23 April 2007
Transferable Skills Key to Successful Career Change
Posted by Nina under: Career Change; Career Planning .
Source: PRWEB
Career change has become a standard step in today’s job search, making a person’s transferable skills more important than ever. Although most people possess a number of these skills, many are unable to present them effectively throughout their job search. Career experts John Liptak and Laurence Shatkin offer their advice for how a person can identify their transferable skills and sell them to potential employers.
Most statistics indicate that people change careers between six and seven times throughout their life. Most career experts agree that for these career transitions to be successful, people must be aware of their transferable skills.
Unfortunately, according to John J. Liptak, Ed.D., and Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., co-authors of the Transferable Skills Scale assessment, many job seekers are unable to identify their skills because they cannot define exactly what transferable skills are.
According to Liptak and Shatkin, transferable skills are, “general skills that can be used in a variety of different jobs. You can transfer these skills from one occupational setting to another and they include such skills as building things, instructing people, coaching, analyzing data, leading a group, and managing money.”
Possessing a diverse set of transferable skills like these is particularly important for career changers because they help people adapt to and work through unfamiliar situations; prove to employers that they are capable of doing a job, even though he or she may have no experience in the employer’s field or industry; and cut down on the amount of training necessary for new employees.
One way a person can identify their transferable skills is to review advertisements for jobs he or she may be interested in. This information can be found in newspapers, on the Web, or in industry publications. Next, the individual should make a list of the requirements for a particular job and identify which skills from the list they already possess. Finally, when writing a resume or interviewing, it’s essential to highlight these skills and describe to employers how these skills will prepare them for the responsibilities of the available position.
“Transferable skills represent the skills nearly every employer desires. Knowing your best transferable skills can not only help you research possible careers, but it can give you a better sense of the strengths you possess and can offer an employer,” say Liptak and Shatkin.
The Transferable Skills Scale is available from the publisher (www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). To speak with the authors, contact Natalie Ostrom.
JIST, America’s Career Publisher, is the leading publisher of job search, career, occupational information, life skills and character education books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.