We’ve now explored a bit about what you like in terms of types of people and environments. Let’s look at you a bit further in terms of the transferable skills that you will be bringing with you.
Who are you in terms of skills that you want to do and that companies want?
Transferable skills are ones that you can take from one experience to the next.
In the next exercise, you should be able to answer the following questions:
- What about your own transferable skills that you will bring to your next few jobs?
- Do you know clearly what they are?
- Does your resume communicate these transferable skills well?
- Do you know which ones you want to use vs. what you are good at?
We’ll keep this simple here, though this can be an area where you can richly dig into your own experiences and stories. We strongly recommend longer explorations of your skills with processes like What Color is Your Parachute? Other resources will be available on the list of Books and Websites.
Companies that are hiring you are looking for what you can do with and for them. You, on the other hand, want to do things that add value, that you enjoy, and that you can keep growing through doing.
That may not always end up being a good match.
So let’s start out by figuring out what you can do that you also actually want to do in a career.
Transferable Skill Exercise
The worksheet is based in part on lists from the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) on skills that employers have expressed they are seeking:
Link to Google Sheet– bit.ly/TSkills2024 – and make a copy to work from for this in-class and follow-up exercise.
You will find a long list of skills and attributes that are transferable included in the worksheet. Some may be talents. Some may be ways that you work. Others may be learned skills.
We tend to call the technical skills and subject matter expert areas “hard skills” and the people- and trait-based areas “soft skills.” Watch for both of these in the exercise.
Prompt #1
Highlight in GREEN all of the skills that you CAN do fairly well from the lists on the next few pages. There is a LOT on this list, so don’t be surprised that you have odd groupings and big gaps.
Prompt #2
When you are done with this, take a look at it as if it is someone else’s list. Write on a blank page what this person seems to be like. What can they do well? What might an outsider think of your skill set?
Prompt #3
Using BOLD font, check off the skills that you ENJOY doing and would like to have in what you’ll be doing in the future. These should be skills that you would be happy to use on a consistent basis. Some of these may be the same or may be different from the skills you can do fairly well.
Prompt #4
Are there skills you would like to be good at, but aren’t yet or don’t have evidence of yet?
Things you would like to learn or try?
Prompt #5
Are there things you never want to do again? Would those be deal-breakers in a potential position?
Prompt #6: On the 2nd Tab of the Google Sheet
Pick your top 10 skills that are on both lists (both good at and enjoyable). List them on that second tab of the Google Sheet along with 1-2 things that would be EVIDENCE of your skills.
Please download this second tab as a PDF (File > Download > PDF) and submit the PDF in the Transferable Skills in-class exercise assignment by Monday, 19 Feb. If you want to spend a little more time, feel free, but please share this version and your work on it by the deadline.
Optional: Books!
When you have time, we suggest that you explore one of several books in this regard. The full list is at the end, but our two favorite choices are:
“What Color is Your Parachute 2023” — Richard Bolles passed away several years ago, but he had been updating this series every year for 40 years. His son, Gary, along with other writers, has moved this series forward with new material, and the core exercises in this book are excellent to go through in much more detail. He also created a workbook that you can do with this program: “What Color is Your Parachute? Job-Hunter’s Workbook.”
“Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life” — This book was developed from the very popular Stanford Mechanical Engineering Course that was taught by the authors, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It also has an available workbook: The Designing Your Life Workbook: A Framework for Building a Life You Can Thrive In.