How can you screen resumes for transferable skills when candidates are changing careers?

In my past experiences, scenario-based questions seem to be more effective than focusing solely on a candidate’s previous job experiences. If you present candidates with hypothetical scenarios related to the skills required for the new career by asking them how they would handle a situation, what strategies or approaches they would use, or how they would apply their existing skills to overcome challenges, this will allow you to assess their problem-solving abilities and assess how well they will be able to adapt their skills to the new career!

I learned this early on in my career, the best recruiters think differently about transferable skills. They can review and talk to a candidate in a holistic way that considers their strengths and how they could apply them in different career paths. This creates value for the candidates you are talking to and the companies you recruit for. You avoid overlooking what could be your next amazing hire.

Candidates who are capable of applying underlying overarching skills, to an array of different tasks in an efficient way, are especially capable of adapting to the everchanging needs and goals of companies who operate at the mercy of an everchanging market. Screening for, and successfully mapping out and hiring, candidates who both have transferable skills and are able to utilize these in an effective way, will increase the resilience and competitive edge of a company.

As a recruiter its crucial to be able to effectively read a resume and then question the person about their skills. For example, a person has "data analysis" on their resume so you need to be able to ask them the right questions. "Why" why did you need to complete this analysis? "How" do you conduct this? "What" what was the expected outcome of the analysis? What did you achieve and identify by doing this analysis? From there you will be able to see where they have transferable skills into other industries, project work and their analytical process overall.

Its important in the current Era, To upskill & reskill continuously. the competition for one particular job has massively increased. For me a candidate must have - Mindset of learning This mindset to learn every day & grow would literally transform into transferable skills. this skill would eventually help in putting down in resume & presenting during interview process. Cheers- Keep learning to grow & transform in professional life.

In my experience, scenario-based questions are most effective as indicators of transferable skill sets, instead of focusing solely on a candidate’s previous job experiences. If you present candidates with hypothetical scenarios related to the skills required for the new career, by asking them how they would handle those situations, what strategies or approaches they would use, and how they would apply their existing skills to overcome challenges, it allows you to better assess their problem-solving abilities and see how well they can adapt their skills to the new environment.

Transferable skills strategy to hire talent can do wonders when it comes to Diversity hiring where we have a small talent pool to fish from. We might go for potential rather than credentials (functional skills) to give a chance to diverse candidates who possess transferable skills and can be trained on processes .