Tip No. 212
Q. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy on my resume, and it looks great to me. I showed it to someone today, however, who told me I need to highlight more transferable skills. I am not sure what they meant…can you help?
A. The key to a good resume is to make sure it gets read. Most resumes fail to produce job offers because the writer fails to list his or her transferable skills. Instead, the person reels off a set of traits and/or narrowly defined job experiences. Most prospective employers have already heard the generic words “dependable”, “detail-oriented”, “energetic”, “learns fast”, “punctual”, etc. Yes, these are desirable traits but everyone who applies for a job lays claim to these or similar ones. YOUR GOAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE TO A POTENTIAL EMPLOYER WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM THE OTHERS WHO HAVE APPLIED FOR THIS JOB. By emphasizing general traits, you make yourself look like a “one-size-fits” all person, no different from anyone else milling round outside the employer’s door. By defining yourself too narrowly, you risk being too different, too narrow to make a comfortable fit in the employer’s organization. So, how do you find the magic fit? By converting the “common stuff” into the uniquely valuable qualities all employers crave. Remember, a transferable skill is always expressed in terms of function – doing something with people, data or things. For example, let’s use the trait “persuasive” and the narrow job description “salesperson”. Combining the trait and the narrow job description results in “I am a persuasive salesperson”. To convert this to a transferable skill you would simply state “I persuade” as this description is a more broadened statement of your skills. Finally, you look at the term “salesperson”. Decide whether “salesperson” primarily involves a function with people, data or things. The answer is “people”. Your description of a transferable skill now becomes “ I persuade people”. You have now expressed a skill that is of great value in many jobs. Transferable skills are hierarchical, rising from simple to complex. The ultimate step toward creating an attitude that will help you define and get the job you want is to lay claim to the most complex-the highest-transferable skills possible.
CMI Career Management International
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