1. Organisation
One of the most important transferable skills a worker can possess. Whether it is for the workplace or your social life, if you want to manage your time effectively then organisational skills are essential. Improving this skill will result in self-improvement and can also positively affect colleagues and friends. At work this can lead to more responsibilities and assignments.
- Computer skills
Computer literacy is now unavoidable. It is almost guaranteed that your work will involve some computer based tasks at one time or another. For the majority of jobs you don’t need to be an expert! You just need to know some basics, how to save and open a file, how to use a word processing program, and how to send and receive email. However if you have the time and resources available to further these skills it is highly advised.
- Communication
Unless you still want to be a lighthouse operator then you will most probably need communication skills to succeed. The ability to communicate well and build strong rapport with people is invaluable. Influencing others to your way of thinking and effectively putting across ideas and opinions will really help your prospects of a promotion.
- Leadership
Whilst you may not be applying for a role with much responsibility yet, employers still look for leadership qualities and future leaders. There are many qualities that make a great leader; integrity, good judgement, competence- to name a few. Effective leadership results in a more positive working environment and can inspire others to give their upmost.
- Creativity
Very often employers list ‘creative’ or ‘innovative’ as desirable traits for a role. Every company in the world has competition and therefore must strive to be different in order to capture the client’s imagination. If you can show an employer you ‘think outside the box’ and take different approaches then you will prove your value.
6. Determination
Have you got an example of a time you persevered to achieve a difficult goal? When the odds were against you but you managed to succeed? Make sure you give this example to an employer. A very good transferable skill, determination shows your drive and work ethic.
- Learning
It is fairly self-explanatory that employers are looking for people that want to learn. However it is also important to show that you can learn from your mistakes. State to an employer that you like to keep your current skill set evolving.
- Social Media
Companies are now highly aware of the value that a good social media strategy can bring. There are positions with great salaries dedicated to carrying out this specific role. If you’re already proficient with most of the social media platforms and can demonstrate creativity and drive to help the company- there are opportunities to land great jobs in media, PR, events and sales.
- Coaching
Do you know more than most people about a particular subject? And have the patience to impart this knowledge with others? There’s a huge demand from people to learn new skills and coaching/ tutoring can easily be done in your spare time. Furthermore displaying good traits to coach and teach others is very valuable to a company. For example many companies now have bespoke software systems that employees need to help each other with.
10. Teamwork
Teamwork is arguably THE most transferable skill. Running closely with communication, the ability to work well in a team is very important. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, if these can be identified the group productivity will increase. Furthermore the knowledge and understanding gained from working with others will save time and effort compared to tackling problems alone.