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When crafting your perfect CV, it’s important to implement transferable skills that match your experience and help you stand out from the crowd. In this blog, we’ll explore what the top 10 transferable skills you should put on your CV are.
Transferable skills, also known as soft skills, are skills that can be used across multiple jobs and industries. They can be gained while:
Transferable skills are important, especially when adding them to your CV as they can help you stand out from other applicants. They show that you can adapt and thrive in a variety of roles, industries, and work environments. Skills such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and time management are not tied to a specific job or sector, making them highly valuable to employers across the board.
Being able to communicate clearly both verbally and in written form, is crucial for inside and outside of work. In order to communicate clearly, the following four skills need to be mastered:
Critical thinking is a promising sign that you can be trusted to deal with complicated scenarios and even improve the working methods of the team you’re joining.
Demonstrating critical thinking can include reflecting back on your school days as well as work. Perhaps you excelled in an analytical subject or went beyond the learning methods taught to you by your teachers and innovated your own study style that saw your grades skyrocket. Any scenario that involves challenging preconceptions or thinking outside the box is a great way to demonstrate your intelligence and the unique value you could bring to an organisation.
Conveying your individuality and imagination illustrates your unique personality in which you can bring to the team. There are endless examples you can incorporate, but talking enthusiastically about your hobbies is a great place to start.
You might have surpassed expectations in an artistic subject at school or dedicated your evenings to a dance class or conducting science experiments. Any of these ideas can be an opportunity to express an infectious passion for your interests and give the hiring board an insight into how much of an engaging team member you would be to work with.
Showing you can smoothly adjust to changing circumstances indicates that management will be able to trust you in a range of roles and responsibilities, making you a valuable employee.
You can demonstrate this versatility by describing any past experiences where you have altered your plans or priorities due to an unexpected turn of events. For example, you may have volunteered last minute to take on additional duties or worked overtime to support your team. Even simply learning how to use new technologies or new processes shows the employer that you can cope with the ever-evolving role of a long-term employee.
Digital literacy is an increasingly sought-after skill in modern workplaces. This is often categorised as a hard skill, but illustrating competency in the realm of the digital doesn’t have to manifest itself in official certification. Even just being able to navigate Microsoft, social media, email etiquette and understand how to use AI software like ChatGPT will encourage confidence in essential workplace skills.
Being a problem solver is an asset to any team or company. If you can look at a situation and break it down into smaller, manageable stages, offer resolutions, or ways to work around barriers, then that’s a key skill to shout about! Think about times where you’ve been presented with a problem, perhaps in a group scenario, or when you were leading on an extracurricular project, and you’ve had to tackle it head on, in an effective way.
Employers will want to know how you handle problems when presented with them.
Sensibly organising your daily schedule is known to boost productivity. In your CV, you ought to showcase that you can understand the demands of each task and order them efficiently.
Explain that you are economical with your time- think ‘work smart, not hard’- using examples from work, school, and home life. Perhaps you have balanced a part-time job with school or university or studied alongside taking care of a loved one. Once again, discussing your hobbies is also an excellent chance to verify your time management skills.
Leaders are a vital component of a team, they spearhead projects, recognise talent, delegate responsibilities, and motivate others. Chances are you yourself have been a successful leader at one point or another, perhaps you were promoted to a managerial role, trusted to train new recruits, or even took control in resolving conflict between friends. Knowing you can inspire other members of the team and harbour the potential to progress quickly in the workplace will certainly spark an employer’s interest.
Testifying to your own interpersonal skills, like empathy, informs the hiring manager that you’re a caring, considerate, and cooperative person. Having an open mind means you’ll have the people skills needed to understand others. These skills also lend themselves to de-escalating conflict and calming all parties involved, for example customers that are complaining. You’ll undoubtedly impress your potential future employer if you can recount a scenario where you expertly dealt with a difficult situation by exercising empathy and quickly coming up with a solution.
A strong-willed, positive attitude is everything in the workplace. Illustrating that you can remain motivated and recover from setbacks means you are a resourceful member of the team. You can demonstrate resilience in your CV by explaining how you’ve overcome a challenge. Narrating how you navigated independent study or taking on jobs you didn’t expect will help support your resilience and reliability.
When considering transferable skills for your CV you should ask yourself two questions - ‘What transferable skills do I have?’ and ‘What skills are required for the role I’m applying to?’.
Identifying your own strengths allows you to align them with the job description, helping you tailor your CV to highlight the most relevant abilities. When adding transferable skills to a CV you should ensure they’re well rounded but still specific to the job role. For example, when applying for a creative role you should focus on adding examples of creativity and innovation, as well as communication, problem solving, and timekeeping. Keep it specific to the role, with key skills clearly highlighted.
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