These Are the Transferable Skills Employers Are Looking For

Looking for a new job? Transferable skills (also known as “soft skills”) are a good way to make yourself more marketable for an open job. Most candidates you’ll be up against will have the basic qualification, such as education and certifications. But transferable skills are those that can be applied from job to job and across industries—and they can make you a much better worker and more attractive hiring choice if you have them.

Five top transferable skills

Employers are especially in search of the following:

1. If the pandemic was any indicator, employees who can quickly and easily adapt to new situations will do well in most work environments. From learning new health and safety protocols, to transitioning to remote work, and even learning rapidly evolving technology—being adaptable is an important soft skill.
2. Are you able to help and inspire others to work hard? Leaders exist at every level of an organization—not just in the C suite. A boss can’t be everywhere at once, and leaders within the team are naturally inclined to help out and answer questions, when and where they can. Having this skill not only makes you valuable to a company, it also makes you promotable.
3. Listening, speaking and writing (e.g., emails) are all critical to getting work done efficiently and accurately. Being able to easily express yourself to coworkers by sharing information and instructions will make any workday go much smoother.
4. Are you able to stick to a schedule and complete your tasks? Wasting time robs you of productivity and can cause your company to miss deadlines and disappoint customers—plus it isn’t fair to your coworkers if they need to pick up the slack. Time management is a valuable skill that makes you better at your job.
5. Being able to solve problems in a new and thoughtful way will help you take advantage of resources around you, and keep your company innovative. And the best part? Creativity is valuable at every level of an organization. The way you approach your job has a lot to do with it. If you often find yourself thinking, “How can we do this better?” or “How else can we approach this problem?”, you may be more creative than you think!

Add these transferable skills to your resume

Insert them into your work experience where they make sense based on past responsibilities and roles. You could also create a “skills” section where you list them alongside other important “hard” skills directly related to your job.

Need help finding a new job?

Once you have your resume ready, visit the job search page on Inter-Connect!