transferable skills
BY WENDY ALEXANDER

Identify Your Transferable Skills - And Upskill Now

Your transferable skills, the soft skills no one teaches you, are key to your ongoing success

Invest in your learning because when we stop learning we may as well be dead

Trends and markets and requirements for careers and jobs - they change

Companies outsource, companies downsize, we go through global financial crisis, we go through pandemics, inflation and I’m sure there’s things we haven’t seen yet

But some of the most valuable skills in the world don’t change

Skills like leadership, organization, relationship building, communications - they don't change

The soft skills, they have never changed and they never will

Because behind every screen, every transaction, every request - there’s a human being just like you with their own hopes, dreams and ambitions

The skills that lead to six figure incomes are also the ones transferable across industries

Why do I say that?

Job specific skills confine you to a role or to an industry

Are you the best blacksmith or an EV technician?

Do you know C++ or are you a full stack developer?

Can you only work in waterfall or do have your Scrum Master learnings?

Or…. Can you lead, motivate and direct EV technicians, full stack developers and Scrum Masters to deliver a finished product?

Your transferable skills in your resume get a hiring managers attention

Not technical skills, not job specific skills - the soft transferable skills - skills you can take into any industry

So focus on developing and working towards the leadership skills, the people management skills, organizational skills, strategy development skills and so on

Those are the portable skills that get you your six-figure income

My plain and simple advice is to put your energy there if you want to have career options, want healthy six figure incomes and want to thrive in all markets

Let’s look at one example and we’ll cover more in the future

One of the highest value transferable skills is leadership

When asked – use examples where you lead in your weekend sports, your band, coaching your kids team, your family – whatever – do you naturally take the lead or do you sit back and watch?

And I want you to think about leadership versus being a boss

There’s a huge difference between being a boss, someone who gives instructions, barks orders and being a leader, someone who collaborates, who will never ask of his or her people something they are not willing or able to do themselves

Leaders inspire, guide, extend empathy and actively listen – all soft skills prized in any industry and any role

Invest in timeless Emotional Quotient (EQ) and transferable career skills - not the latest buzzy, shiny, tech thing out there

The EQ and transferable skills provide options for you when it comes to choosing more of what you love rather than what you have to do

So invest your time and money wisely and develop the portable skills to go with you to any job or any career

It’s never been easier or cheaper to learn than now

Places like Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft, YouTube and any of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) give you mind blowing courses to change your life (and mostly free or low cost)

Isn’t that a better investment of your time than your next binge watch session?