You're considering a career change into a new industry. How do you identify transferable skills for success?

Start by taking inventory of your current skills, both hard and soft. Hard skills might include project management, data analysis, or proficiency in specific software, while soft skills could be communication, leadership, or problem-solving. Reflect on your past roles and experiences to identify the skills you’ve consistently used and excelled in. These are likely your strongest transferable skills.

Conducting a skills inventory allows you to pinpoint your core competencies and experiences, which can be invaluable when transitioning to a new industry. By assessing your strengths, accomplishments, and areas of expertise, you can identify transferable skills that are applicable across different fields. This process highlights your adaptability and potential to excel in a new role, showcasing how your background aligns with industry requirements. Understanding these transferable skills enables you to tailor your resume, craft compelling cover letters, and confidently articulate your value to prospective employers, thereby enhancing your chances of a successful career change.

When considering a career change into a new industry, start by evaluating your current skills and experiences that can be applied in the new field. Focus on identifying transferable skills such as communication, problem-solving, and leadership, which are valuable across industries. Research the industry’s key competencies and align them with your strengths. Networking with professionals in the target field can provide insights and help you understand how your existing skills can contribute to your success in the new career path

? Les compétences transférables, c'est l'art de transformer l'expérience en opportunité. ? – Reid Hoffman. Regarde ton parcours comme une bo?te à outils. Qu'est-ce qui t'a permis de briller jusqu'ici? Gestion de projet? Communication? Peu importe le secteur, ces compétences sont ton passeport pour la suite. Pour réussir ce saut, fais le lien entre ce que tu sais déjà faire et ce que ton nouveau secteur exige. N'attends pas que quelqu'un le fasse pour toi. Mets en avant ces compétences dans ton CV et lors des entretiens, montre que tu es déjà prêt pour ce nouveau challenge.

A great way to really understand what someone does in a job is to find blogs, YouTube, or podcast interviews with people in the field. An even better way is to set up your own 1:1 informational interviews. You can also use generative AI tools like chat GPT to identify common trends in job postings and descriptions of certain areas. Once you've done research and absorbed what's available online, begin networking and asking for informational interviews to get more personalized, follow-up information from a real human being.

By spending time reviewing several job descriptions in your new field, map out where skills overlap but likely use different words. You likely have more transferable skills than you think. For example, 'teaching' in the education sector may translate to 'training,' 'hosting webinars,' or 'presentations' in the corporate sector. Taking the time to "translate" your skills is valuable, as the hiring manager or HR folks (or an automated ATS system) will be looking for their keywords, not yours.

A way to start building your network on a new industry is to participate on experts forums, industry-related events and also by identifying whom of your currents work-relations know some people on those industries and ask for a presentation.

Signing up for online courses, micro-credentials, or even LinkedIn learning sessions can help expand your knowledge of the words, phrases, tools, and technologies used in your new industry. Be mindful to select programs you are not doing JUST for the certificate, but look to see if the course material will actually benefit you in being able to 'talk the talk' of the new world of work you're going to. Ask people in the field for recommendations of new/trending skill areas that would be beneficial for you to explore in a workshop or course environment.

An important thing to keep in mind is the practical knowledge you need to gain new skills: Identify on which projects you could work on, on your current work, or as an outside job. Express your interest on collaborating with others to learn and put into practice those new skills. Be willing to be a trainee or to do some unpaid work for the sake of gaining the experience you need.

Review every single experience on your resume and be ruthless about: How does this experience prove I can do the new job in the new field? The action bullets may change completely - a role where you previously focused on your skills doing the task (i.e., engineering accomplishments) may shift to entirely different skills or accomplishments like project or people management, mentorship, financial skills, relationship management, etc., that align more with the types of jobs you seek in the new industry. It can be hard to backspace away amazing accomplishments in your former profession, but to make your resume stand out in a new field, you'll have to let go of the past and focus on how your roles have prepared you for the future.