Make the most of your transferable skills
You want to change career, secure a new role, position yourself for a job in a GP consortium or maybe move into a different sector. So you need to know how to identify, present and evidence your transferable skills.
First make your own list. Start by reflecting on all your achievements to date, inside and outside work. Then consider testimonials, references, appraisals or compliments and comments on your past work.
Jog your memory further by reviewing the lists of “transferable skills” in career literature and on the internet. For skills more specific to that new profession or trade you seek, focus on materials, publications and websites of the pertinent organisations and sector. Supplement your ideas by scanning job adverts, job descriptions and person specifications.
Remember to include general skills, such as organisational, problem-solving, decision-making; delivering to deadlines, and oral and written communication as well as your unique ones – innovation, process engineering, financial acumen, conflict resolution and so on.
If changing sector, the type and significance of some of your skills will need to be expressed in a way that your new audience understands. For example, “patient and public involvement” may align more with customer care, marketing or public relations; “commissioning” is best translated into its elements such as business planning, resource management, procurement and market research.
Next, organise your listings so that you can easily recall and present them. If categorisation is not immediately obvious, consider the structure of an existing competency framework. Ideally use something you are familiar with such as the Knowledge and Skills Framework.
Subject to your needs, review the Institute of Healthcare Management’s Developing Through Partnership, the leadership qualities framework or the civil service’s competency and skills framework. Cross-reference to frameworks on specific roles and sectors – in and outside the UK.
When the time comes to submit an application, a CV restyle, that competency-based interview or simply a question in everyday conversation, be ready to prioritise and evidence each of your transferable skills. To evidence your competence, learn to “RAP” your answer in 10 to 15 words, describing:
- the result that you achieved;
- the action you took; and
- the problem you addressed.
Emphasise the action you demonstrated; replace non-transferable phrases and indicate the level of your ability. For example, “negotiated trust contracts” becomes “led negotiations across six organisations, achieving 2 per cent (£1m) savings while maintaining service outcomes”. If you can do it confidently, show how the skill might be applied in your new job.
Invest time, too, in learning about the new role, organisation or sector. Short of a secondment or job there, mixing within their networks is the best way to assess the culture of your prospective workplace.
Originally published by the HSJ on 18th October 2010.
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