Transferable skills are the reusable skills you can transfer from one job to another with no need for internal onboard training. Transferable skills are relatable to a new job — especially if it’s in a different industry. Thus, the skills that you use in every job, no matter the title or the field.
Some transferable skills are “hard,” like coding or data analysis and some are “soft,” skills like communication and relationship building. For example, employers often look for candidates with strong communication skills. If you’ve developed the ability to easily share information to and from colleagues, you can apply them in any workplace.
Transferable Skills Examples
- Organization
- Management & Leadership
- Research & Planning Communication Interpersonal Other
- Initiating new ideas
- Coordinating tasks
- Being detail‐oriented
- Managing or directing teams or groups
- Coaching
- Technical
- Selling ideas or products
- Decision‐making
- Managing conflicts or problems
- Managing budgets
- Forecasting
- Coming up with ideas
- Identifying problems
- Developing solutions
- Solving problems
- Imagining alternatives
- Gathering information
- Analyzing and evaluating information
- Setting goals
- Defining needs and requirements
- Speaking effectively
- Writing concisely
- Listening attentively
- Facilitating group discussion
- Providing appropriate feedback
- Being tactful
- Negotiating
- Persuading
- Interviewing
- Editing
- Being sensitive to the feelings and moods of others
- Listening
- Developing rapport
- Providing support
- Motivating
- Negotiating
- Sharing credit
- Teaching/training
- Delegating
- Cooperating; working with a team
- Managing time effectively
- Setting and meeting goals
- Being a self‐starter; self‐motivated
- Working independently
- Enlisting help when needed
- Meeting deadlines
- Being diligent; tenacity to get the job done; follow‐through
- Being responsible and reliable
Note: After reading through the transferable skills listed above, spend some time thinking about any experiences (academic, extracurricular, job-related, etc.) you have had in which you demonstrated, practised, or developed one or more of these skills. Select one, and, in a paragraph, describe what the specific experience was, explaining which skills you demonstrated and developed.