• Compiling data

• Things
• Operating computers/equipment
• Assembling
• Repairing

Adapted from What Color is Your Parachute? A
Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and
Career-Changers Richard Nelson Bolles
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Why identify my transferable skills?

• Thrive in the midst of change!
• Approach job-hunting with more confidence
• Expand your qualifications in
• Communications
• Organization, Management Leadership
• Human Relations
• Research Planning
• Work Survival Satisfaction
• Land jobs that involve more responsibility,
  variety, freedom and money!

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Could I expand my transferable skills?

• The word skill points to something you do!
• Examples analyzing, coaching, editing, learning,
  listening, organizing, reading, researching,
  speaking, training, writing
• Reflect on your own key experiences
• Recall when you performed at your peak
• Describe the skills you would like to acquire
• Investigate ways to develop these skills
• extracurricular activities,
• group memberships,
• internships,
• volunteer positions,
• work-study assignments,
• part-time jobs.

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The Flower A Picture of the Job of Your Dreams
Prioritize so you know what to trade off!
Geography
Field of Fascination
Salary Responsibility Level
Favorite People Environment
Favorite Work Conditions
Favorite Values
From What Color is Your Parachute? By Richard N.
Bolles
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Key Steps in Getting Your Dream Job

• Understand your approach to career planning do
  you have the relevant transferable skills?
• Get feedback
• Introspect on what you really want
• Write your dream job description
• Create a plan of multiple paths to your dream job
• Network/research multiple paths
• Get help through career coach or recruiters

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Employer Survey results Most Valued Skills

• Top 5 in bold
• Interpersonal
• Teamwork
• Analytical
• Oral communication
• Flexibility
• Leadership
• Computer
• Written communication
• Work experience
• Internship experience
• Co-op experience

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Why is FIT so important?
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What are Recruiters Looking For?

• Your work ethic
• Your ability to think
• Technical skills can you do the job?
• FIT can he/she visualize you working with a
  certain team in accomplishing their goals?
• Long term commitment is this someone we can
  grow with?

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How do Job Recruiters prioritize applicants?

• Job recruiters state that organizations are
  looking for excellent leaders - that are
• Well trained
• Disciplined
• Decisive
• Resourceful
• Tremendous team players
• High pressure performers
• These are skills that most employers need!
• Remember, they dont interview every applicant,
  your resume is important.

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Sample Evaluation Result per candidate
Scale
Quantitative results with qualitative
descriptions for each requirement
Requirements
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Setting Goals

• Goals should be set for every part of your life
  not just career goals
• Write goals down in present tense
• Goals should be believable and attainable
• Develop a workable plan identify steps
• Why set Goals?
• Achieve more
• Improve performance
• Increase motivation to achieve
• Increase pride and satisfaction in Achievements
• Improve self-confidence

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Is one goal just to get your foot in the Door?
Audience Poll (yes ___) (no ___)
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Goal Setting 7 steps

• Is it something you really want or something that
  sounds good?
• A goal should not contradict other goals
• Develop goals in reference to family home,
  financial and career, spiritual/ethical,
  physical/health, social/cultural,
  mental/educational
• Write goal in the positive not negative
• Write goal out in complete detail
• Make sure goal is high enough
• Always, write down and track your progress to the
  goal

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Overview of employability skills

• communication
• teamwork
• problem solving
• initiative and enterprise
• planning and organizing
• self-management
• learning
• Technology

the skills required not only to gain
employment, but also to progress within an
organization or expand employment capability, so
as to achieve one's potential and contribute
successfully to organizations strategic
directions.
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More Terms
Skills Quantitative Qualitative

• Employability skills
• (quantitative)
• referred to as generic capabilities, enabling
  skills or even key skills
• describe non-technical skills and competencies
  which play a significant part in contributing to
  an individuals effective and successful
  participation in the workplace
• highly transferable and support the
  accomplishment of the task-based activities
  central to any role

• Key competencies (qualitative)
• essential to preparation for employment
• generic to kinds of work and work organizations
• equipping individuals to participate effectively
  in a wide range of social settings including
  workplaces and adult life more generally
• involving the application of knowledge and skill
• being able to learn
• being amenable to credible assessment

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Top 10 New Graduate Skills

• Honesty and Integrity
• Literacy
• Oral Communication
• Reliability
• Work Ethic (Hard Working)

• Numeracy
• Positive Can Do Attitude
• Punctuality
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Team Working

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If Only Id Known

Source Unemployed graduate, quoted in Skills for
Graduates in the 21st Century

• I expected everything
• to be handed to me
• on a plate.
• I now realize that while
• I graduated with a decent
• degree , I had no
• real awareness of the
• skills I had to offer.

I had no idea at all of career opportunities
within small businesses, and no relevant
experience. Thinking about it now, I
couldnt manage myself out of a paper bag, let
alone manage my career.

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Lets identify your transferable skills

• Transferable skills are essential for success in
  21st century jobs. They are skills you can apply
  from job to job and to a variety of work
  settings.
• Your skills are like a chair. Each skill is a leg
  of a chairremove one leg and the chair is off
  balance and may even collapse. People without a
  balance of skills may find it difficult to be
  successful in their career or educational plans.
• Begin to identify yours by taking this simple and
  easy survey
• http//www.d.umn.edu/kmc/career_transfer_survey.ht
  ml

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PARTICIPANTWRITTEN EXERCISESKILLS SURVEY(5
MINUTES)
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Transferable Skills Survey (1)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Rate the skills based on your ability in each
area 0 No ability 1 enough ability to get
by with help from others. 2 some ability 3
strong ability

• Communication
• The skillful expression, transmission and
  interpretation of knowledge and ideas.

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Transferable Skills Survey (2)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Rate the skills based on your ability in each
area 0 No ability 1 enough ability to get
by with help from others. 2 some ability 3
strong ability

• Research Planning
• The search for specific knowledge and the ability
  to conceptualize future needs and solutions for
  meeting those needs.

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Transferable Skills Survey (3)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Rate the skills based on your ability in each
area 0 No ability 1 enough ability to get
by with help from others. 2 some ability 3
strong ability

• Human Relations
• The use of interpersonal skills for resolving
  conflict, relating to and helping people.

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Transferable Skills Survey (4)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Rate the skills based on your ability in each
area 0 No ability 1 enough ability to get
by with help from others. 2 some ability 3
strong ability

• Organization, Management Leadership
• The ability to supervise, direct and guide
  individuals and groups in the completion of tasks
  and fulfillment of goals.

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Transferable Skills Survey (5)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Rate the skills based on your ability in each
area 0 No ability 1 enough ability to get
by with help from others. 2 some ability 3
strong ability

• Work Survival
• The day-to-day skills which assist in promoting
  effective production and work satisfaction.

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Transferable Skills Survey (6)http//www.d.umn.ed
u/kmc/career_transfer_survey.html
Which transferrable skills do you have? Whether
youre applying for your first real job or just
looking for a midlife career shift, you may have
realized from reading the list in the previous
slides that you have more transferable skills
than you once thought!
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Marketing yourself and your skills

• Be creativethink outside of the box
• How do skills transfer to the job or career
• Know what you have to offer - Package yourself
  and separating yourself from the competition
• How you sell yourself is how you create your
  career
• Keep current on trends in your area
• Networking is 85 of job searchface to face
  Relationships
• Get involved in professional organizationsnot
  just pay dues

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Five Worst Best Ways to Get Job
Best Ways
Worst Ways

• 4 use the Internet
• 7 mailing out resumes at random
• 7 answering ads in trade journals
• 5-24 answering news ads
• 5-28 search firms and employment agencies

• 33 asking for leads from friends
• 47 knocking on interesting doors
• 69 use yellow pages to identify firms, then call
  them up asking about jobs you can do well
• 84 in a group of other job hunters use yellow
  pages to identify firms, then call them up asking
  about jobs you can do well
• 86 doing a life changing job hunt

Adapted from What Color is Your Parachute?
Richard Bolles
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The Hidden Job Market
Source United States Department of Labor
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Your Network
Job Search Methods
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Share MyStoryNeed a Volunteer
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The Aliveness Factor
Dont ask yourself what the world needs. Ask
yourself what makes you come alive and do it.
Because what the world needs are people who
have come alive. - Howard Thurman
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Closing Words of Advice

• Be flexible and be willing to make changes and
  take risks
• Develop a variety of transferable skills!
• Identify your strengths and preferences
• Set goals (takes time and effort)
• Assess possible alternate career paths and new
  challenges
• Create career vision for 1,5,10 years from now
• Assess new skills needed and key gap areas
• Look for new opportunities within current field
• Create a lifelong learning plan on the job and
  off the job
• Not every job needs to be a promotion lateral
  transfers provide a breadth of experience.
• Leverage contacts (Networking Mentoring)

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Thank you! Questions? email
penny.cox_at_uky.eduphone 7-1786